By Hoang Thao Ly
Nowadays Halloween is an unmissable event in October festive season all over the world. With the spread of pop culture, children and young adults in many countries look forward to dressing up in spooky and horror outfits and join parties as the fancy trend of the modern world. When I worked in the corporate companies, Halloween is a lucrative occasion to attract new customers. It not only serves as a marketing tool for schools but also a money-making channel for consuming and entertainment industries. It is said that Americans spend 10-12 billion dollars for Halloween, ranked only behind Christmas (Investopia, 2023). Although Halloween does not start until October, advertisement or promotion around it starts much sooner. This pop culture attracts millions of young adults all over the world. And Vietnam is not an exception.
When I was younger, I never fell in love with this spooky festival; but I didn’t ask about its origin or meaning either. My involvement with it was either I followed my friends or it was my job responsibility. Later on, when I got in touch with Neohumanist philosophy; I had a question how the festival would impact on children’s minds as it has become more and more ghostly and scary. As Shrii Prabhat R. Sarkar explained:
“The method of extracting work by terrorizing the minds of children is not only made use of by a particular type of teacher, it is also often still more harmfully practised by parents. They frighten their children, tell them lies, engage in scurrilous brawls before them, and deceive and torment them; but they still expect that someday their children will become respectable members of society – that their children will bring glory to their family name. When their children are reluctant to drink milk or sleep, they terrify them by invoking imaginary goblins or frightful ghosts. Children initially have no fear, yet a fearful panorama is played out before them. Through this practice the parents may achieve some temporary gain, but even if the children wait a lifetime, they can never be compensated for the harm done to them. Even when these same children attain young adulthood, the thought of ghosts will not leave their minds – ghosts will become their permanent companions” (Education, 1959).
I started to oppose the celebration of the event. In the first year of the center’s operation, instead of organizing Halloween; I organized Deepavali in November to promote the message of shining the light on the darkest night of the year. However, it was difficult to attract the participants because nobody knows about Deepavali in my community, and rarely in Vietnam. The next year, when we decided to host a Halloween night for children; lots of them came. It was not surprising for me. However, it helped me learn: “how to go with the trendy flow in the society but channelize it into something more positive and meaningful”. This was the inspiration for the fairy tale Halloween night we had with the children last winter. Children could celebrate the festival they were expecting but with full of wonders and miracles.
We had changed the direction of the event based on fairy tales and legendary stories. Instead of infusing the children’s minds with ghosts, zombies, or goblins…; we selected fairy tales based on their requests to tell them in the story telling time. There the red-haired princess Merida bravely overcame all challenges and misunderstandings to save her mother, Queen Elinor, from being a bear as cursed by the witch. Then there was the sisterhood of Princess Ana and Queen Elsa, who had a magic that could turn everything into ice. Or they could witness the adventure of Princess Rapunzel finding her way back to her family or listen to the deep love story of the Little Mermaid Ariel for the prince on earth. They also had a chance to know the Tinker bell fairies who were cute, adorable and always helped people.
After that, the children discussed with the teachers which characters they wanted to play, since each had their own idols. Some girls wanted to be the Little Mermaid or the Princess Tangled or Queen Elsa; while other boys wanted to transform themselves into superheroes or Spiderman. Younger children agreed to become the “baby boss” or snowman. There they were…we had all characters signed up for the big day.
The joy of preparing this event was that children were always excited and looking forward to the banquet; while helping the teachers for the decoration (decoration was the challenge in this event since we wanted to create a fully miraculous atmosphere for them). They also worked very hard to practice performances for the party, especially the fashion show. Moreover, parents were also asked to dress up with the theme or create costumes for their children. In short, all family, children and the center joined hands together to organize this unique festival.
The biggest night of the month has finally arrived. Looking at the children dressed up in costumes of princesses, fairies, superheroes, spider-man or the cartoon characters…made me feel excited too. The banquet table was mysteriously decorated with many dishes like in the fairy tales: Timeless Fruit Carriage, Rapunzel Spaghetti, Princess Jelly or Magical Drink. The sound of a violin signaled the start of the event. Each character appeared in the background of different music – charming and mystical or heroic and majestic or cheerful and joyful, along with the sparkling lights of stars, moon and the universe. This made the participants really have the feeling that they had all flown back from a distant fairyland. A truly sparkling, magical and impressive night! I believe this is an unforgettable memory for the children and adults too.