In recent years, I have started to re-evaluate my relationship to holidays. Albert Camus in his infamous essay The Myth of Sisyphus writes, “We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking.” This sits at the core of my re-evaluation of, not just holidays but, many of the traditions that I inherited. The act of deconstruction is a long and tedious one but allows me the clarity to walk into each moment with more intention. This is a price I am willing to pay.

Halloween, for me, was what I believe it was for many children. It consisted of dressing up in fun costumes, being with my friends, accumulating more candy than one can eat in one sitting, and lots of terrified screaming that would effortlessly transition into fits of laughter. I remember costume contests, meeting new people, getting into a little bit of trouble, and learning the peculiarities of my friend’s candy preferences. My favorite part of the night, every year in my childhood, was when we would dump all our candy into piles in the living room, sort them, and make very serious business deals and trades. I remember my brother trying to trick my younger sister and I into giving him all the “good” candy and felt so clever that I could see through his cunning persona.

At some point, probably around middle school, a distinct shift occurs. The childlike innocence of the day was suddenly not there anymore. There is a highly contested debate about what age one should stop trick-or-treating and instead of the highly curated night that was once there, I had free range to decide what to do with my time. Some of us tried to keep the routine, some of us decided to shift to parties, and some of us opted out all together as we were not quite sure what was appropriate anymore.

In my search to look at Halloween and decide what it means to me now, I decided to take a look at it’s origins, as well as, its evolution. I had heard from certain friends that their Christian parents would not let them participate in Halloween but for me, Halloween did not bare any religious sentiment– unlike Christmas and Easter. This became another factor that I wanted to look at and evaluate.

According to https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween, a source that clearly and concisely lays out the history of Halloween, the roots can be traced back to the Celtic festival of Samhain. Samhain and the November 1st holiday of All Saint’s Day became blurred in tradition and started to adopt elements from each other. The night before All Saint’s Day was donned All Hallows Eve which, in turn, became Halloween. This cultural and religious blurring of lines happens in every region and, though it’s results are not always clear cut and traceable, it allows for intricate and nuanced traditions to emerge. To me, there is beauty in this blending which should be embraced. As it is embraced, we should still look back to see why those before us have done what they did as we inform what we will do.

So, now with a little historical context, I look forward to what Halloween is today. The main meaning I see emerging here is community building. There is value in knowing your neighbors and becoming familiar with those around you. I know for me, growing up, meeting a ton of new people each Halloween was extremely rewarding. In a country that values individualism, seeing everyone out in the streets was a rare occasion and the sense of community truly only came out in very specific circumstances like the ones provided by Halloween. This may be why I am a bit disconnected from the idea of using Halloweekend as an invitation to party. Partying gives a semblance of community but it doesn’t work in the matters of including variety of age groups, like children, or allowing others into our spaces even if that is just the porch. Plus, partying is something that is available all year long whereas the act of trick-or-treating is one night a year.

Another meaning I see emerging is embracing what is seemingly scary and, flipping it on it’s head, to allow for joy and excitement. There is so much merit to facing fears in a safe environment. I think we can all acknowledge that the world is a scary place. The thrill of approaching the unknown, the scary, the unusual, the taboo but doing so in a way that is clothed in safety and fun allows for one to be more likely to look fear in the eyes, under normal circumstances, and take the risk anyways. There is courage building and growth involved in this process.

Lastly, I want to turn my attention towards one more aspect of Halloween that I believe is meaningful. Death is not typically an everyday conversation but Halloween allows for a familiarization, starting at a young age, with the concept that eventually all this comes to an end. Halloween says openly, “death is all around and is coming for each of us but despite the fact that this is fleeting, let’s gather together, eat something that’s sweet, dress up, and embrace this moment.” For me, there is clarity in not immediately assigning negative associations to death and the experiences in life that we typically work to avoid. By adapting the attitude that we can face this and even find some humor and goodness reflects back a reminder: there is value in all experience. Among the suffering that is all around, we seek out joy and we do this together.