Yesterday I saw many children wearing masks and costumes, both those who were asking for candy from their neighbors and those who went to school like Princess Stitch. In some schools there was a costume parade, in others an official announcement was made (read in the WhatsApp group where only the teacher in charge has the right to speak) that costumes were prohibited. I believe you also encountered this behavior this year.
But...have you noticed how many people get nervous on Halloween? Why do children wear masks? Okay, children, but why do adults?
What is this scary holiday? How can you mock death? Don't we have enough holidays to take America's holidays?
Stores and bars were filled with Halloween stuff....
Let's take things one step at a time.
Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31st each year, mainly in English-speaking countries such as the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and has also spread to many other countries around the world.
Its origins lie in a Celtic holiday that celebrated the end of summer and the beginning of winter. The Celts believed that on the night of October 31st, souls could return to Earth, since the boundary between the dead and the living was somewhat blurred. Over time, the holiday was also included in the Catholic Church calendar, as the night before All Saints' Day. Over time, the name was shortened to Halloween, and as usual, commercialism brought it to the doorstep of every family. So Halloween is actually a mixture of religious traditions, folk beliefs, globalization, and the ancient desire for some people to have fun and others to profit from it.
So first of all: let's not get angry, let alone spread unnecessary division. At best, we can choose not to celebrate, there's no point in making a celebration a reason to feel bad for anyone.
Secondly, this is a case that shouldn't sound so inappropriate to us that even 30-odd years after the permissibility of religion, we attribute Santa Claus to the New Year...or turn Breast Cancer Awareness Month into a discount campaign for more services and goods (!)
But let me not dwell too long here.
I want to invite you to look at it a little through the eyes of children.
In a country like ours, children's opportunities to play and interact with each other are becoming fewer and fewer. Parents are afraid/don't have the time/nerves/opportunity to follow them in group games or environments where they can be with each other that are so limited.
With more and more homework and courses, technology and cell phones... with fewer and fewer programs dedicated to their age in the Albanian language, with an underestimation and almost contempt for our traditions, Albanian holidays and creative forms of entertainment... why they want to celebrate Halloween should be our last concern.
Behind every mask, they are looking for fun, behind every walk for candy, it is actually a desire for socialization, for time with peers, for adventure.
So let's find ways to entertain our children, create spaces for them to learn about our traditions, help them express their creative abilities, get to know each other and spend real physical time with each other. This is where we should focus our efforts. Let our time for complaining end with the "meaningless" holiday of this Halloween.
