This is a harvest month, including root vegetables, whose fall bounty includes the color-laden Beauty of our mountain forests and meadows. Set aside the slogans and catchphrases from agency statements of where we are: Beauty Beckons best describes where we live.
The trees are suddenly clad in yellow, red and orange, beginning to gird themselves for the coming winter. The shedding of its worn-out light-eaters protects against snow and ice building up and bringing down whole branches. This process of disbursement and the blanketing the forest floor begins with the flashy fall colors that now grace our mountains: Intimations of Immortality.
Notice also the colorful birds that festoon our trees like Christmas tree decorations. They broadcast early morning muezzin calls and late-day evensongs.
With this October bounty we also get costumed festivals. The end-of-month “Hallowed” day occupies our thoughts all month. We work on our costumes. We get to be someone else briefly this month.
Halloween, for me, is a celebration of human playfulness and ingenuity.
Who would we like to be for one day?
Some of our children want to be Harry Potter figures. Harry, of course, but also Hermione and Dumbledore. Action figures, the hero archetype, are also in, as are witches and goblins. The costumed dogs steal the show. Our elegant ladies of the Plateau show up as elegant, beautifully attired, smiling witches. The kids are precious; the adults are works of art. Children and adults play together this month.
I’ll mention three local costumed festivals.
First, Halloween on Main in Highlands is a spectacle with costumes, activities, food, music, you name it: October 31, 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M., Main Street in Highlands.
Second, Trick-or-Treat Street in Cashiers along Frank Allen Road, Saturday, October 25, 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. pm.
Lastly, the Enchanted Forest Halloween Bash at the Highlands Botanical Garden of the Highlands Biological Station at 265 North 6th Street in Highlands on Tuesday, October 28, 5:00 to 6:30 P.M.
Check the published calendars and elsewhere in this issue of our Laurel magazine for these and other events. I’ll be out there with my camera. Photos of the festivities will appear in our Winter Issue.
Trick or treat? I’ll take the trick. What’s your trick? My trick is my costume: It’s not really me.
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