by Xavier Kataquapit
www.underthenorthernsky.com
My family and my home community of Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast has always enjoyed Halloween. The idea of the whole thing just perfectly fits into a lot of our traditions of scary stories, spirits, other worldly beings and monsters that are part of the legends that our parents and Elders taught us. The whole idea of Halloween celebrations being just a holiday for children and to have fun was also something that my parents and many of our Elders thoroughly enjoyed.
Halloween on the James Bay coast is a very new idea that has only been around for a few generations. When I was a boy in the 1980s, everyone was still unfamiliar with the idea of what it meant or why it was even around. No one understood if it was religious, anti-religious, good or bad. All anyone realized was that children got to dress up, have a bit of fun and they got to collect candy while going to door to door to people’s homes at night.
Back then, there didn’t seem to be an age restriction either. It wasn’t just small children that went door to door. Everyone seemed to join in including teenagers of all ages and many adults. Most of the older people who went out didn’t do it for the candy, they just wanted to dress up in disguises and costumes to surprise a grandparent, their relatives or an Elder in town. My parents always enjoyed serving candy because they wanted to see who was at the door to guess who was behind the mask. Often a big oversized giant would appear, refusing any candy and would stand looming over people in a frightful way. Then without going too far, one of our cousins would jump out of the costume and mom and dad would have a good laugh.
Halloween was important for us for many reasons and most of it had to do with being able to just forget for a brief time all of the chaos, challenges and difficulties we lived as a result of colonization, residential school, racism and oppression in general. We got to disguise ourselves and become someone or something else for a day.
In the 1980s, the community often hosted an unorganized Halloween dance but it took a few years before it eventually evolved into a Halloween party and costume competition. In the 1990s, it became a major event for the community as it allowed everyone to join in a bit of fun and games while dressing up to surprise and scare friends and relatives.
I was never all that great at designing or creating a costume. I remember a few attempts resulting in failure as when I arrived at the dance everyone knew immediately who I was. There were others in the community who were artists and masters of disguise. My cousins from my uncle Leo Kataquapit’s family were famous for making elaborate costumes and creations that seemed to grow in size every year. Others constructed huge monsters or strange creatures that didn’t seem to follow any theme. Half the time these huge monsters were known for intimidating everyone.
This Halloween is actually a genuinely scary one for our world in so many ways. The pretend monsters, ghosts, witches and demons pale to the critical events happening in our world right now. Thousands of people are being killed and wounded with cities being destroyed in two wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East. Both these conflicts have the potential of escalating towards a wider conflict or even a nuclear exchange which would be devastating to not just those involved but to everyone on the planet.
Another scary reality we have to deal with is the ongoing epidemic of the opioid, fentanyl drug crisis that is hitting our Indigenous communities in a big way. We are losing many people due to this tragic drug problem. None of our make believe monsters and Halloween characters are as scary as the reality of global warming and climate change that is resulting in heat waves, destructive storms and changes that are making life difficult for people all over Mother Earth.
As children make their way door to door and attend Halloween events I am happy that they get some time to have a lot of fun and they are able to forget about the difficulties they might be facing. I hope the adults join in and celebrate this crazy scary day as well. I plan to give out as much candy as I can to the kids that come to my door and that we don’t want to end up with a huge amount of left over chocolate, chips and munchies as that actually really does scare us. I will be dressing up and playing some spooky music and just enjoying the excitement of colour and fantastic costumes running down my street. I will try not to think of the really scary things right now.
