October is the season of pumpkins and candy galore. People shove their shorts and tank tops to the back of their closet and reach for sweaters and boots to stay warm for the upcoming cold season. Although the weather is not ideal for most, people can celebrate one of the most popular holidays of the fall season: Halloween. 

Door-to-door trick-or-treating is discouraged, and indoor haunted houses crowded by adults and children are a risk. For Halloween, COVID-19 is its biggest scare. However, the global pandemic does not change these facts: Halloween 2020 falls on the last Saturday of the month, there will be a full moon and we will be blessed by daylights saving time and moving the clocks back an hour. That creates the perfect night for ghoulish fun with friends and family. Although Halloween for 2020 will be a blast, who says we must limit our ghostly activities to just one night of the year?

Halloween’s origin dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The day marked the end of summer and the harvest. It also marked the beginning of winter, which according to History, “ a time of year that was often associated with human death,” and “Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred.” They believed, on the night of Oct. 31, that ghosts of the dead would return to Earth and cause trouble by destroying and damaging crops. To memorialize the event, Druids built sacred bonfires, where people would throw in sacrifices such as crops and animals for the Celtic deities. In addition to that, the Celts wore costumes that consisted of animal heads and skins and attempted to tell each other their fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires to protect themselves for the upcoming winter. 

The history itself is a terror and reason for the holiday’s ultimate goal: to create fear in its celebration throughout the night. But with Halloween approaching, the question lingers: Why do we limit the activities to just one night? Do not get me wrong, I do love the specialness that comes with one night a year that it is acceptable for adults to do heinous crimes to children, but why is not socially acceptable for it to happen 365 days a year? 

If it were up to me, I would allow everyone to dress up as pirates and wizards every day. People would be allowed to be anything they wanted, whether it existed or not. Halloween is a holiday for all to come together and celebrate everything spooky about the fall season. It did not matter if you were a 5-year-old or a 50-year-old, everyone dresses up during this special time of the year to become something more magical than life. One of the aspects I miss about growing up are the memories I created while trick-or-treating with my friends and spending time with the family on the couch watching scary movies with cups of hot apple cider. 

Whether or not you believe Halloween is underrated or overrated, the fall season is the perfect time to get with family and friends and watch the leaves change colors and prepare for the long winter ahead. 

Have a fang-tastic Halloween.