sunday scribblings

masquerade!
paper faces on parade...
masquerade!
hide your face
so the world
will never find you.

flash of mauve...
splash of puce...
fool and king,
ghoul and goose...
green and black...
queen and priest...
trace of rouge,
face of beast...
faces!
take your turn, take a ride
on the merry-go-round
in an inhuman race!

-"masquerade" from phantom of the opera

at first i was tempted to write about the masks we wear for appearance's sake, the metaphorical mask. but we all wear masks, and isn't the topic a bit overdone?

what about halloween? it's only my favorite holiday of the year. of course, i also happen to find it fun to shout, "happy new year!" to passersby and chuckle at their confused, startled expressions. where i come from, halloween is called samhain (pronounced SOW-en) and is our new year's celebration. it's a time to remember the past year, and reflect on Those Who Have Gone Before.

but in the meantime...it's also a fantastic time to dress up. i always joke and say it's the one night of the year i can actually dress like myself. i get out my broom and pointy hat. but aren't we all like that, in some fashion or other? we dress up as things we want to be, because something within us feels an attraction, a pull, towards it. we're drawn to those things we recognize within ourselves. halloween gives us the freedom to revel and delve and explore it more deeply.

you wanna dress up like a troll? go ahead! what trollish qualities do you possess? revel in them! how can you make them a positive and powerful force in your life? you wanna be a fairy princess? a dwarf? this coming halloween i'm dressing up as a huge present with foil wrapping paper and a big, fat bow. the tag's gonna say, "TO: Men of the World, FROM: God."

hey, whoever said a bit of confidence and ego was a bad thing? *grin*

but seriously, there are masques and balls, not to mention convensions and cosplays all over the world. people love to dress up, to play, to be something "other" for a day, a night, a weekend.

sometimes those masks are truer than we think...

ready for more about masks?
mask picture above from GoblinArt