Thanksgiving is a time for us to give thanks and remember our forefathers survival in the new world. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus, according to the Christian religion. Christians also commemorate Easter. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Fourth of July is set aside in America to celebrate the day we became an independent nation.

Everyone that takes part in celebrating these holidays has an overall idea of what they mean. Then there’s Halloween.

We dress up in either horrifying or extremely ridiculous costumes. We decorate our houses in spider webs, eyeballs and pumpkins (the ugliest of all fruits). And we buy an insane amount of candy to hand out to random kids, then complain about our countries child obesity issue.

This year,  it has been predicted that the average celebrant will spend $75.03 on decorations, costumes, candy and other holiday-related “fun.” And according to the retail federation survey, 32.8 percent of consumers began shopping before Sept. 30. All for what? That’s just it. We have no idea.

In America, we grow up celebrating Halloween, but never care to ask why. We just know that it’s at the end of October and when Halloween Town is on TV, it’s about that time to trick-or-treat again. If any one ever cared enough to actually do a little research, they would find that it originates from an old Celtic celebration called All Hallows Eve (All Saints Day). It was a festival where they would bless and convert Pagans. We call it “Halloween” because “Hallow” means saints, and “-een” means Evening.

If they looked a little further, they would find some weak relations between our holiday and the actual All Saints Day. Some of these lackadaisical comparisons include bobbing for apples to honor a fruit god that Celtics honored and trick-or-treating to represent how spirits would visit Celtics’ homes disguised as people in hopes of claiming a new soul.

Even after learning this, the probability of actually thinking about it on Halloween night is slim to none. The point of a holiday is to remember or commemorate. If we don’t know what we’re remembering or commemorating, it’s not a holiday. Therefore, Halloween is just an excuse eat junk, act stupid, and be somebody you’re not.