Boy, I hadn’t been to the Parade of Lost Souls in years! Sorry to say, I almost forgot about it. But no more!
It’s changed, though, I think. Oh, some things were the same: all the excellent costumes of robots and ghosts and vampires, a Blackberry, the cast of Futurama (Fry, Zoidberg, Leela and Farnsworth), the black & white spies from Mad magazine, at least one Sarah Palin, a headline announcing John McCain’s victory (shriek!!!), the aroma of wacky tobacky in the air, glow sticks and those little plastic flashing antennas (I’ve actually got a pair of those, too, but I forgot them. Maybe it’s just as well, they’re really uncomfortable).
But… there wasn’t any actual parade. Or maybe we missed it? That was pretty disappointing to me. Years ago, I loved how the whole neighbourhood got in the game, individual houses or apartments staging their own little monster plays as the Parade passed by. It wasn’t just a few people putting on a show, it was a whole community event. And then, at Britannia High School, there’d be huge shadow puppets and fireworks and the spooky, otherworldly festival.
Still, Grandview Park hosted the festival, with shrines to the dead and the lost. That’s an important part of the event, too. Hallowe’en isn’t just about trick-or-treating, it’s a time when the veil between the worlds is thin. And, hard-nosed atheist though I am, it’s a time I allow myself just a little bit of spirituality…
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