Welcome to Summerween

July is nearly over. We've already had several days over 100F (38C) in my area and two named storms in the Atlantic. I've been harvesting cherry tomatoes from my small tomato plant. Back to school sales are wrapping up and cute Halloween decor is popping up in all the home goods stores.

Well, some of it is Halloween decor. In between the (far too early) traditional spooky things that give my brain a dopamine hit are a few items where ghosts and skeletons are enjoying the sun with fruity drinks. I even saw a piece with a ghost riding a flamingo. The flamingo wasn't even a skeleton.

This mashup of summer fun and Halloween aesthetic is what is known as Summerween. 

You might have started hearing it on booktok (the book side of TikTok) or booktube (the book side of YouTube) where influencers are recommending horror books with a summer vibe. You might have seen art of ghosts hanging out on the beach or a watermelon carved to look like a jack-o-lantern on Instagram.  

Basically, it's a social media thing for people who want it to be Halloween. In the US, this time period seems to start shortly before or right after Independence Day (July 4th) and eventually transitions into regular Halloween. I particularly like the people who have a ton of skeleton decorations and pose them for non-Halloween related holidays and seasons.

You, dear reader, might be wondering how this new invasion of a holiday in the wrong season started. I mean, Christmas in July has been around for as long I can remember and is the halfway point for Halloween. People aren't celebrating Halloween around Easter, they're celebrating in the middle of summer. 

Well, the history of Summerween (or "lore" for those of you with children under the age of 18) is very recent. It started as an episode of the animated Disney show Gravity Falls. That's right, an animated Disney show is why we have Summerween.  

The 12th episode of the 1st season of Gravity Falls, titled "Summerween", exists because the show creators wanted to create a Halloween episode, but had to get creative when the show takes place over the course of one summer.. The town in Oregon, where the show takes place, has a ton of weird and spooky things happening all the time. The locals accept this (for the most part) and (per the show's explication) love Halloween so much, that they decided to have a second one in the Summer. This "Summerween" includes trick or treating, carving watermelons, and a cursed creature that will eat you if you displease it and can't get into the spirit of Summerween. 

This cursed creature, the Summerween Trickster, is loosely based off of No Face from the Miyazaki movie Spirited Away. The two main characters accidently upset it for various reasons and they end up needing to bring it 500 pieces of candy by the time the jack-o'-melons (get it?) in town go out or he'll eat them. The episode is really funny and I recommend the show in general. It's one of the few Disney animated shows that actually gets to the end of it's overarching story. But as a stand alone episode, it also works.

This is the origin of Summerween. 

Do I think Summerween will continue to be a thing? I have no idea. My theory on why this concept has recently gained traction (the show is over ten years old as of writing this post) is a mix of nostalgia (the kids who watch Gravity Falls now have grown up money), the increasing popularity of the horror genre, and the fact that it's too hot outside and people are over it. Most of the Summerween influencers are bookish young women and often include music from Hocus Pocus or Practical Magic while doing their influencer videos. 

I'm not knocking the demographic. I appreciate their passion. 

However, I am unlikely to participate in the consumer side of Summerween. I think the designs are cute (though there's a lot of AI being used) and I'm enjoying the movie and book recommendations. I don't foresee myself buying any of these unnecessary items (though I would accept them as gifts), though I might create my own art for the mashup season. It is also a fair point that I do leave out my regular Halloween decorations year round.

And that is Summerween. 

You might not have heard of it at all prior to this blog post or you might have seen ghosts and skeletons doing cute, yet random summer things on dishtowels. Maybe you already knew all of this and scrolled through the above to see if I had any media suggestions (for movies check out Midsommar or the original Wickerman from the 70s; for books I enjoyed "Meddling Kids" and there's witches running around in "Witchcraft for Wayward Girls").

Would you like to celebrate Summerween? Do you enjoy a spooky summer mashup? Let me know in the comments. 

Until next week. 

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