Clowns. What's the Problem?

It's that time of year again....

Hallowe'en.  

Firstly before we get into the topic of Hallowe'en in the modern (commercial?) day, what was Hallowe'en.

Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Hallowe'en is a time of celebration and superstition. It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts.

Like the majority of pagan holidays, it was hijacked by the church to try and quash the pagan beliefs that had existed for centuries and centuries.

Hallowe'en fell to the same fate. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween. 

Over time the holiday of Hallowe'en has evolved into a secular celebration where people revel in dressing up, giving out gifts of sweets and treats, and guising (or trick or treating if you're American!).

So here we are in 2016, getting ready for Hallowe'en, stocking up on sweets and treats, planning parties, shopping for new decorations and checking over the old ones, and finally the all important costume.

Whether it is a costume for your kids to go out guising or trick or treating, or a costume for you to wear to a party the choices every year get bigger and better.

But as much as the range of costumes gets more difficult to choose from each year, there are timeless classics that will always be amazing.

Clowns.  They're classic.  They're fun.  And at this time of year they're scary too !

But why are people scared of clowns in particular?  Clowns are a thing of joy and fun, of comedy and laughter no?

While there is no official phobia for a fear of clowns, we think it definitely deserves to have one to describe the fear that people have.

Primarily because a phobia is a term used to describe an irrational and over exaggerated fear of an object, place or situation.

This fits peoples fear of clowns perfectly.  Clowns are not going to attack you, murder you or rob you.  People might dress up in a clown disguise to do these things, but then they could also dress up in any other type of mask to hide their identity.

The media has a lot to answer for when it comes to ramping up peoples fear levels in the world.  

Exaggerated reports of people dressed up as clowns stalking people, warning people not to dress up as clowns for hallowe'en, building up peoples irrational fears and anxiety.  References to real life murderer John Wayne Gracy Jr - the Killer Clown, Stephen King's character of Pennywise the Clown in It and Twisty the Clown in American Horror Story all add to play on peoples psyche and build there fear levels.

Now we are not saying that people do not have to be careful while out guising or trick or treating.  You do.

We are saying though that you do need to be understanding that people will be dressed up as clowns, and that clowns - even scary hallowe'en clowns - are ok.

So let's all enjoy ourselves this hallowe'en.  Dress up. Party. Give out sweets and treats to people who come to our doors - even if they are dressed as scary clowns!