Have you ever asked someone what their favorite holiday is? If you have, the answer you received was probably Christmas or Halloween. There are, of course, the few people who choose to be break the status quo but the majority will answer one of these two, but which holiday is better? That’s a very simple question, Christmas is of course!
Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus and generally has a happy and joyful atmosphere, while Halloween is the exact opposite. Halloween originated as part of the Celtic religion at the festival of Samhain. The Celts thought the barrier between the living and the dead became thin at one point of the year. This allowed creatures to come and wander the earth. Samhain was a time where the Celts focused on scaring away these spirits. Christian religions picked this up and called in All Hallows Eve. While the popular belief that Halloween is a time to celebrate death is not correct, the holiday still carries a mostly negative connotation.
Not only is Christmas a joyous occasion, it only gets better as you gather with family and exchange gifts in hopes of making them smile. If you’re my family, your goal is to see who can make mom cry….. tears of happiness of course. Christmas is a time of gathering with loved ones and celebrating together. Halloween is a time to dress up, which often is a solo event, and to ask for candy from strangers. This holiday is focused on children which is great but the adults than are pressured to participate in the trick-or-treating portion of the evening. The focus on children and going out with friends is fine but the negative and sad connotation is overwhelming.
Christmas proves its dominance by being one of the only religious holidays that is recognized internationally and causes businesses close. While retail takes away from the true meaning of the holidays, it is the best way to document consumer success. According to the National Retail Federation consumer spending on Halloween 2017 was expected to reach a record $9.1 Billion dollars. This sounds incredible, but Christmas 2017 was expected to increase up to $682 Billion dollars. As the data suggests, Christmas has a much higher spending rate than Halloween, which could be contributed to the widespread popularity of the season.
Christmas is by far the best holiday. In celebrating the birth of Jesus and gathering with family, Christmas offers a break after a long semester of school. It lifts spirits and encourages acts of kindness and gratitude. Whatever your opinion is, the most important thing to remember for both holidays is where it got its start. If we fall into the retail trap of the holidays, we become slaves to the stress and lose sight of the significance of the season.