Personal Narrative Essay: The Origin Of Halloween

Growing up in a religious home, Halloween always had the underlying reference of being an “unholy” holiday. However, much like nonreligious people may remove the religious sentiments from typically religiously sentimental holidays like Christmas and Easter, yet still celebrate them, I still grew up wearing costumes, going trick-or-treating, and celebrating a night of fun terror on October 31st. I began watching horror films at the age of seven, and from then on have always found pleasure in being frightened— the more intense the scare, the more fun. This amusement ranges anywhere from scary movies to heights. I believe there is something in human nature that attracts us to what makes us uncomfortable as long as whatever it is lies on the safe

All of the movies, the haunted houses, the scary costumes, I believe play into that human desire to be frightened, to feel something exciting and to feel alive. Now, I know there is some dark, more serious story about the origin of Halloween, which, I’ve heard, involves cults or something of the sort. Frankly, I have never looked into it, because I do not care to. Whatever the origins of Halloween are, they will not affect my view or desire to participate in the holiday any differently. As far as the costumes, decorations and all the gimmicks, I am actually surprised to realize that I have never given them much thought. Halloween is something I just grew up participating in so I never questioned it, but really, it’s a very strange practice when you break it down. I suppose it could largely be an economic ploy. I can only imagine the revenue that Halloween creates from all the costumes, decorations and candy that people buy. From another perspective, it could be a mechanism of family bonding. Parents and older siblings who are normally too busy to take the time to entertain young children take the night to go around the neighborhood with little dressed up kids and sometimes even go as far as to dress up with