Reasons Why I Love Halloween

Happy Halloween!

I hope you’ve all been enjoying your October - I know I have! On top of tattooing a bunch of fun Halloween tattoos this month, I have had the privilege of hanging out in Portland’s lush greenery as the rain returned; read amazing books & watched decent TV; and spent time with my chosen family here in Portland.

When I was really getting into the Spoopy Season Spirit a couple months ago, I posted a reel about why I love Halloween. At the same time, for a while now, I have been considering starting a blog.

Why start a blog?! I want to write and share about so many things - tattoo aftercare misinformation, new ways to think about tattooing, how tattoo culture is shifting, my personal art process, my opinions on art- and tattoo-related topics, so much stuff! Why not kick it all off with reasons why I absolutely love Halloween?

So, without further ado, here they are.

4. Weirdos… Assemble! 🐚

Have you ever noticed that socially, you have the freedom to let your freak flag fly on Halloween? We can “let it all out” without social repercussion. Halloween is a chance to embrace & celebrate the dark, rebellious, weird parts of ourselves, and I flipping love that.

As someone who has been livin’ on the fringe since childhood (as a toddler, my favorite Disney character was the evil witch in Snow White, yiiiiiikes), I absolutely cherish that I get to see everyone else’s inner weirdo come out during Halloween season.

People are doing their makeup absolutely wild, decorating their yard with the grossest stuff 🤢, or dressing as revealing as they want to do the rest of the year but don’t feel they have whatever permission Halloween gives them.

YES, FRIENDS, LET IT OUT!

3. Peeking at Death

In the states, we generally live in a very death-phobic culture (if you don’t believe me, read From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty, and you’ll be like “Oh yes, I get it, the US is very death-phobic, you were right Tessa.”).

However, Halloween gives us the socially acceptable opportunity to look at death with curiosity, play & celebration. 💀 Even if you aren’t practicing any type of ceremony or ritual, the Halloween aisle in your grocery store is jam-packed with decorations of ouija boards and ghosts and human skulls ~ stuff that mainstream US culture is afraid to look at the remainder of the year.

I love the playfulness that our little purity culture engages in this time of year. :^)

2. Historical & Pre-Colonial Connections

Modern-day Halloween in the US is a mash-up of various cultural celebrations & traditions. 👻 In fact, before modern-day Halloween was a thing, All Hallow’s Eve was a Christianized version of the Pagan Samhain celebration. Religious colonizers couldn’t get those darn Pagans to stop celebrating their own cultural rituals, so they were just like, “Okay, fine, but make it Christian.”

If you start researching, you’ll see how far back it all goes and how globally widespread this autumnal connection with the “other side” really is! Check out this cute little documentary if you want.

1. Getting Brave

By “playing with” concepts we may fear (the occult, death, monsters, ghosts, etc.) during this season, we reduce our fear and live more freely. 🎉 We might get more and more acquainted with concepts that we normally turn our heads away from, thanks to Halloween inviting us to take a peek behind the veil.

In turn, we might be able to live more juicy and expansive lives the rest of the year! That’s definitely why I stretch my Halloween season as far as I can make it go.

Last but not least

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that there are absolutely problematic aspects of Halloween’s history (religious colonialism wasn’t only inflicted on Pagans in Europe) and how Halloween is celebrated by some (see: racist costumes, hate crimes, animal abuse). Give these things a google if you so choose. I believe that by becoming conscious of these things, we can shift cultural patterns. ~

And of course, tattoos!

I am a STRONG ADVOCATE for Halloween tattoos year-round. If you’d like to celebrate the best holiday with me any time of the year, why not check out my Halloween flash designs?

Thank you for reading! I hope you have a safe n happy Halloween where you can be present to moments of joy while remaining conscious of and empathetic to the chaos that is our global reality. <3