It’s that time of year again, when the spirit of giving and a plethora of beautiful decorations come to bring joy to the hearts of every boy and girl.
I’m talking, of course, about Halloween, a holiday I have loved ever since I was old enough to walk and demand candy from strangers.
Of course, the holiday meant a lot more to me than the chance to satiate my savage sweet tooth; I viewed every year as an opportunity to display whatever fascinated me to the general public through a costume, whether it was my idolization of the green Power Ranger when I was six years old, or the crazy pencil-thin mustache of John Waters when I was 20.
Naturally, many things change in 14 years, as I am sure they do for the rest of you. The beautiful thing about Halloween is its demonstration of how our most basic instincts remain intact as we grow up.
While several college students can be seen heading off to the bars or hosting creative parties, the sense of wonder that came from Trick-or-Treating as children is still in the air.
I have seen people well into middle age dress up for Halloween, and it is good for people to keep that tradition. These costumes reveal important parts of our personality, whether it is something we aspire to be (my green Power Ranger costume) or perhaps making a satirical statement on society by dressing like a “bro.”
Many decorations are creepy, but this adds another thrill to the night by allowing us to explore the side of ourselves that enjoys an adrenaline rush provoked by a good scare. I enjoy being grossed out by things that I know cannot really hurt me (like a big, furry fake spider).
The holiday weaves several contradictions like this together. We enjoy being able to explore the dangers of the unknown from the safety of our home (or town).
However, we are expected to conduct ourselves in the best interests of others. While we all enjoy candy, laughs and even some good pranks, no one I know enjoys hurt feelings, alcohol poisoning or a trip to the Wood County Justice Center.
While we can each explore different sides of our personalities, Halloween is not confined to the celebration of your ego. The fact that people often stay in on the holidays and hand out much of their well-earned candy to trick-or-treaters deserves tremendous credit, especially if they decorate their house to make it fun for these brief visitors.
Students on this campus certainly engage in this, not only decorating residence halls for our own amusement, but also through staging Halloween events that children in the community can enjoy as well.
The holiday also carries a deeper spiritual meaning for some people on campus as well, and no, I am not just talking about Wiccans. Catholics celebrate Halloween as the evening before All Saints Day, similar in spirit to Christmas Eve.
Lastly, the holiday also promotes a spirit of socializing and fellowship through these celebrations of personality, allowing us to understand each other better.
One of the things I find funny after listing all of this is how similar it is to Christmas. While people can weave on either side of the religious or commercial spectrum of the holiday, its meaning is largely something that can benefit a large number of individuals and challenge us to become better people.
Halloween is most fun because it is the most boisterous celebration of these aspects, placing great importance on exposing the liveliest aspects of our personalities to each other.
That’s kind of ironic for a holiday with so much emphasis on death and zombies.
