I do now. As a kid I wasn’t allowed to, my family thought (rightly so) that the holiday had some origins they didn’t agree with. But I think honestly most of our American holidays aren’t what we think they are (Easter equals pagan fertility festivals plus Christian resurrection, Columbus Day/Thanksgiving equals being grateful for our blessings plus remembering the colonial takeover of land that didn’t belong to them by people who killed thousands of previous inhabitants, etc.)
I think holidays are what you make them. Yes, some Halloween traditions have origins in occult practices, but that’s not what it’s about now — it’s getting together with friends, having an abundance of wine and good food, going crazy at Value Village to find the perfect set of claws for a Wolverine costume and that’s all.
Well said, Elizabeth