Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween

As you all know, today is Halloween. On this day, people dress up as ghosts, zombies, skeletons, or any other stereotypical things like that. And then they go up to every strangers' house they find and ask them if they would like to trick or treat them. (So the stranger gets a choice of what to do.)

The portrayal and meaning of Halloween in America is generally stupid or annoying. Immediately when go to a Halloween in America, you see very gory and "not-for-anyone-eighteen-years-or-younger" stuff. 

However, I don't believe that Halloween should look like that. Halloween originated at a Celtic festival or something like that. People would slaughter their livestock for the winter. The corpses would be thrown into a fire while the people wear masks of the dead among them. But they did not trick-or-treat.

The idea of wearing costumes is semi-accurate. But trick-or-treating, and the idea of making it appropriate for newborns so they don't immediately steal guns and shoot people upon seeing the light for the first time is even dumber. 

In Mexico, Halloween is the day of the dead where they worship their dead ancestors. So in a way, we are making fun of their dead ancestors and it baffles me on how they do not get offended. 

Sure its fun, but with either the gory or overly age-appropriate nature, its not what it should be.

1 comment:

  1. Halloween is not "El Día de Los Muertos." That holiday falls on November 1st and 2nd - All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day. The Mexicans probably don't care because Halloween isn't really even a holiday for them. By the way, all holidays have evolved from what they started out as. There wasn't always a Santa, they was no turkey at the first Thanksgiving, no presents were giving during the original Hanukkah, and there wasn't always an Easter Bunny. These holidays evolve as people and civilizations change over time. Sure, some people take Halloween too far with overly gruesome displays, but on the whole, it is a pretty fun Holiday. I mean, when else do you get to go door to door receiving free candy?

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