BY DESTINE NDE
In essence, humans are social beings — every single person belongs to a family, clan, tribe or nation, as well as clubs, professional associations, fraternities, fellowships, parties, guilds, unions, leagues, churches, sects, and the like.
Each of these human groupings, whether formed and held together by bonds of kinship, social ties, or professional or religious obligations, shares some ideas, beliefs, values, myths, norms, goals, hopes and fears. The sum total of all of this is what is often referred to as the culture of a particular group of people.
It makes some sense to believe that each human grouping starts off with a unique and specific culture, which later generations inherit, and modify to a lesser or greater degree. Whether this happens knowingly or unknowingly, it is nevertheless the dominant way in which cultures are preserved and immortalised.
As groups grow over time, and their members begin to disperse, these cultures are also carried to new and often faraway lands. Therefore, one could say that population migration is synonymous with cultural migration. In the process, different cultures come into contact with one another and begin to influence one another, for better or worse, but usually without completely destroying one another.
Historically, people migrated in search of food and water, and also to escape some threat to their lives. Dismayingly, this remains true of much of migration today.
In the meantime, the sudden and extremely rapid rise of cutting-edge technologies has reduced the world to a Global Village. People are no longer kept apart by vast stretches of land, dizzying bodies of water, and incapacitating threats. In the name of tourism, education, politics, business, medical treatment, sports, evangelism, vocation, or simply leisure, people are now travelling like never before. Modern means of transportation like airplanes, ships and motor vehicles not only make this far easier, compared to the long walks and slow camel rides of the past, but make it possible for large numbers of people to travel to anywhere in the world in amazingly short spaces of time.
Added to this is the emergence and unstoppable growth of mass and social media. This is a far more powerful and effective vehicle of cultural migration than physical migration, and also far cheaper. From the convenience of one’s home, one can watch a traditional parade in China, the coronation of a new king in England, a derby between Orlando Pirates and Kaiser Chiefs in South Africa, a grand opera performance in France, a political debate in Nigeria, an anti-racism riot in the streets of America, the bombing of a Church in Baghdad, the legal proceedings in a case of assassination in India, or a report of the atrocities of a drug cartel in Mexico – all of this at no cost, and in the space of a few hours.
Due to migration and social media, foreign cultural practices are spreading to and being adopted in new settings. One such practice, or celebration, is that of Halloween. Given its western European, partly pagan and partly religious origins, it was traditionally strange and unknown to the rest of the world, particularly Africa.
The history of Halloween is actually quite complicated. It partly goes back to the festival of Samhain, celebrated by the ancient Celts on 31 October to mark the end of summer and the harvesting season. According to them, the normally impassable gulf between the world of the dead from that of the living was mysteriously breached on this particular night, so that the dead were able to cross over and coexist with the living. So, to protect themselves, the living wore masks, made bonfires, and offered generous gifts to the spirits.
In the seventh century, the Catholic Church declared 1 November as All Saints Day, or All Hallows, in memory of all the saints, and later added 2 November as All Souls’ Day, commemorating all deceased people who weren’t saints. The night before All Hallows came to be known as All Hallows Eve, which eventually turned into ‘Hallowe’en’, or Halloween. Following the Reformation, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day were abolished in Britain as a religious holiday, but Halloween continued as a secular holiday, largely celebrated in Scotland and Ireland. (In the meantime, both All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day remained official Catholic holidays, and are still celebrated in many countries.)
In the mid-19th century, Scottish and Irish immigrants took Halloween customs with them in the course of their mass migrations to the US. Halloween became more popular, especially in the 20th and 21st centuries, and has spread from there to other countries throughout the world, including distant South Africa. Still, after all these travels, its arrival in the Klein Karoo town of Willowmore is a notable event.
So it came that, on 31 October, I attended a Halloween party in Willowmore. It took place in a new social venue, the Sportsman Pub and Grub, owned by an enterprising young man from Port Elizabeth, Gladwin Daniels.
The party was spooky and spectacular. Boys and girls, men and women converged on the venue in stunning outfits, which left spectators shocked and amused. The whole venue was appropriately decorated in ghostly fashion, down to bloodstains on the walls. It was packed beyond capacity, and spirits were high. Even the street outside was full of dancers. People sang, danced, drank, and enjoyed themselves as though tomorrow would never come.
I asked Ashley Baadjies, the young and attractive manager: ‘What does Halloween mean to you, and why are you celebrating it in such a grand style?’
She answered: ‘Today is the night on which our dead ancestors and heroes get to visit and chill with us. So in order to be hospitable to them, we have to try to look like them, so that they feel at home and aren’t hostile to us. That is why we dress like them, with scary masks and bloody clothes.’
Larrigan Blouw, a cousin of the owner, said he knew it was an American tradition. ‘Then why’, I asked, ‘are you celebrating it in South Africa?’
‘Because we like the idea behind it,’ he replied cheerfully.
‘Aren’t you scared of the ghosts?’ I asked Darlene Groenewald, and elder sister of the owner, who also works at the Sportsman Pub and Grub.
‘Absolutely not!’ she said. ‘Why should I, when they are here for only one day in an entire year? Don’t you think they miss life, and miss being with us? They are here to enjoy themselves, and not to cause any trouble.
‘In fact,’ she added, clearly fired up by the freely flowing libations, ‘if anyone here tries to start a problem and disturb our party, they [i.e. the ghosts] will be the first ones to defend and protect us, not the police.’
The whole of Friday, from early in the morning until late at night, various scenes of the party went viral on WhatsApp and Facebook. They were hilarious and delightful, and I enjoyed watching and re-watching them. The world has indeed become a Global Village.