Since I was born I’ve always been some part of a church family. But for the beginning of my life, I was a part of the FLF (Family Life Fellowship) congregation. In Moberly, where I was raised, FLF was a popular church. But with the church’s jaw-dropping, tear-jerking messages came some pretty strict guidelines. One of the most crushing was that nobody was really allowed to celebrate Halloween. I never understood why this was. What was so bad about Halloween? What was so awful about getting free candy and dressing up?

A lot of people have presumed that Halloween accompanies large quantities of unknown evil. Ashton Martin, 15 year old FLF churchgoer, said, “Celebrating Halloween opens doors to that people shouldn’t mess around with like demonic things.” But others have found that the tradition is entirely a day made for the enjoyment of people. Halloween lover, 15 year old, Saveena Bahaskaran said,”I really don’t believe it’s that way [the devil’s holiday], dressing up and getting candy has nothing to do with the devil.”

In the 4th grade, I finally got to decide for myself. I didn’t get to trick or treat because the streets in Moberly weren’t safe enough, but I did get to finally experience the costume process. I was absolutely mesmerized by how simplistic and harmless this holiday was. Interestingly enough, according to History.com, Halloween was created by Celtic believers to ward off ghost, which is the exact opposite of what some churches will tell you.

Finally, when I moved to Columbia in 2015, I got to experience the whole thing. The costume and the trick or treating. I walked out of my new house and approached all my neighbors’ front door steps. Ringing the doorbell of all the cozy homes, each smelled of apple-cinnamon candles. No toothbrushes and no apples like in the movies, just traditional Halloween goodies. I was 12, and had never felt so happy in my entire life. Something so forbidden was something so completely sinless.