Trick or Treat?

Halloween’s coming up and my friends and I spent all of yesterday rummaging through Electrique Boutique looking for something to wear.  We decided on Spice Girls, something that I was when I was 10 and can’t wait to be again.  History is repeating itself in my own personal life when it comes to celebrating Halloween, which made me wonder where Halloween came from.   I had no idea that Halloween was initially celebrated in England by poor people who begged for food on the streets. People would give them “soul cakes” in exchange or prayers for family members or friends who have died.  The idea of costumes comes from European beliefs that on “Hallows Eve” the souls of the dead would wake up and come to people’s homes.  To avoid being recognized, people would wear masks to trick the ghosts into thinking they were also ghosts.

These initial rituals of this holiday have become lost in translation over the years.  These days Halloween is about gathering the most candy, wearing the flashiest candy, and making it to the most houses you can.  At least it was when I was a little kid.  The older I get the more Halloween is “an excuse for people to dress slutty” according to Mean Girls (a movie everyone’s seen that has is about high school.  This year I’m tempted to throw my short leopard mini dress and go-go boots in the closet and dress like a ghost or goblin or something to scare the lost souls away.  I think that Halloween would be much cooler if we made it into the spooky holiday it was in the past.  While scary movies and TV shows are being played on TV the reality and fear of ghosts has diminished.  I can’t help but wonder how much cooler Halloween would be if it was still about dodging ghosts and superstitions.  No one worries about crossing paths with black cats or walking under ladders anymore, but I think it’d be so cool to go out on Halloween because I was too spooked to stay in, instead of just to show off my costume or gather candy.