Trick or Treat? Not quite sure.

Facts from the original

• The essay "Trick or Treat? Not quite sure." was written by Vineet Chander for the Beliefnet column Om Sweet Om in October 2009.
• Chander says that growing up, he experienced Halloween as a clashing of cultures more than any other American holiday.
• Hindus use a lunar calendar, so the exact dates of Hindu holidays switch around.
• Halloween often coincides with Hindu holidays; when Diwali fell on October 31 the two holidays went head-to-head.
• On such conflicts, Chander could either go trick-or-treating and watch a Nightmare on Elm Street marathon, or visit temple and exchange sweets with relatives — but not both.
• Even without a direct clash, Chander felt a disconnect between his parents' world and the American suburban world around him.
• His mother called Halloween a depressing holiday while suspiciously surveying plastic skeletons and cardboard tombstones decorating neighbors' lawns.
• His father called the holiday a waste of time even as he begrudgingly bought bags of cheap candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters.
• Some of his parents' more orthodox Hindu friends objected more strongly, calling the meditation on death and gore and the open celebration of ghosts and goblins ashubh, or inauspicious.
• His parents proudly displayed the jack-o-lanterns he and his sister carved at school, but the family never carved one together.
• They doled out candy to neighborhood kids without the gusto of other parents, who often dressed up themselves and distributed treats in character.
• They were content to let the children go trick-or-treating, though Chander does not recall them getting excited about it.
• Most years, as long as it wasn't too expensive, the children convinced their parents to buy whatever superhero or horror movie monster costume was popular that year.
• In some years, Desi parents dressed their children as an "Indian prince" or "Indian princess" by putting them in their finest Indian party clothes, sometimes adding a makeshift turban or tiara.
• The neighbors loved the Indian prince/princess costumes, the parents felt a mix of cultural pride and money saved, and the children thought the idea was incredibly lame.
• Years later, Indian-American kids co-opted the tactic by willingly wearing kurta pyjama or salwar kameez outfits to get candy without buying a costume.
• Looking back, Chander appreciates the mingling of cultures that the holiday engendered.
• Now a parent himself, Chander wonders how to minimize the culture clash for his own Indian-American daughter and how to integrate Halloween and Hinduism for her.
• A Christian colleague asked Chander what he thought about having kids dress up as Hindu deities, a question that caught him off guard.
• Chander distinguishes a bindi-wearing Indian Princess from dressing up like a goddess.
• He wondered whether such costumes would celebrate Hinduism's rich imagery or mock faith, whether they would share Hindu beliefs or fuel stereotypes and marginalize Hindus, and how Hindu kids themselves would feel.
• There is precedent in Hinduism for dressing up as deities.
• Many parents dress their children as Lord Krishna on Krishna Janmashtami.
• Ramleela — dramatic re-enactments of Lord Rama's epic pastimes — involve children and adults donning costumes to depict figures such as Lord Rama, the brave Hanuman, or the demon king Ravana.
• There is a Bengali tradition of dressing as the goddess Kali — with blood-red tongue, carrying a machete, and wearing a garland of skulls — for the holiday of Kali Puja every October/November.
• Chander calls the Kali Puja tradition the closest direct link between Halloween and Hinduism he has found.
• Some Hindu temples have started using Halloween as a way to connect Hindu kids to their faith.
• A Krishna temple in New Jersey holds a Halloween costume contest for children dressed as characters from the life of Lord Krishna.
• Chander worries that taking deity costumes into the mainstream may mock faith, citing the controversy over Heidi Klum's Kali costume and Sayantani Dasgupta's charge of cultural appropriation.
• Chander ends the essay undecided, asking readers for their own thoughts on Halloween and Hinduism.