Habiba ElGaniny I wonder what first comes to mind when you hear about Halloween. Do you think of scary costumes, movies, makeup tutorials, pumpkins, or good ol’ trick-or-treating?
Most people now see Halloween as a celebration where they get to dress up, be their boldest selves, and fear no judgement. So, has our love for Halloween now shifted from simply admiring the reason behind it to recasting it as a judge-free, even jury-free, celebration?
Do we even know what we’re celebrating anymore?
For those who don’t know the origins of Halloween, I’ve decided to take this weight upon myself and went straight down the rabbit hole:
Halloween evolved from Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival celebrated over 2,000 years ago in what is now Ireland, the UK, and northern France. The Celts believed that, on the night of October 31, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. They thought the ghosts of the deceased returned to Earth. To handle this, they built their traditions around protection, so that’s where the costume ideas came from: people wore animal skins, masks, and other frightening things to confuse and scare away the spirits.
There were also bonfires to ward off evil spirits and guide the good ones to the afterlife.
Halloween has officially stopped being about all that.
Allow me to return to my question: when you think of Halloween, do either of the S-words wander through your mind? Or does spooky become too much? Maybe too scary, too childish, not classy.
Minimalists, we see you. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, get your hands off Halloween. Is it now supposed to be a minimal occasion with carefully considered costumes, curated makeup, and everyone trying to avoid being extravagant?
Will it ever be enough to just put a few pumpkins in the backyard? Fangs? Umm, no. Only makeup will do. Getting creative and scary with your costume? But what’s the point? I wanna look cute!
Halloween has become a celebration among the living, dedicated to the living.
Are the living taking Halloween for granted, forcing it to bend over and lose its scary glamour?
I’d hate to think of Halloween as some kind of victim, but look at it. The old traditions seemed to have the returning spirits covered, but I guess they forgot about the living ones. Where’s the proper protection from those who frequent the Halloween shop right down the alley?
When I think of Halloween, the empath in me feels deeply affected, and I am not being dramatic, but think of how it was supposed to be about the dead returning. Now the living have altered it, claiming it as their own. Ugh, now I even feel bad for the dead.
Is Halloween still about being comfortable in someone else’s skin, or has it become about being in your own skin comfortably?
“In the regular world, Halloween is when children dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total *bleep* and no other girls can say anything about it.” Those are the words of Cady Heron, not mine.
As a devoted member of Girl World, and a Gen Z-er, I get my Halloween horror fix only from the horror watchlists curated by old-school Halloween lovers. But that’s me. Let’s take a closer look at the different kinds of Halloween revelers.
The Single Gal: Halloween is the one night they get to prepare for, like, two months in advance. Some girls treat Halloween with such dedication and enthusiasm that it rivals the excitement of a bachelorette party. The only ones who get really scared that night, in most cases, are usually the parents.
Besides the fact that you’d probably regret your costume in the next few years, with no guarantee about the level of regret ( it might fluctuate). But that’s the point of Halloween: take it as it is, as long as it’s fun for now.
The couples: Each couple is different. Couples nowadays turn Halloween into content, and I can’t deny that I’m a fan. Throughout Spooky season, one of my rituals has become literally living off TikTok, and waiting for their costumes. I reserve this ritual for a few special occasions: the Met Gala, the Victoria’s Secret fashion show, and Halloween.
As for the costumes, needless to say, none of them are scary, but my God, you’ll find the creative ones: Harry Potter and the Golden Snitch, Evangeline and Ray, the historical pairings: Cleopatra and Marc Anthony, the unserious contenders : Minions and Subway Surfers, while others go for the classics: pirates, cops and so on.
You can tell each couple prepares to show off their significant other and their relationship aesthetic.
The weirdos and the outcast: Halloween is the one night when everyone shows their true colours and gets to be “bizarre”. In other words, it’s the one night the weirdos and outcasts get to embrace their unconventionalism and creativity and outshine everyone else.
By the time the sun rises on November 1st, everything returns to normal. The horror is supposedly over, the rented costumes go back, the micellar water is used, and the trends wiped away. That’s when the outcasts return to their quiet shells, watching the world go back to the way it used to from afar.
I wonder, among all those different Halloweeners, who actually dresses up for the occasion, rather than for the contemporary glamour we’ve sprinkled over it?
Is the age of trick-or-treat long gone? And if something is coming to replace it, has it become the labels we’re given, the ones that follow us long after the night is over?
I think the scariest part about Halloween is just how unpredictable it has become. Let’s imagine throwing a Halloween party. Do you even have a clue about what everyone might show up in?
Is it liberating? Maybe. Is it distorting the idea behind it? Definitely.
The real question is: Should we go back to spooky galore or embrace the liberation epiphany we’ve just had?
