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Printer-Friendly ModeSchools should permit old Halloween traditions
October 12, 2009 —
Whether it’s the ending of the summer’s sweltering heat adults look forward to or changing colors and the beauty of falling leaves, most are glad to finally be able to curl up in the coziness of fall.
But kids don’t care about any of that. Kids love fall, more specifically October, for one reason: Halloween.
I remember the ‘90s when my classmates and I would go to school talking about the upcoming Holiday festivities for weeks: I’m going to bring Fun Dip for my treat for the Halloween party. I’m going to be a pumpkin-witch for Halloween, but don’t tell anyone.
I get to wear make-up. I’m going to a haunted house tonight. Tomorrow, I get to carve a pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern and make pumpkin seeds.
I was pretty disappointed to find out that my old elementary school, along with many others throughout the country, will no longer be celebrating Halloween. Students were never allowed to dress up as anything violent for obvious reasons, but now they’re not even allowed to be witches or ghosts.
Why? Because even though hardly anyone celebrates the religious aspect of Halloween anymore (including public schools), the holiday still has ties to a Celtic festival originating in Europe hundreds of years ago.
During that time, Celts believed that the dead would return to the homes they lived in to interact with the living, who would have bonfires and offer food to these souls so the souls wouldn’t curse evil spells on them.
Christianity later took the same idea and put its own spin on it. Nov. 1 was a day dedicated to all the Christian saints, and the day before that, Oct. 31, was to be the day everyone feasted. They called it “All Hallow’s Even.” “Hallowe’en” for short.
But how many people even know that today? How many people celebrate Halloween because of Christian saints or offer food to dead souls so they don’t haunt them? Halloween is no longer viewed as a religious holiday to most and shouldn’t be treated like one in public schools.
But that is the reason schools are calling it the “Fall Harvest Party” and are not allowing students to dress up like ghosts, goblins and witches, but rather like their favorite storybook characters.
Obviously, I can’t speak for everyone, but I don’t think that every girl wants to dress up like Little Red Riding Hood, and every boy won’t want to dress as the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz. Most boys want to dress up like ninjas or warriors and girls want to dress up like pretty pumpkin-witches.
Don’t get me wrong. As a nonreligious person, I do think that separating church and state is important, but where will we draw the line?