Seriously, why do people celebrate "Halloween"?

Question

This so-called "holiday" that so many loudly proclaim about is nothing but a mere event drummed up by firms worldwide to ensure more revenues entering their Swiss Bank accounts. I still find it difficult getting my head around the notion that children, and even adults, dress up in fictitious characters to knock on doors for sweets. Even forgetting my disdain for such a preposterous holiday and for the people playing "Make-believe", I am concerned more on one thing, and that's one's security.

By knocking on someone's doorstep for the purpose of Walmart-valued sweets, one opens themselves to a plethora of dangers. The resident of the household could be a murderer, robber, pedophile, among many other erroneous titles. Not only that, as that should be obvious to just about all people living in the epoch we are living in now, but the fact of taking a sweet from someone you don't know is disgusting and illogical. The sweet or other "treats" gathered could be poisoned, expired, half-chewed, dunked into a toilet, you name it! You can perhaps state a wide list of methods to "mitigate" this, but the fact remains that abstinence means certainty. And that certainty means the relief that you will not encounter the black sheep that walk amongst us.

I could be wrong?
Agree/Disagree.

Answer 1

Hey Marvin,



For most adults, Halloween is just a fun holiday, and most of the events revolve around drinking. Any excuse to get drunk, is simply that. Furthermore it's fun to dress up and see what other people are dressing up as, etc. I dressed up as Lando Calrissian (at work, going out afterwards).



http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/how-031008-lando_calrissian.jpg



But I made my own costume, so I didn't spend $40+ on some ridiculous Ghostbusters plastic thing. It's just about the fun.



Speaking about the candy, most people usually trick or treat in their own neighborhoods, and kids never go by themselves, unless they've reached a certain age. There are some houses that won't even give candy to people they consider "too old to be trick-or-treating". That being said, if you trust your neighbors and have a sense of community, there's no real reason to be frightened of the candy. Furthermore, the candy is always wrapped (well, let's say almost for the sake of argument), so there is still a chance of doctoring the candy, but this is a fairly rare occurrence.



In terms of pedophiles and other dangerous people, again, you probably shouldn't be trick-or-treating by yourself, or without a parent if you're young. This is very much a group activity (even if it's just an only child and a parent), and the parents don't go to the door, so if there is a problem, it's unlikely that everyone present would be in danger such that no one could run for help. I guess it is still a bit dangerous, but this is such a long tradition, and the chance of anything bad happening is so slim, that worrying about it is just an undue stress. Furthermore, with the pedophile issue, in many places, convicted sex offenders are not allowed to give out candy, and anyone can go online to find out where convicted sex offenders live. And, if you're trick-or-treating in your neighborhood, sex offenders have to introduce themselves, so you should definitely know where they live.



Lastly, with the corporate issue, how is this any different from just about any other holiday? Even Christmas has been disgustingly commodified, and several others (Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc.) were only created to sell Hallmark cards and sell merchandise for presents. It's just a recognition of people or religions in these cases, and Halloween is just fun. Why not?

Answer 2

If you follow this line of thinking all the time, you would never want to leave the house.



Life is risk. You take your life, and the lives of others, into your hands every time you drive a car, go to the supermarket, use any electrical appliance, take a shower, etc.



People celebrate Halloween because it's fun. That's the bottom line. Sure, to us, the traditions don't seem to make sense and are overly commercialized, but they have roots in the distant past when All Hallow's Eve was a night of ghosts, spirits, and demons.



Now, I know there are some religious nuts who will say that Halloween is the devil's holiday and no one should celebrate on such a day. In that case, you may as well get rid of the christmas tree and the easter bunny, both pagan traditions.



Stop worrying so much, grab a costume, and go have some fun.

Answer 3

You're thinking way too much into Halloween. Kids absolutely love Halloween. I think you've forgotten what being a kid was all about. And as for poisoned candy, that's a rare occurrence all across the nation. Parents sift through the candy once they get home to rid the contents of any suspects.



Can't live your life in fear of a chance occurrence.



My daughter dressed up as a fairy today and this is the first Halloween where she understands the concept. It was the best thing ever to let her stand in front of the mirror after I'd transformed her into a little pixie and seriously, those types of things is what life is all about.



At the rate you're going, you'll never make any real memories because you're concerning yourself with the validity of the occasion and before you know it, the opportunity will have passed.

Answer 4

The holiday we celebrate today is purely a candy company holiday,

but in history Halloween was a Celtic Pagan Samhain holiday.

