Merry Halloween!!!

I went to SM yesterday to return a defective water spray and guess what. Customer Service changed it without much fuss!!

But SM is SM so I needed to notice something bad or my trip wouldn’t be complete. Here’s the report:

The mall is abloom with rubber monster masks, plastic skeletons, black-hooded figures, jack-o-lanterns, the works. Blair Witch Project moment, you could say. Or Shake, Rattle and Roll.

Then the mall shoppers are serenaded with the irony of a loud muzak: “We wish you.. a Merry Christmas…We wish you… a Merry Christmas…”

Is Philippine Christendom (specifically Catholicdom) aware that Halloween is a pagan ritual that has zero redeeming value (in the face of Christianity)? Add to that the horror movies and horror as entertainment. (Now Chinese lucky charms are married with the Celtic horror show, thanks to Chito Roño and Kris Aquino!)

Of course, you won’t hear this anywhere else, not even in the Church which tends to ignore such things as Halloween and feng shui, dismissing them as generally harmless.

Please tell Henry Sy that All Saints Day is in November and it is hardly October yet. And they should use Michael Jackson's Thriller as background music in November if they must, not a Christmas carol.

I suddenly remember Baguio City when it’s nearing Holy Week, when Session Road streamers proclaim “Happy Easter!!” when Good Friday is still too far away. It's so Baguio City: If you travel to Baguio, you are greeted with far too many "WELCOME TO BAGUIO CITY SIGNS" even when you're still in La Union province, at the foot of the Cordillera mountain range. You, the traveler, excited at the sight of mountains in the background, would be deluded into thinking you're very near the City of Pines when the truth was, it is technically still two hours away.