The first time Google popped up on Halloween morning it was a creative logo to celebrate the holiday. Moments later I was informed that if you clicked on the logo a little video came up. (I really didn't know you could click on the Google logo.) I was happy to start my day with a little American cheer and decided it might be a nice addition to the day's English lessons. When I shared it with my first student and asked if she'd understood the subtleties, she hadn't.
To her it was only a lonely ghost on a mission to find a Halloween costume and a place to fit in. When the ghost (named Jinx) was dressed as a witch and flew into a tree leaving a half-hat and broomstick protruding from the trunk she wasn't reminded of the most popluar Halloween decoration in America. Trees in Italian neighborhoods aren't full of crashed witches (yet). And when the little ghost wrapped up like a mummy comes unwrapped and leaves the trees covered with shreds of toilet paper, it wasn't seen as a house being "TPd". It was normal. Where else would toilet paper from a flying ghost end up?
Later that afternoon I decided to watch the video again to see what other clever details I'd missed. I had turned the computer off in the morning and when I turned it back on it the home page came up in Italian. And with the Italian home page, Google showed up in it's normal primary colors instead of in the spirit of Halloween. The only way to find Jinx was to google "Halloween 2017 Google Logo Video". And that's where I found an article written about why it wasn't used in Italy as Google's logo for the day.
The article describes it as a very sweet and funny animated video which is impossible to play and admire in Italy. It says that the video is available as the home page in many countries around the world including Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Romania, Bulgaria, Croazia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Canada, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Columbia, Japan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Taiwan, Indonesia, and the Phillipines but it's been cut in Italy. Due to the numerous protests every year from the Catholic communities that consider American Halloween celebrations extraneous to Italian culture, the logo wasn't shown in Italy. Although there's been an increase in Halloween activites and enthusiasm in the five years that I've been living here, the holiday is still not a treat for eveyone.
Italian kids love Halloween. Dressing up isn't a new idea, they've been dressing up for Carnevale for years. But going door to door for candy has its appeal. And fortunately for Italian kids, they don't have to go to school the next day because it's All Saints Day and that's the real holiday in Italy. I say, let the kids have some fun on Halloween and then the adults can take flowers and candles to the cemetery the day after. And they can wear their fancy clothes and take the biggest flower arrangement and make sure they're noticed and recognized (unlike Halloween) because that's what All Saint's Day seems to have become. It's like a fashion show at a cemetery.
I think a lot of Italian Catholics could have learned something from Jinx if the Pope had let them. He was just a friendly ghost looking for a way to fit in. Dressing up and disguising himself wasn't the answer. He kept searching for the perfect costume, but none worked. He was finally accepted just being himself. That seems like it should be worth a homily from the Pope in his funny costume.
