Hallowen (Essay)

HALLOWEEN

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the thirty-first of October every year. In America, children will parade down neighborhood sidewalks dressed in their favorite costume, stopping at each lighted home, to trick or treat for Halloween treats. It was one of the most celebrated holidays in America. In recent years, there has been a decline in the celebration of Halloween due to safety concerns, religious beliefs, and lack of community involvement.

It began with the Halloween treats children received when trick or treating in their neighborhood. Throughout America, local News Stations reported that the Halloween treats children received in their bags were being tampered with. From razor blades in apples to needles in candy bars, children were now at risk to anyone who wish to do them harm. Out of fear and concern for their children’s well being, parents felt it was too dangerous to let their children trick or treat. At once, Halloween became unsafe to all children and the trick or treating tradition on Halloween became almost nonexistent.

Religious beliefs have also played a major role in the reluctance to continue celebrating Halloween. Religious leaders, whose beliefs are founded on a Christian faith, deemed that celebrating Halloween is a sin. They preach to their congregations that Halloween is a holiday that’s created as a day to worship Satan and celebrate evil. They quote the bible as saying to dress in a costume is a tribute to Satan and symbolic of evil regardless of how innocent a costume might appear to be. A Halloween celebration especially if in costume, now has the nuance that one could be considered a sinner to God and morally questionable among their peers.

With a child’s safety in question and the anxiety of religious beliefs, community involvement on Halloween night is at a record low. Neighborhoods are no longer lit up in anticipation of the doorbells being rung by children trick or treating. Instead they’ll come upon darken homes or unlit porches signifying do not disturb as there are no Halloween treats waiting inside. Lately, it has become common to see children trick or treating from their parent’s vehicle rather than parading their costumes down the street. This might seem lazy or odd on the parent’s behalf but the fact remains that with the lack of community involvement, the endless block of darkened homes has become an unpleasant task rather than an exciting Halloween adventure.

A child’s safety, religious beliefs and lack of community involvement have contributed to the downfall of Halloween. There have been many worthy attempts to restore the Halloween celebration; each worth exploring but until a children can safely trick or treat, religious leaders relinquish their ban on celebrating Halloween and community involvement increases, Halloween will remain ostracized.