Everyone can remember their favorite childhood Halloween costume. Getting so excited to put it on and go out trick or treating with your friends. Everywhere you looked; there were superheroes, princesses, animals, iconic characters, and almost anything else you can think of, someone was dressed as it.
The best part of Halloween, in my opinion, is the nostalgia surrounding it. That feeling of getting to frolic around neighborhoods at night, to now taking out younger siblings or friends out and seeing them experience the same thing.
For anyone, Halloween is a chance to be a kid again. As we got older, however, Halloween felt different.
Having to go to school on Halloween is fine, to say the least. Sure, the real festivities of the holiday don’t really start until the sun goes down, but the anticipation during the day and having to sit through seven hours of long classes makes Halloween feel less special. Having to go to school the day after Halloween though, that is worse.
You basically have to choose: late nights eating candy and going to costume parties, or going to bed at a decent time in order to make it through the next day of school. Of course, you can always wait to celebrate until the weekend, but the feeling of partying on the actual night is 1000 times better.
We always get school off for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and even Presidents’ Day. So why can’t we have the same for Halloween?
The argument could be that Halloween has no significance like Christmas or Easter does, being religious holidays; however, the spooky holiday does have roots in Celtic and Christian traditions.
Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival, celebrated the end of the harvest and beginning of the winter months. Also held on the last day of October, the day believed to blur the line between the living and the dead.
Furthermore, the name “Halloween” derives from “All Hallows’ Eve,” the night before the Christian holiday of All Saints’ Day, followed by All Souls’ Day on November 2nd. All Saints’ Day marks the beginning of the observance of Allhallowtide, the time dedicated to remembrance of those who have passed on, or saints/hallows.
So, with its nostalgic impact on children across the country, and its significance of celebration, Halloween deserves to be celebrated with a day off of school.
