The moment the month flips from September to October, spooky season has begun.

October is a month filled with changing leaves, sweaters and the greatest holiday of the year: Halloween. Orange- and purple-colored lights are strung up in residence hall rooms, doors are decorated with fall wreaths, students are planning their costumes and a sense of excitement about Halloween is spread throughout campus.

Halloween is a holiday that people of all ages and walks of life can participate in. Some may say spooky season – the month that leads up to Halloween – is overdone, but the time is meant for fun activities that include everyone, unlike religious celebrations like Christmas. There is nothing wrong with dressing your room up in spooky decorations or shopping for funky costumes throughout an entire month, because Halloween and the weeks that lead up to it have something for everyone to enjoy.

The last three months of the year are filled with holidays, but they are not like Halloween. December brings Christmas for those who practice Christianity and Hanukkah for those who are Jewish. Thanksgiving is a one-day holiday revolving around family and food. Halloween is the only holiday left on the fall calendar that includes opportunities for everyone to join in the celebration throughout a month filled with haunted houses, scary movies and pumpkin patches.

Much like the lead-up to Christmas, the weeks preceding Halloween allow people to get excited for the holiday and the beginning of fall. Like shopping for trees and presents for Christmas, people can carve pumpkins and hang spooky decorations without the religious connotations.

On college campuses, you are immersed in an environment with people of different religions, races, backgrounds and languages. Halloween is a unifying holiday that does not require two people to share the same beliefs or backgrounds, instead allowing them to bond over a whole spooky season and the accompanying holiday. Halloween itself provides a fun social event for people to get together and have fun in the spirit of Halloween. This includes themed parties, events and an excuse for everyone to get creative and dress up as characters or objects.

There is no way to go wrong with spooky season because Halloween is an encompassing holiday that includes everything from the beginning of fall to actual costumes and candy. Halloween and spooky season allow everyone to come together, get scared, enjoy the season and eat some candy – no matter their differences.

Hannah Thacker, a sophomore majoring in political communication, is the Hatchet’s contributing opinions editor.