What do you do or say when your friend doesn't understand Halloween?

I have this friend, Dan, from Germany. After I posted a photo of my Halloween costume for this year, he commented and said "You are so American, I don't even understand this Halloween!" So I attempted to explain it the best I possibly could.

"Dan," I typed back. "Halloween in America is the spin-off of ancient traditions from all over the world."

Still confused, he asked me what kind of traditions would possess people to dress up and make fools of themselves. I finally told him that Halloween is derived from a Celtic/druid ritual in which village members would dress up in scary costumes and dance tirelessly around a massive bonfire to ward off evil spirits. The scary costumes were once thought to scare away the bad things.

Once he finally understood, I again told him that Halloween is also a celebration of Pagan holidays for some -including me! Pagans are believed to be witches -which we are- so why not fit that stereotype for a few weeks?!

Haunts are fun, scaring people is even more fun, but whats most fun is dressing up and having fun with friends and family!