All Hallows Eve is not for all

This Friday marks an exciting day for many Blair students – Halloween. But not everyone celebrates Halloween. Amidst a whirl of Jack-O-Lanterns, spiders, ghosts, ghouls and gremlins, are people who treat October 31 like any other day of the year.

Juniors Patrice Furlow and Alex McBean are two of those people. "I am a seventh day Adventist and my people believe that Halloween is a celebration of the Devil," McBean says. "Because of the demonistic values of Halloween, my Christ-based religion does not advocate its celebration."

Gabriela Renderos, a freshman, says she is also not permitted to "celebrate the dead." "I was brought up that way. My mom said it's not really polite to go knocking on people's doors asking for candy," she says.

Lee Underwood, Online Coordinator for the Fellowship Church located in Casselberry, Florida says that Halloween should not be celebrated by Christians because it is celebrating evil, Satan, and the dead. "Halloween is not an innocent holiday. It is taken very seriously by those of the Celtic, including Wicca, religion and is considered one of their most holy days. When Christianity and the world celebrates [Halloween] and the powers of darkness by masquerading as evil creatures or decorating their homes, schools, businesses, and churches with occult symbols, Satanic power is glorified," he says.

For these reasons, McBean spends Halloween night as if it were any other night. "I usually just lock all the doors and windows and turn off the lights so that trick or treaters won't come knocking on our door. Then I just sit down and watch TV or read a book," he says.

Furlow takes the same approach to the holiday, though she does admit to taking part in the candy aspect of the holiday. "I stay at home, watch scary movies, and [eat] a big bag of candy from the store," says Furlow.

For Renderos, her different view on the day caused problems for her as a child. "Sometimes it sucked in elementary school because I couldn't participate in all of [the games] because of my religion," she says.

McBean, on the other hand, says that it has never caused him problems. "People respect my religion and so I just respect their customs and traditions," McBean says.