I love Halloween. Not just because I’m a horror film addict
or because I love costumes and candy but because of what it represents. As a
kid, my family went BIG for Halloween (oh and we were Catholics) and it’s one
of the few holidays you can go BIG for decorations wise and not have it be
weird. For me, Halloween meant family time. We’d have a neighborhood parade and
then a party before we went trick-or-treating. My mom and dad always dressed
up. It was honestly a magical time. I like that it symbolizes the entrance of
winter and emphasizes the fall but most importantly, I love that it shows that
our country is accepting, of everyone and every boy and ghoul.
I am not a religious person. I am a spiritual person but I
don’t adhere to one religion. Our country was not founded on religion but on freedom from religious persecution. Halloween for me is one of the few holidays free
of religious influences. You can try to say it’s a pagan holiday and the dead
come back to life yadda yadda but I don't think of it as some religious pagan holiday. To me it's just an awesome holiday where I get to dress up and hand out candy and get scared. It has influences, sure, but it's not a holiday that adheres to one religion. The pagans have influenced other "Christian" holidays and we don't mind those. If you look at the holiday of Easter and ask
what bunnies and eggs have to do with it that’s because the Christians incorporated
pagan practices to convert them. Everyone can be tricksters. Pagans worshipped
a goddess of fertility whose symbol was a rabbit. They painted eggs as
offerings in hopes of a good harvest/growing season. If their offering was
accepted they’d see a rabbit!
Seeing Halloween as anything more than a harvest festival
with deeply rooted traditions of dressing up and “trick-or-treating” is just
weird to me. Don’t read so much into it. Enjoy the costumes, enjoy the magic
and enjoy the fall.
Thanksgiving and Christmas are nice. I do love me some
Turkey. Thanksgiving has been taken over as a religious holiday which I guess
it is but I’ve always seen it and have been raised to see it as a time to give
thanks for what and who we have in our lives not for what God has bestowed us. However
some of my religious people refuse to see it as anything but a time to give
thanks to God. The first Thanksgiving was with “heathens” who didn’t believe in
god or understand a prayer. It was a THANK YOU to the heathens which helped
them survive. But to each their own.
Christmas and I used to be friends when my mom was alive.
After my mom, the biggest Christmas lover of them all, died Christmas took on a
much more sinister, depressing and terrifying tone than Halloween with its “traditions”
ever could. I don’t like Christmas not just because of the loss of my mother
but because it’s all about what you can buy. I hate gift giving, I hate
receiving gifts (truly). If Christmas is about loving your fellow man how about
you just tell them that or do some volunteer work or just spend quality time
with your family. Some people do. I intend when I have kids to make sure they
know the holiday is NOT just about gifts but about love. Love for your family.
Love for your fellow man. Love for the season.
I’m working on loving Christmas again it’s just hard with
all the commercialism and spoiled, rotten flavor of it all. Christmas Day is
beautiful, after the presents are unwrapped and it’s just family enjoying each others company. Leading up to Christmas I want to poke out my eyes, burst my
ear drums and hibernate.
I’m not trying to advocate Halloween or tell you it’s better
than it is. I’m also not trying to put down any other holiday. I am merely
expressing my opinions on the matter. This is how I feel. This is why I do the
things I do. I’m me.
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