Indeed, Halloween is the time when people break the rules in order to entertain themselves and follow the traditions of the holiday. It is a commonly observed traditional aspect of the holiday that people wear costumes, do make-up, and practically transform into identities that they are not. Importantly, the themes of the costumes and decorations are the things of evil, such as vampires, witches, ghosts, and others. In her article, Waxman refers to Halloween as a holiday that many Christians oppose. The religious norms that are broken by people during this holiday are offensive to this religious group. The reason why this holiday is offensive is that “people are starting to almost aestheticize evil,” which contradicts the basic dogmas of Christianity.
“Then, is a category of facts which present very special characteristics: they consist of manners of acting, thinking, and feeling external to the individual, which is invested with a coercive power by virtue of which they exercise control over him. Consequently, since they consist of scary masks and costumes, which they would not normally wear on a daily basis, moreover, such costumes reinforce appreciation of evil, which is in conflict with Christian norms.
The manifestations of social norms being broken during Halloween might be theorized from the point of view of social facts. Indeed, following Durkheim’s explanation of social facts, the breach of religious norms might be viewed as a weakened social fact. According to the sociologist, social facts are the facts inherent to society. These are the phenomena and norms that can only exist within “none other than society, either political society in its entirety or one of the partial groups that it includes – religious denominations, political and literary schools, occupational corporations.” Thus, people dressing in identities that they are not and breaking the rules of Christianity during Halloween are examples of weakened social facts.