October 31st: the night when kids get to dress up with their friends and get free candy, when young adults get to dress up and express their inner child as they socialize at parties and help their younger siblings go out into the eerie night, and when parents are able to enjoy the day with their kids and possibly dress up together as a family.
However, we forget that the holiday known to us as Halloween was not ours to begin with. The Halloween traditions we have adopted, such as “trick or treating,” bobbing for apples, and putting silly masks on our faces, were originally brought over to America by the Irish during the potato famine of the 1840s.
In Ireland, way back when, they celebrated the end of the harvest season on October 31st, also marking the Celtic New Year. This is considered a time when the spirits of the dead can walk the earth once again. It was common tradition of this celebration called “Samhain,” to have bonfires to ward off these undead spirits.
As the Catholic Church grew and their beliefs spread across Europe, however, not so many were keen to this idea of ghosts and ghouls. The church decided to not obliterate the celebration, but instead change it’s meaning. Another new holiday had been created, All Saints Day, to honor all passed saints on November 1st. The day before this was recognized as “All Hallows Eve,” eventually changing to “Halloween.”
Whether you are affiliated with the church or not, a believer or not, this holiday has its past just like any other, and has reasons for being on the day it is. Not only would it be disrespectful of the history to change Halloween to an everyday occurrence, but it would also take much of the magic out of it.
Think about it: Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, they’re all unforgettable holidays that we look forward to every year. Part of the fun of these kinds of holidays is the preparation and the joyful activities that you get to do only once a year. It’s what makes a holiday, a holiday.
Brooke Holben
Brooke Holbenis a fourth-year student at Lock Haven University dual majoring in Communication (Electronic Media) and English (Writing with a minor in art). She served as a staff writer and photographer off-and-on for the Eagle Eye staff and now currently works as the Online Editor. Brooke is also the president of the campus's chapter of national honorary band fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi (Eta Alpha, HA). After Lock Haven, she plans to continue her education with a masters degree in Creative Writing for Entertainment and furthermore use the combination of degrees to become a script/narrative writer for video games, comics, and other forms of entertainment media.
