When I get those forwarded quizzes that say something like, “Tell us something about yourself, and share with your friends!”, one of the inevitable questions is something like, “Spring or Fall”? I usually answer, “both,” because that’s how I feel today. But when I was a kid, I probably would have said “Fall” without hesitation. For one thing, when you’re a kid (in elementary school, especially), the first day of school is exciting– who will be in your classroom? What will your teacher be like? What will your classroom look like?

Soon after the start of school is my birthday– even today, I enjoy my birthday, but as a kid it was so much more exciting. A month after that came Halloween, then roughly a month after that, Thanksgiving, and then the best holiday of all, Christmas. So for me, Fall was always jam-packed with fun stuff, decorations, and of course, the *anticipation*!

When I was young, Halloween meant dressing up in your costume at school, walking around on the playground in a parade, and having a classroom party. Then at night, of course, was trick-or-treat time! So it was never just the evening that was fun, but the day as well. The teachers would dress up, and there’d be decorations in the classroom.

Well, apparently that’s not the case anymore. The religious fundamentalists and uptight Puritans everywhere have tried to put a damper on what is now a secular holiday by pressuring schools to eliminate Halloween, all in the name of “protecting the children,” or in the name of religion. So now we have something called “Fall-o-ween.”

Excuse me? “Fall-o-ween”? Apparently it’s a sop made to Christians, Muslims, and other religious practitioners who increasingly decide that their rights come before everything else. While I understand that some people may not want their children to experience Halloween or to celebrate Halloween, I think the whole notion of tossing Halloween out the window is getting a little carried away. Instead of tossing the baby out with the bathwater, Halloween could be retained as a means to explain the cultural beliefs of the Celts, American traditions, and how spirits, ghosts, and the supernatural are a part of many different cultures everywhere.

I do agree some of the costumes are a bit gory– elementary kids who know exactly who “Chucky” or “Michael Myers” is and wearing costumes based on these characters is going a bit too far– but telling kids they can’t induldge in fantasy, make-believe, and the opportunity to exercise creativity? That’s definitely going overboard.

I like what they did in Denver at Palmer Elementary School– had a Halloween festival instead. That’s a good compromise, and is a great alternative for parents who’d rather their kids celebrate in a more supervised environment rather than roam the streets (but to me, going house to house is part of the whole fun!). Maybe instead of acceding to a small minority of parents and students, instead craft a compromise that is a win-win situation for everyone. And for heaven’s sake, call it “Halloween,” not “Fall-o-ween.”