November 1, 2011 – Why I don’t celebrate Halloween

I’ve been asked what my daughter is going to be for her first Halloween.  “A baby,” I might reply.  Someone else asked if she was going to wear a costume.  “She’ll wear a diaper…that’s a more elaborate costume than most people will wear.”  I try to get people to smile and chuckle with these tongue-in-cheek replies rather than go into a long, drawn-out discussion of why I detest Halloween.  I could very easily (and probably should) present my grounds on the cultural and religious aspects of the “holiday”.  But even secular grounds are sufficient for doing so:

1.  We as an American culture make our boast as the “home of the brave,” and try to instill in our young people a sense of having no fear.  But then we have a holiday in which we celebrate fear.
2. The defense is often made that it’s for the children.  I can’t speak for anyone else, but if you walk around the Halloween section of our local Wal-Mart, you will be hard-pressed to find anything (outside of candy) for children.  It’s mostly graphic, ghoulish nonsense of at least a PG-13 nature.  The vast majority of the costumes/decorations/etc. tell of death and the macabre.  There are many other things we can do for children (yes, we can even throw candy into the mix) than cram this stuff down their throats every 31^st of October from infancy on.

Alas, my soapbox.  But after walking around the aforementioned Halloween section, you’ll be craving some soap and hot water.