Halloween dates back to the Celtic festival known as Samhain. On the night of October 31st, the Celts wore costumes and built sacred bonfires. As the Roman Empire conquered Celtic lands, two Roman celebrations were combined with Samhain. First was Feralia, which commemorated the passing of the dead, and the second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. When Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome, the holiday become known as All Saints Day, also known as All-hallos or All-hallowmas. The night before was known as All-hallows Eve, and eventually, Halloween.
When Halloween came to America, the beliefs and customs of different ethnic groups, as well as the American Indians, combined to create a distinct “American” version of the holiday. In the second half of the 19th century, Irish immigrants helped spread Halloween nation wide. The holiday included dressing up in costumes, and venturing house-to-house asking for food or money. This became more traditionally known as trick-or-treating. Trick-or-treating holds roots in the All Souls’ Day parades in England, where poor citizens would beg for food, and distribution of “soul cakes” was encouraged by the church. By the beginning of the 20th century, Halloween had lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones.
Although the celebration of Halloween still holds solid roots in it’s original traditions, the holiday has certainly changed. Over the last few years it has gained negative attention. This holiday originated as a way to bring communities together, however in today’s society we are more concerned about being politically correct, and making sure that we don’t offend anyone, than celebrating a holiday that is meant to be fun and light hearted.
As a kid I dressed up as a ballerina, a witch (multiple times), a cheerleader, and many other typical “girl costumes”. Back then (a whopping 20 years ago) it wasn’t a big deal to let your daughter dress up in girly outfits for Halloween, and the same went for little boys who wanted to dress in “boy costumes”. In today’s society people place so much stress on not allowing kids to dress a certain way simply based on their gender. Although I agree that you shouldn’t just shove a child in a pink tutu because she’s a girl, or a fireman uniform because he’s a boy, that doesn’t mean that you should place the trivial stress of being politically correct onto a child who just wants to enjoy the holiday. Let your kid wear what they want, give them some candy, and just enjoy the night.
Although I am a 20 year old in college, I am still guilty of getting extremely excited about Halloween and planning my costumes weeks in advance. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, but over the last few years, I’ve found myself thinking more and more about whether my costumes are appropriate. This isn’t because I’m picking costumes that are scandalous, but because today’s societal expectations about “appropriate costumes” are shockingly strict.
Not to long ago I read an article about “costumes that should be avoided this year”. I was really surprised that costumes I have seen since I was a kid are now considered inappropriate. I understand that today’s political climate is tense and that there is a lot of tension across different ethnic groups. I also agree that a costume shouldn’t mock or characterize certain races or individuals in a negative way. However, there comes a point when we need to say enough is enough, and just have fun.
Halloween has such a rich history, and ultimately ended up as a day to bring everyone together. After reading about the history of Halloween, it’s hard to believe that a holiday that was created by bringing all types of people together has transformed into what it is today. It’s 2016, and we are letting costumes tear us apart. We should be able to pick a costume and have fun for a night, and not worry that someone, somewhere, is going to get offended. People need to realize that it ultimately is just a costume, it’s just a holiday, and we’re all just trying to have some fun.
