Halloween: Much Ado About Nothing

... if the people of Honduras are gullible enough to be the victims of con artists during a holiday celebration, then they have bigger problems to worry about.

By Kaela
Do you think there is a day where the wall between the spirit world and the material world dissipates? I didn’t think so before I moved to Roatán, I thought Halloween was just a fun celebration. However, there are a few reasons that might explain why Halloween is considered an evil, taboo holiday to some. Because of this belief, the Honduran government has taken extreme measures to ban witchcraft and Halloween celebrations which have created controversy. While living in Roatán, I have encountered various opinions about Halloween as a holiday.

Halloween is the one day during the year when a kid can dress up as anything he or she wishes, and it is okay. In the United States, we celebrated it at school by showing off our costumes in parades and collecting candy. We would have parties, play games, laugh, and try to scare people in haunted houses. Halloween was a huge day of entertainment and a reason for people to get together with their families. Before moving to Roatán, I did not think Halloween represented anything more than something fun to enjoy.

Halloween began to be celebrated around 2,000 years ago as a Celtic festival called Samhain. Followers believed that the boundary between the worlds of the dead and the living became faint and that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. Religion may be a major factor as to why people are so intolerant of this holiday. Some religions associate Halloween with evil. Because of this, some parents do not allow their children to dress up as witches, dupes, ghosts, spirits, or the devil. Because of Halloweeen's historical origins, some parents prohibit their kids from participating in any event related to it.

Occasionally, you encounter even more extreme measures taken against this spooky, fun-filled holiday. In La Gringa’s Blogicito, for example, "La Gringa" quotes from a recent article in La Prensa newspaper, "The government warned yesterday that it will not allow witches into the country who are planning to mount satanic cults in the pagan festival of Halloween.” She points out that if the people of Honduras are gullible enough to be the victims of con artists during a holiday celebration, then they have bigger problems to worry about.

I agree with La Gringa that if we cannot make up our own decisions about what has evolved into a fun celebration, then how can we make decisions about constitutional laws in Honduras. I support her suggestion that the government’s concerns regarding Halloween are ridiculous. The government has taken extreme and unnecessary measures to ban witchcraft and Halloween celebrations which I consider to be much ado about nothing. (10/30/10) (image courtesy Internet)

Note: The author is a student on Roatán.