The Day After

By Gordon Hopkins Today is the day after Halloween. Is there anything sadder that the day after a much-anticipated holiday?Step outside your door the morning after Independence Day. On the sidewalks you can see scorch marks and scraps of burnt, colored paper where fireworks were exploded. You may even be able to still smell a hint of acrid, sulfur-tinged smoke hanging in the air. Step outside the day (or possibly several days) after Easter and there's a good chance you will step on one of the eggs your kids or grandkids couldn't find during the family's Easter egg hunt.Some people call the day after Christmas Boxing Day but, for you, its the day you start taking down all those Christmas decorations because you put them up too early and now are sick of looking at them.At some point, maybe day after Thanksgiving, maybe a day or two later, you realize that you really, really don't want any more turkey, which is unfortunate because you have enough leftovers for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next three days at least. Then there is the day after Arbor Day, which is just about always the worst day of the year. Don't ask me why. It just is. And now comes the day after Halloween. You have to get rid of that pumpkin (or pumpkins), which is already starting to get soft and develop brown spots because you carved it (them) too soon. You have that empty candy bowl still sitting in the living room that you try not to look at because it reminds you that you ate more candy than you gave out to trick-or-treaters last night. It isn't just here in the U.S., either. On the other side of the world, when spring begins, people celebrate the Hindu festival of Festival of Colours, Love, and Spring, aka Holi. Although it began in India, it has become popular in other parts of the world. Holi has a great deal of cultural and religious significance but the notable element is that, for a day and a night, celebrators throw vividly colored water and powders at each other. You may have seen the fun and joyous photos of participants stained neon pink and orange and green and blue and everyone is clearly having a blast. Yeah. It is all fun and games until the next day, when it comes time to clean up the mess. Can you image? And you thought tossing out that rotting pumpkin was a pain. And don't even think about what that pile of laundry must be like. Sticking another holiday the day after a beloved holiday doesn't help. (See the aforementioned Boxing Day.) Until recently, I did not realize that Halloween was actually the first of three holidays, one right after the other, dedicated to remembering the dead. Halloween, October 31st, is followed by All Saints’ Day on November 1st and All Souls’ Day on November 2nd.Should we be making Halloween a three day event? I'm not sure. That is an awful lot of candy.

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