It was a celebration to mark the end of summer, and the beginning of Harvest (that's where the tradition of handing out treats came from.)



The marking of the end of summer also was considered cold dark and death filled.

So because of this, the ancient celts believed that on all hollows eve, the barrier between worlds blurred.







A lot of major holidays have Pagan roots.





Stevie knows the history....





Oh yeah,

and the costumes came from the tradition of dressing up so the evil spirits couldn't recognize the living.

Answer 5

Hey, Marvin!



There's two parts to my response. The first is about the dangers you list. Part of the trick-or-treating activities are about community and neighbors. I don't consider the risk great, but I do see the rewards as very useful. There have been no cases of poisoning or abduction within a 1,00 miles of here in the last 20 years around Halloween. Yes, it's possible, just as it's possible for a sniper to shoot you while you pump gas into your car, or other random events.



Moreover, along the same lines, the ability to step outside one's identity and the social strictures associated with it, is liberating.



Now to part two:

I'm a Pagan. For me and my family and friends, today is a day of celebration, but it's also a sacred time. We don't dress up in costume, but we do hand out treats, and we spend the evening of this day honoring our beloved dead and valuing our accomplishments for the past year, and looking ahead to the coming year. We don't celebrate Halloween, as such, but rather the older Samhain. It's not a commercial Holiday for us, or for many other Pagans, or for many Mexican-Americans, either.



Cheers!

Answer 6

You are right and I stopped participating when my little brother had his bag stolen by teenagers. I grabbed my baseball bat and those guys found other places to be (of course if I did what I intended, the the news reports would have made me the monster that night).



The common "mitigating" factors are having a parent accompany kids and only visit houses of friends and relatives. I once baked cookies to pass out and my wife said no way was I giving them out, "The mothers will just throw them away and think you put something in them to make their kids sick". (I ate them, I felt a little sick, but gluttony will do that sometimes).



These days, I leave my porch light off, put the car in the garage or make sure I check it a couple of times at night, or go out for dinner and a movie.



To me, Halloween is like Mardi Gras, sticking the middle finger to the air of Christian holidays that immediately follow. I like to joke that if they worked as hard revering the saints the next day as they did lampooning them the night before (all hallow's eve) this might be a better world.

Answer 7

Just another example of how mainstream American culture is a consumer culture...



Halloween is historically full of Pagan traditions and rituals, yet most people who claim to be Christians celebrate it.



Big Business will use anything to make a dollar, so it's no surprise there.



And it's funny how people write off obvious things like the facts above as "kids just having fun".



But outside the candy and costumes, etc.... I don't celebrate it but I wouldn't knock it... it's kinda like the holiday of another religion... I just don't care.



Peace

Answer 8

Current Halloween is nothing like the old All Hallows Eve. It's really a religious ceremony.

Answer 9

Well i'm Irish and Hallowe'en is a big part of our culture and goes back to pagan times in Ireland, when they believed that the doors between the living and the dead opened and people dressed up to fool the dead, we trick or treat in neighbourhoods where usually we know everyone and play games and generally have a party. It means something to most Irish people.

Answer 10

eh? this is why mum made most of the costumes i wore when i was a kid, if folks lack the basic creativity to make their own costumes that's not everyone else's problem, i've always enjoyed it i always will and i don't intend on letting anything sway me from that on the account of a bunch of mindless simpletons who can't create anything themselves. by the way that's long for i disagree

Answer 11

KIDS do it to dress up, scare and be scared and get loads of candy.

All you nut cases who worry about RAZORS IN APPLES and ACID IN CANDY and other drugs in candy need to take a step back then come back to reality. It's NOT about worshiping Satan, it's about HAVING FUN.

Just be careful of the PARANOIDS tonight! They're out to getcha!

Answer 12

Its the one day you can go crazy on the streets and Im going out with my girl to Thorpe park are you madd Halloweens livo

Answer 13

Okay you make perfect sense with what you stated and I agree but honestly to answer your question its two words : FREE CANDY!!!!



Try convincing little kids when they bang ur doors down tonight lol

Answer 14

I celebrate it so I can see guys in cute costumes and eat a crap load of candy.



Yeah. That's really shallow of me. Give me a break, I'm only 19 :).

Answer 15

Because it's a fun thing to do.

Answer 16

Grow up man!!





It's a bit of fun don't you have kids? did you even have a childhood? christ.

Answer 17

it makes kids happy. it's fun

Answer 18

I hate halloween, i've never liked it