TRICK-OR-TREAT QUESTION: CAN YOU GUESS THIS COSTUME?
The answer is more trick than treat: It isn’t a costume at all. Several schools in Canada have banned dressing up in favour of an orange-and-black-themed spirit day, a move the Post’s Jesse Kline writes takes the fun out of Halloween.
On Oct. 31, students at McKay Public School in Port colborne, Ont., will have to spend the day pretending it’s not Halloween. The annual tradition has been replaced by “a more inclusive Spirit day,” in which the kids are invited to dress in black and orange (yay!). The school dance has been cancelled, too.
The canadian Martyrs School in nearby St. catharines has implemented a similar policy. Students in Grade 4 and up will not be allowed to wear costumes. Grade 3 students, on the other hand, will be allowed to dress up in the afternoon (they must have a better lobbying group).
This is the new Halloween tradition. Schools are worried the annual fall festival will offend some religious people, or that the poor kid who can’t afford the kick-ass Superman costume will feel left out. All it takes is one busybody soccer mom on the PTA, or one risk-adverse bureaucrat on the school board, to ruin the whole thing for everyone.
Never mind the ghosts. Most of the anxiety this holiday causes is felt by parents who fear for their offspring’s safety.
Urban legends about poisoned candy (there’s never been a documented case) and child predators (studies have found that sex abuse doesn’t go up at the end of October) have put helicopter parents, who are already prone to bubble wrapping their children, on edge.
In 2011, two calgary elementary schools told students they had to wear community-friendly costumes, instead of the garb of more traditional monsters, zombies and soldiers that may promote violence and scare younger children. Just to make sure the students were being properly socialized to the politically correct nanny state they’re growing up in, the schools put on a caring ceremony in the morning (doesn’t that sound like fun?).
Why the War on Halloween? A spokesperson for the district School board of Niagara told a local radio station that introducing Spirit day was meant to accommodate
poor kids who might feel left out if they can’t afford a costume.
but how hard is it to throw together a few items from around the house? Old staples such as the ghost made of a sheet with holes in it, or the robot constructed out of a box and duct tape, can be made for pennies. Other costumes can be found at the local thrift store — an endeavour that surely wouldn’t cost more than buying a black and orange Spirit day jumpsuit from the same place.
Al creelman, the principal of the canadian Martyrs School, objected to Halloween from a religious standpoint: “We’ve looked at the origin of Halloween from a catholic point of view. We just felt [that] going this route would be best for all concerned.”
Some religious people do indeed have objections to Halloween. In 2009, the Vatican took a stand
A celebration of terror, fear and death
against the holiday, saying that it’s a celebration of “terror, fear and death.”
A posting on the canadian council of Muslim Theologians website argues that Halloween runs contrary to “fundamental Muslim belief ” and that although “it hurts to feel left out when everyone is having a good time, a Muslim should take solace in the fact that the enjoyment of this world is temporary while the enjoyment of Paradise is everlasting.”
despite its pagan origins, Halloween has become a secular tradition in canadian society that has more to do with letting loose and having fun than black magic and evil spirits. It’s a part of our canadian culture that’s worth preserving.
And although it’s not always clear where the line between being sensitive to cultural minorities and being a party-pooper lies, it would behoove school administrators to remember that it is not their job to take all the fun out of growing up.