Yes folks, it’s halloween today. The one major holiday in the UK I don’t really celibrate. Now don’t get me wrong, I like an excuse to eat chocolate but this celebration just doesn’t sit right with me.

The good

There are some good things that come from people celebrating Halloween so I thought I would start with those. Firstly, there’s the giving of chocolate and other sweets. I think this is pretty cool. It’s one of those times of year people are actually willing to open their doors to potential strangers and give them something nice.

Secondly, it encourages people to get to know their neighbours a bit. Kids go around, often accompanied by their parents, and knock on the doors down their streets. In a day and age where people keep more and more to themselves it’s quite nice to see people talking, even if only for a moment.

The Bad

This event is actually based on the All Hallow’s Eve celebration. Basically a night of the year when all the demons, ghosts and other nasty spiritual things are supposedly getting a last evening to get vengeance on anyone they wish before All Saints day when they get moved on from this earth to wherever they are actually meant to be. If that’s not something you believe in then I can see that not being a problem for you, but if you do have some belief in the more spiritual side of things, is it really wise to be celebrating this?

Also Halloween has moved on from this to other things. It’s become tradition to watch horror films, tell ghost stories and generally try and make people feel scared. I’m all for people understanding death and the consequences of it but I think horror movies and the like take that too far.

I also think the trick aspect of halloween can go too far, especially if teenagers are involved. People’s houses get egged and sometimes people themselves and that’s considered one of the more minor tricks. Admittedly this only seems to happen in certain places.

The Ugly

My final dislike of Halloween is the costumes. It’s normal for people to dress up as some pretty nasty things, from goblins, ghosts and other monsters plus things like witches and wizards, the uglier the better. Originally people wore masks on Halloween to hide themselves from the things lurking to possibly get vengeance on them, not to pretend to be the ones getting vengeance!

Essentially it’s an evening that appears to reward kids, with sweets, for pretending to be evil and I just don’t like that as a concept.

I much prefer the idea I heard of a few years ago of kids having a superhero party. Instead of dressing up as something unpleasant, all the kids dressed up as their favourite characters from films and books. The guys that keep us safe from evil. Not only does it fit better with the original idea of the evening, it’s a much lighter way for people to have fun.