Scene - Blogs - Halloween Hell in a handbasket

Halloween: Hell in a handbasket?
Published: 10/28/2011 3:37 PM
Last Modified: 10/28/2011 3:37 PM

This detail from the twistedly talented Hieronymus Bosch's "The Last Judgment" shows a handbasket in hell. A straw basket, it looks like, so this must've been painted in summer.

Going to a Halloween party? Well, you're also going to hell.

Kidding! I mean, you might, but not because you're going to a costume party to celebrate All Hallow's Eve. You'll go for all those other things you've done.

OK, jesting aside, I'm never surprised yet always find it interesting each late October when the inevitable debate of "Halloween: good or evil?" pops up, be it overheard in friendly(ish) conversations or on news feeds and blogs.

I view Halloween as a fun time for little kids to dress up in costumes and go begging for candy or -- my favorite -- stay at home and watch scary movies. It's all quite innocuous -- ain't it?

Others see it as a pagan holiday with roots running all the way down to hell, practically to China. Yes, the holiday's roots are pagan -- Celtic, specifically, from what I've read. And, yes, Virginia, it's decidedly secular. But does that make it evil? Feel free to weigh in. Otherwise, have a very happy weekend, haunted or not.

Peace, love and handbaskets ... XOXO

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Living Wright

While other kids were watching "The Smurfs," Scene Writer Jason Ashley Wright was tuned in to "Style with Elsa Klensch." By fourth grade, he knew he wanted to write, and spent almost three years publishing a weekly teen-oriented magazine, Teen-Zine -- circulation: 2. After earning a degree in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi, he became the medical reporter and teen board coordinator for the Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, a Gannett newspaper. Eight months later, with visions of Elsa dancing in his head, he applied for the fashion writer position at the Tulsa World, where he began working on Aug. 3, 1998. He is now a general assignment reporter for Scene.

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Past Articles By Jason Ashley Wright

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2/7/2013		Living Wright: Tulsa Flea market trip yields hidden treasures
2/7/2013		Mardi Gras popularity grows as celebrations expand in Tulsa
2/5/2013		Jason Ashley Wright: Another suicide shocks, for now
2/4/2013		Eagle Scouts
2/2/2013		Street Cats to hold its annual fundraiser Feb. 10

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