The Masks of Halloween

Everyone has their views on Halloween, some people do different things on the holiday and others don’t do anything at all. Some people think it’s just a day to have fun and dress up and then others celebrate it as a religious holiday. Everybody does something different, but we all do something.

Sophomore Claire Wallace has said she prefers trick-or-treating to parties on Halloween night. She said that she thinks of Halloween is all about having fun, whether it’s going trick-or-treating or just hanging out with friends.

But Halloween is not all about the candy, to other people it involves an actual celebration. The Aztecs is where Halloween originated. They would celebrate it as El Dia de los Muertos, or commonly known as the Day of the Dead. On Oct. 31-Nov. 2 they would celebrate and honor their dead ancestors. The Aztecs’ influence extended into modern day Mexico and parts of Central America.

“I don’t celebrate Halloween as a religious holiday, it contradicts with my religion to celebrate death despite my lineage and background, I go by my belief system first, not my Celtic background,” Wallace said.

She had also said that for her all Halloween is is dressing up and going to get free candy, that Halloween to her and most Americans is just all about the fun and not the religious side of it.

Sophomore Blaine Ward said he sees Halloween as basically a chance to eat candy and stay inside. He said he feels Halloween is “creepy” and that “sketchy things go on during Halloween,” He said he will be staying inside for this Halloween.

“Parties can get out of hand, they are also unpredictable. Something could happen out of nowhere that wasn’t really supposed to happen, people could get hurt. I would really just prefer staying inside and avoiding all the sketchy people and things,” He said.

Whitney Wilhelm, English teacher, is the mother of a four-year-old and a 20-month- old. Every year she said she makes sure that her kids are safe and protected, whether it’s checking the candy before any is consumed or even making sure they are bundled nice and tight to avoid the chilly weather. She said that Halloween has changed since she was a kid.

“There have been fewer homemade costumes. When I was a kid we would see handmade costumes, kind of like the whole-sheet-ghost-type feel and witches. It’s all store-bought now, there’s no authenticity or originality anymore. You always see TV characters or movie characters. You definitely don’t see sheet ghosts anymore,” Wilhelm said.

Wilhelm said that costumes have gotten more violent and inappropriate overtime.

“You see more blood and gore, zombies or werewolves, you even see kids with fake weapons. Then you see costumes on little girls that don’t reflect good character, some costumes just seem to be too much these days,” she said.

Don Harris is a parent of a Northwest High School student. He said he loves Halloween.

“I am a kid at heart and I love to scare any kid who dare enters my yard,” Harris sadi. He is the father of Sami Harris, a 17-year-old girl who goes who loves to hang out with friends on Halloween. He said he has some ground rules for her on Halloween. He says that if she goes out to get candy or something that she is expected to stay in areas she knows and be back by 10 p.m. at the latest, but if she plans to go to a party she has to be back no later than 11:30 p.m. He said that Halloween is different now than it was back when he was a kid. He said the  costumes were more creative, parents didn’t need to go out with their kids and it was definitely colder. He said that kids have been getting less and less creative with their costumes.

“There are hardly any real costumes anymore. You see some kids that dress up like basically nothing and just want candy. It reminds me of the scene in the Adams Family where the girl says she is a homicidal maniac and how they look just like normal people. It kind of feels like that,” Harris said.

Harris said that the more scary the costume or more violent the better. He feels that halloween is always about the scare factor, and then that there are also the ones that are too inappropriate and show too much skin. That’s why he always has made sure his daughter’s costumes are age appropriate, but he is always looking for that scare factor in the costume.

History teacher Matt Morris said he has always thought Halloween was a time to have fun and get free candy. But when Halloween comes around students are denied the privilege to wear costumes at school because it can be a danger, and Morris agrees. He says that it’s more because of the masks and the appropriateness of the costume. The masks are a danger because we don’t know who could be hiding under it, and then it also comes back to the dress codes. Some costumes are not appropriate and should not be worn to school. But he is all about Halloween and the costumes,

“If we were allowed to wear costumes then I would definitely want to wear something to school. But I have always had a problem with last-minute planning, if I did dress up it would probably be a last-minute thing and it might just look ridiculous,” Morris said.