Halloweeners

It's not much of an overstatement to say that Chicagoians go crazy over Halloween, unlike anything I've ever seen. Almost every building on my block sported some sort of decoration, and many had very extensive yard displays with sound effects, etc. Even downtown, there were two full weekends of Chicagoween celebration, officially sanctioned by the city with performers and food stalls.

I marked the holiday by surviving a riot. Literally. A friend had come over to split a bottle of wine and order some takeout. We decided to walk Lawrence for a few blocks and pick one of the Korean places, but soon after setting out noticed that the streets were unusually hectic. Taxi cabs were honking their horns, and drivers leaning out of their windows yelling. After a few more minutes we noticed that eggs were flying through the air. And on the sidewalks were groups of teenagers, some in costume, some not, and all of them antagonizing anyone who walked by.

I want to take a minute to reiterate that this is very unusal for my neighborhood. I'd not seen anything like it, nor anything since. In an anthropology class I slept through in college, I remember reading an article that posited that Halloween served an important cultural role, as it was the one night of the year when all social norms could be upset, and more importantly, that children became the leaders of that revolt, while in their everyday lives they were expected to be more submissive. Very interesting in theory, a little spooky to experience as an unexpected demographic minority carrying $25 worth of Korean BBQ.