Photo by hanna_horwarth
A Catholic elementary school in the Hamilton district school board has asked parents not to sent their children to school in their Halloween costumes because “it distracts from the school’s focus on education.”
(sidenote: in Canada, catholic schools are the only religious educational institutions that are publicly funded)
Most of the comments left under the article blamed ethnics and political correctness for removing the fun out of Halloween. I, too, was disappointed by the elementary school’s response, primarily because they didn’t identify that perhaps their Christian philosophy may be at the root of their decision.
Although I am Christian, the reason why I don’t celebrate Halloween in any fashion has more to do with my core values and lifestyle than my religion.
Because as a person, I refuse to celebrate Halloween because I’m not interested in glorifying negativity, evil or death. My lifestyle and personality just can’t handle this.
Mind you, when I was a child, I went trick or treating and I wore costumes on October 31st. My parents didn’t have a problem with my sisters and I participating in Halloween and as children, the promise of mountains of candy was just too hard to resist.
But I do remember one year when my mother refused to let us wear costumes or go trick or treating. I think I was 11 or 12. And ever since that point, she stuck to her values and never let us go out on October 31st ever again. While all the other children gushed the next at school about what type of candies they got in their bags, I could only watch and sulk.
Now that I’m older, I find no fascination with the day. One of my seven core values is vitality and I refuse to surround myself with anything that reminds me of death.
For example:
- When I buy flowers, as soon as they start to wilt, I dump them in the trash.
- Fruits and vegetables that show a hint of blight are also dumped.
- If I meet someone and I sense that their energy is negative, I politely excuse myself and find a more happy, positive bunch.
- I refuse to ingest negativity internally. This includes vulgar films or television programs, music with negative, misogynist or hateful lyrics, or books with negative themes. Some things do slip through, but once I identify it as “negative,” I never watch or listen to it again.
- And I became a vegetarian, not because I’m on some crusade to save the planet, but because of the stress the animals go through before they’re slaughtered. I refuse to ingest the stress.
Both my values and my lifestyle crave vitality – things are alive, positive and in motion. While I neither condemn nor judge others who want to celebrate Halloween, I politely decline invitations to Halloween parties as the day just doesn’t sit well for me.
Update: This article in the Tucson Citizen confirms why I like being around positive, alive and joyful people and things – I can live longer by 35%. Woohoo!
