How to have a Safe and Non-offensive Halloween, A presentation by Me:
- DO NOT dress up as anything that can be deemed as culturally inappropriate/offensive, i,e. stereotypes and anything insulting – I will personally fight you
- If you’re going trick-or-treating, WEAR A COSTUME. Even if you’re a big kid. I’m not handing you candy if you’re not wearing a costume. The only ones who can break this rule are the one-year-olds who are so bundled up that you can’t see their costume.
- Bring a flashlight! it gets dark!
- Stick in a group. Don’t wander off on your own.
- Have your parents inspect your candy – I know this sounds stupid, but there are actually people out there who find joy in sticking drugs and razor blades in candy and then giving it to kids. Your parents may joke and say “I’m gonna “inspect” your candy” (which means they might take some) but you should share with your parents anyways. They’re the ones that let you go out late at night anyway.
- Say thank you to the person who gives you candy!
- And don’t take anything that’s unwrapped / and throw away anything homemade. This may seem harsh at first, but you actually don’t know what’s in it.
- If you’re the type of person who goes to parties on Halloween, stay safe. Keep a phone with you, don’t drink what you can’t recognize, don’t leave a cup unattended (this goes for literally everyone) and don’t go home with a stranger.
AND, since we’re here, I’ll give you a quick history lesson on Halloween, because ’tis the season:
The Origin – a holiday based on the ancient Celtic festival Samhain, where people would dress up, and set bonfires to scare away ghosts – as October 31st was the last day of their year, and it was believed that the undead would come back on that day. The bonfires were sacred and lit by Celtic Druids – also known as priests. The fires were to sacrifice animals to Celtic deities. It was a way to blend the world between the living and the dead, on that night only.
The Classical Origin – Pope Gregory III deemed November 1st All Saints Day – a way to celebrate Christian martyrs. The church would eventually make November 2nd All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It’s believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related church-sanctioned holiday.
Halloween in America – Colonial Halloween festivities featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, and Halloween centered celebrations started to show up with the immigrants, especially the Irish that were fleeing the potato famine in the late eighteenth century.
Modern Halloween- In the late 1800s, Americans started to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks, and witchcraft. Parents were encouraged to remove anything grotesque and frightening from Halloween, and that is how it lost its religious connotations. In the fifties, parties moved from the roaring twenties style down to a more child-centered approach, in classrooms and homes. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for communities to celebrate together, and keep the kids out of harm’s way from tricks, and give them small treats instead.
Now, there are other superstitions with historical background, but this post is getting drawn out and I have to go apply for college.
Happy Spooky Month! Stay safe and have fun!
~ Houseman
Welcome to Blain is a dork! 