Halloween Celebrations for You and Me

Halloween, for me, is one of the special days of the year. But Halloween is not like Christmas or Valentines day, where we celebrate Christ and saints. This is not the case in Halloween. At this day, the souls of the ones who passed before us are the ones being celebrated. Scary, isn’t it? Not really, for the celebration of Halloween is really fun.

Halloween is often confused with All Saints day, which falls on November 1. Halloween falls on October 31, the last day of that month. In the 1600s, the word Halloween was first manifested. A variant of the fuller Scottish term “All-Hallows-Eve” is what the word represents. All-Hallows-Eve is what they call the night before All Hallows Day.

Halloween is celebrated around the world in many ways nowadays. However, not all people celebrate it, but for those who does, its traditions and importance varies greatly. Because it can often be seen particularly in iconic and commercial events, other nations tend to follow the American way of celebrating Halloween.

Usually, Halloween is celebrated by parties in which participants will attend wearing different kinds of costumes. This is more prominent in the U.S, of A. The costume they wear varies, but oftentimes are costumes of ghost, witches, or ghouls. However, there are now diverse kinds of costumes, like costumes of TV series characters, Pirates of the Caribbean Costumes, space-themed costumes, and more. As for the kids, they celebrate Halloween through Trick-or-Treating. Children of all ages wear different kinds of costume and then go door-to-door asking each homeowner for candies by shouting “Trick-or-Treat”. Oftentimes they oblige to the requests of the children, but for those who don’t a trick awaits them, which is usually a mischievous but harmless trick. Although some people view this tradition as a nuisance, many people enjoy seeing little kids wearing monster costumes or Pirates of the Caribbean Costumes while roaming the streets asking for treats.

Here in the Philippines, Halloween is rarely noticed. However, especially in the urban areas, Halloween is sometimes celebrated nowadays. When I was a kid, we did not experience Trick-or-Treating, for at that time we did not know what it is. However, in my elementary days, whenever it is nearing November, we would plan a Halloween party, although sometimes it does not fall exactly on October 31. Instead of wearing uniforms, we would go to school wearing costumes. After our classes, which would be dismissed early because we would only take our quizzes and have no lectures, we would have our party. These days, I see little kids wearing costumes (but more often in their casual clothes), asking for treats and candies at each house. But you can see that their costumes are just improvised. For example, a boy will wear a “barong” and put lots of powder in his face making him a zombie or a little girl wearing a gown which will make her pass as a princess. Character costumes are very rare here, so I do not see kids wearing Pirates of the Caribbean Costumes. But at least the Halloween spirit is there. And it is still a lot of fun to watch!

Halloween, which is really a fun celebration, really has some deep meaning behind it. Halloween actually teaches us death and mortality. We should value our own lives, for once it’s lost, it’s gone forever. And lastly, enjoy your lives to the fullest.

Have a happy Halloween!