Every year, Halloween comes at the end of October, and it comes at a good time. It’s the time of the year in which we’ve all abandoned our diets and just want to gorge ourselves with Kit-Kats and Twix Bars. However, despite the joys of candy and costumes, is the holiday itself actually for kids?
The origins of Halloween stems all the way back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celtic people, who roughly lived 2000 years ago, believed that on the night of October 31, all spirits ,both good and bad, would be released to revisit the world. Sounds pretty cool, right?
Well, no, it got quite cultish actually. The Celts tried to keep the evil spirits away by having huge altars and sacrifices, and consulting ancient scrolls for potential “prophecies” that might occur. The Celts essentially worshiped the evil spirits in their belief that this was the only way to keep evil spirits at bay.
Now, fast forward about 2000 years and you’ll get to where we are today. There’s no more ancient rituals or sacrifices taking place, but mass celebrations and costume wearings are still present. Is all of this fine? Absolutely, but modern-day Halloween is also inspired by acts of fear. Think about all of the horror movies about mass murder, decorations themed as evil creatures, and costumes dressed as chainsaw killers. Doesn’t seem entirely kid friendly deep down does it?
So what’s the verdict? I think people should be careful on how they portray the holiday to younger kids. Going trick or treating is still one of the best things of the year (Yes, I’m 17 and still saying that), and wearing creative costumes can also be a cool experience. However, we should be alert that we aren’t secretly embracing all of the potentially evil and demonic ideas around the holidays. Just like anything else we do, we should monitor what we’re taking in, and how that’s going to affect what we put out.
Information Credit: https://www.history.com/articles/history-of-halloween