Halloween has been celebrated for many years as a day for children to run around in costumes, collect candy from neighbors and have fun.

Apart from the children celebrating, many of people have never thought about the meaning of this holiday and whether or not it should really be celebrated. Some people that have thought about it see Halloween as a night of celebration showing respect for the deceased. Others, such as people of religious background, might see this night as a celebration of evil and the devil.

There are some people, however, that have been raised to avoid celebrating Halloween due to their religion.

“I guess it’s just the way that they (we) were raised to believe that that’s okay,” Sophomore Marissa Cooper said. “I was raised to believe that it’s not.”

Cooper and her siblings have been Pentecostal for most of their lives. Their religion has taught them many things explaining why Halloween should not be celebrated, such as the idea of it being more of a celebration of evil than good.

“We think that (Halloween) is basically the devil’s holiday,” Cooper said.

The Cooper family has not always been Pentecostal. Before, they celebrated Halloween in a similar way to most other people who celebrate.

“Before I became Pentecostal when I was like three or so,” Cooper said, “we did celebrate Halloween because we weren’t in church and we didn’t believe that it was wrong.”

Although  Cooper and other Pentecostals believe that this night represents the devil, Halloween is viewed in many different ways and many people of other religions view it as a night to celebrate and have a good time. There are many points that people can make for and against celebrating.

“If they don’t want to celebrate, they don’t have to,” Sophomore Laura Salyers said. “but I don’t really think it symbolizes the devil per se.”

Salyers and her family have hosted an annual Halloween party for as long as she can remember. Like many others, they will dress up in costumes and go trick or treating.

“Back in the olden times, people were celebrating Halloween and dressing up like ghouls and stuff,” Salyers said. “To keep away the devil, not to welcome it.”

Salyers believes anybody can believe what they want and celebrate how they want. Unlike Salyers and her family, Cooper spends the night of Halloween at her church.

“While everybody else is out trick-or-treating and going to parties, we have a service at our church and then we have a party afterwards; it’s called a fall festival party,” Cooper said. “We have that and we have a hayride and (bonfires, food and games).”

Halloween isn’t formerly known to be about candy or costumes or the countless forms of celebration. The one thing that people of most religions have in common when it comes to the holiday is the celebration with friends and family.