Why you should love Halloween

Love it or hate it, Halloween certainly has a divisive quality. Many of you will already have staunch, stubborn views on the holiday. You should, however, be in the former camp, revelling in October’s thematic ornamentation and joyous activities, whether it be an adrenaline-pumping thriller or the simplistic pleasure of pumpkin carving.

Halloween was a big part of my childhood. We always decorated the house with dangling skeletons, fake cobwebs, and jack o’lanterns. The holiday was a collective experience, uniting family and friends, much like the more universally beloved Christmas. My view of Halloween is, therefore, a biased one, tainted by the nostalgic quality orange and purple lights possess and the countless fond memories they bring to the forefront of my mind. Even now, however, the season brings immense joy to those who relish it. If you give it a fair crack of the whip, that can include you, too. The issue is that many won’t take the chance on Halloween, a stubbornness that is a killer, but only for the mood.

Indifference, I can accept. Not everything is for everyone. But an aversion to Halloween is usually unfounded, bah humbug. The Halloween Scrooges often deploy two key quips: it’s tacky and/or it’s American.

Halloween also doesn’t come from the US – it’s a Celtic festival in origin, so next time you hear a critic call the October 31 a “tacky American import”, you’ll know they’re misguided

Firstly, ‘tacky’ is a very subjective term. Everyone has different parameters of what it constitutes, and, like almost every form of decoration ever conceived, Halloween can, in fact, be tacky. But it can also be the exact opposite. Seasonal decor is so pleasant because not only is it temporary, but it can differ so greatly to match all styles and budgets. Let it be known: there is a particularly powerful class about a munchkin pumpkin, and if you don’t believe it, perhaps you’re not up to the challenge of Halloween decorating (prove me wrong – you might even enjoy it).

Secondly, ‘America equals bad’ – seriously? This has always bugged me, and such reasoning is widely accepted in Britain. Every culture has good and bad offerings, and while it is humorous, given our special relationship with our cross-Atlantic brethren, to criticise the US just for the sake of it, it’s weak as genuine criticism, particularly given how much American culture has diffused across the pond unopposed. Halloween also doesn’t come from the US – it’s a Celtic festival in origin, so next time you hear a critic call the October 31 a “tacky American import”, you’ll know they’re misguided. Halloween hails from these fair isles.

A final (less frequent) criticism that ought to be addressed is a newer one: Halloween is an ecological harm. 46 million themed items are thrown out every year, constituting a significant quantity of non-degradable plastic waste. Why this has to be the case is beyond me. My family stored and reused our decorations annually, amassing more and more year on year until we had far beyond what many would classify as ‘too much’.

Carve a pumpkin, add some seasonal decor to your room, or prepare your finest costume for October 31 and the inevitable debauchery which will ensue

There is undoubtedly a cultural issue to address about unnecessary annual consumption and why we should retain Halloween items as we do those of other holidays. But all holidays generate plastic waste. Christmas, for example, generates more than three million tonnes of waste every year, so to hate Halloween on environmental grounds is to hate festivities as a whole, a position few, if any, will take.

Halloween is, above all things, fun. It subverts the innate human emotion of fear, turning it into a joyful holiday that invites communities to engage in mindless seasonal celebration. Not only does it help bridge the gap between the end of summer and the beginning of winter, but it isn’t particularly long. It’s only a day and prompts much less build-up than other holidays, meaning it never overstays its welcome (and for those who adore it, there’s joy in celebrating all October long).

Still unconvinced? The best way to embrace Halloween is to take part in what defines it. Carve a pumpkin, add some seasonal decor to your room, or prepare your finest costume for October 31 and the inevitable debauchery which will ensue. Further, you can add some of the best eerie tunes to your playlist, of which there are a surprising number. ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson is the best of the lot, but don’t discount Rockwell’s ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’, Ray Parker Jr.’s ‘Ghostbusters’, or the classic that is ‘Monster Mash’ by Bobby “Boris” Pickett.

It takes darkness and twists it into a metaphorical light, aiding communal spirit and providing a short-lived but potent bout of light-hearted amusement

‘Halloween’ by John Carpenter is also stellar, as is the Halloween film franchise for which the score was composed. The trilogy of Halloween (1978), Halloween (2018), and Halloween Kills (2021) (excluding the cinematic disaster that was Halloween Ends (2022)) is a classic slasher tale with tense action, a delicate balance of humour and horror, as well as beautiful tracking shots that really engross you in the fun fear of the season. Other classic slashers worth your time include Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th (Part VI: Jason Lives being the best of the bunch). For a more gory experience, you can’t look past Saw, or for a more spooky vibe, Coraline or A Nightmare Before Christmas hit the spot. All guarantee a blood-curdling good time.

Halloween isn’t as defining a celebration in the UK as it is elsewhere in the world, but perhaps it should be. It takes darkness and twists it into a metaphorical light, aiding communal spirit and providing a short-lived but potent bout of light-hearted amusement. If you want to pass that up, that’s on you – each to their own and so forth. But for many, Halloween has ensnared them in seasonal charm. To quote Halloween (1978), “It’s Halloween, I guess everyone’s entitled to one good scare,” and perhaps that scare, for many, is the sudden realisation of how much they love it.