Should I Celebrate Halloween? Find out about it Origins.

As Halloween approaches, I often over hear many conversations and the debate of the whole Halloween issue as to should one partake in the festivities or the proverbial ' it's an evil day' and some want no part of it.

As with everything, one should be aware/educated of it's Origins:

Let's become more informed of the Origins of this 'Halloween' thing. First, Halloween or All Hallows' (Eve)
is celebrated on the night of October 31 with traditional activities such as bonfires, costume parties, trick or treating, jack-o-lanterns and haunted houses.

Halloween has it's origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (sow-win). The Samhain festival celebrated the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. This is the time of the season was used to take stock of supplies and prepare for the winter. The Gaels believed that October 31 was the boundaries between both worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and that the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc like illness and/or damage crops. It initiates the triduum of Hallowmas, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed believers.^[7]This to me seems more like a superstition than a fact.

In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event characterized by child-friendly activities such as trick-or-treating. 

Halloween didn't really become popular in North America until the 1930's. Yet early national attention to trick or treat was given in October 1947. This so-called holiday is right up there with Christmas, and is gaining in popularity. I think like Christmas,  it brings out the child in us and more and more adults are enjoying this particular holiday. So, with all that said, and you now have the basic origin, the question still remains. Of course I can't tell you what to celebrate and what not to, all I can do is present you with some of the facts. Seems like society has taken this and made it into something more sinister than it's original origins.
Not to be naive, I'm sure there are some terrible things going on but you have to blame that on society and not the origins of this holiday in it's entirety.  

5 Things you might not have known about Halloween

1) Halloween Is The Second Highest Grossing Commercial Holiday After Christmas
What used to be just a singular holiday with minimal things to purchase has turned into an entire "Halloween Season." Between decorative lights and lawn ornaments, elaborate costumes and loads of candy, the average American spends a pretty penny on this fall holiday. However popular Halloween has become, the recession has affected spending for this year's spooky night. Spending is down, according the the National Retail Federation. Shoppers will spend an average of $56.31 on the holiday compared to $66.54 in 2008. Some ways people are cutting down include making homemade costumes, using last year's decorations and buying less expensive candies. For the children's sake, let's hope everyone doesn't resort to giving out apples and pennies. Didn't you just hate that as a kid?
2) Harry Houdini Died On October 31, 1926
The famous magician was killed (accidentally) by a McGill University student named J. Gordon Whitehead who was hitting him in the stomach repeatedly as part of a stunt. A week later he died of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix. Despite acute appendicitis, Houdini refused to seek medical treatment.
3) There's A Phobia For That
Samhainophobia is an intense and persistent fear of Halloween that can cause panic attacks in sufferers. Other relevant phobias for this time of year: wiccaphobia (fear of witches), phasmophobia (fear of ghosts), and coimetrophobia (fear of cemeteries).
4) The First Jack-O-Lanterns Weren't Made Out Of Pumpkins
They were originally hollowed-out turnips. The modern practiced mutated from the Irish tradition of carving faces of the the dead onto the gourds and putting candles inside to make them glow. These days your Jack-O-Lantern is most made out of a pumpkin, which most likely came from Illinois--a state that grew 542 million pounds of pumpkin in 2007.
5) One Quarter Of All The Candy Sold Annually Is For Halloween Night
Yes, no matter how much we eat for Christmas and Thanksgiving, Halloween has corned the market on candy. As a country we consume 20 million pounds of candy corn a year. Handing out Halloween treats is the perfect excuse to eat some too, as four-in-ten (41%) adults admit that they sneak sweets from their own candy bowl. And if you're a kid, hang on to your basket, because home is where the candy thief is as 90% of parents admit to sneaking goodies from their kids' Halloween trick-or-treat bags. But whether your stealing some, handing out some or having yours stolen, chances are you'll get your hands (or miss getting your hands) on a Snickers bar, it has been the number 1 Halloween candy for years. 

The choice is yours!