Time for fall festivals, hayrides, pumpkin patches, changing leaves, murder, doom, and horror. Time to once again answer the question: "Why don't we celebrate Halloween?" The kids are getting older and so are my excuses...time to really sit down and think this one out.
Why don't we celebrate Halloween? So, I do a little research. Time to Google, wikipedia, follow this link, click on that one, what does this Mom's blog have to say about it, what does that respected person believe....and after all that I am left more confused than ever. So I decide to just take a moment, forget what I have been taught, what I have read, what my friends believe, and listen to my own heart about this. I know in the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal...but it is a question that begged an answer, the right answer for us.
Honestly, Halloween (or All Hallows Eve, or Samhain, or All Souls Day) seems to have a relatively innocent beginning. Over time it became a hodge podge of celebrations from all over the world, including the Roman festival of the dead, the English mass day of all saints, the Scottish celebration of summer's ending called All Hallows Eve, etc.
But, my problem is with what it has become. I can't get past the fact that at the heart of all of it lies a glorification of fear and death. There isn't one person among us who hasn't in one way or another been affected by one of these two things. And it begs the question, "was it fun?" When your friend/grandmother/aunt/uncle/cousin/child/sister/husband died, did you wanna have a party? When your child woke up from a nightmare trembling and in tears, did you laugh and eat candy? When you read the story on the news about another act of violence against a child/spouse/soldier, did it make you wanna dress up like the offender?
At the end of the day, I had to look my kids in the eye and tell them (not that celebrating Halloween was a sin, or that Lucifer was going to make a beeline for our compromised souls) but that, although they would be absolutely adorable in a Spiderman/Hello Kitty/Pirate Princess costume, I just couldn't bring myself to participate in something that paid tribute to pain and suffering. It just isn't amusing to me.
