by Sophia Alvarez
Halloween is lurking, ready to spring upon another night of trick-or-treating, haunted houses, and frights. Children excited to go trick-or-treating while adults are thrilled with haunted houses and giving out candy. This holiday is full of activities such as carving jack-o-laterns, costumes, bobbing for apples, candy apples, decorating, haunted houses, and binge watching classical Halloween movies.
Halloween is a modern annual holiday celebrated in the United States each year on October 31st, that has its origins with the ancient Celtic Festival of Samhain, which featured costumes and bonfires in order to offer sacrifices and pay homage to the deceased. They believed this was the day to celebrate, as this was the day when two worlds, the living and the dead, came together on earth. Pope Gregory III, in the 18th century designated November 1st as a time to honor all saints the evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve, and later Halloween. After the Irish potato famine that occurred in 1845 led to a massive amount of Irish immigrants that came to America bringing their own customs and traditions. Such as the holiday of Halloween which had not been officially brought into America. Over time it evolved into one of America’s most popular holidays full of excitement it stands out as the best example of the American “melting pot” and enjoying sweet treats.
“My dad and I always make our own Halloween decorations every single year,” junior Thalia Guillen said.
There are many who prefer Halloween to Christmas, embracing spooky and frightful. Stores begin stocking their shelves with Halloween decor as early as August and many homes decorate their houses with lights and blowups traditionally only seen at Christmastime. Some people go all out on Halloween such as turning their entire home into a haunted house, with fog machines, spider webs, and colorful lights. One of the most decorating traditions for families and friends is carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns and some people even turn them into works of art for all to see. In ancient Halloween they were used to ward off evil spirits from their households decorating with the color scheme of black and orange, orange represents the color of the harvest and the color black represents death. It seems logical that orange and black would be perfect to represent Halloween and its origins. No matter if it’s a small ghost hanging from a door or to an entire room full of spooky bats and witches it’s an annual tradition to decorate for this holiday which most of us enjoy doing so every year.
From childhood treasures like The Nightmare Before Christmas to HalloweenTown there is no doubt that watching classics will get you into the spirit of Halloween. Halloween has long inspired some of the best and scariest films that people binge watch them way before spooky season arrives. Friends and families gather around every year to watch these movies bringing scares and excitement to those around.
“For Halloween I watch many scary and suspenseful movies like The Shining but definitely my favorite movie is Coraline I love how weird and confusing it can get it may not be a classic but it’s still everyone’s favorite including mine” Said,Junior, Savanah Moreno
On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to earth, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their home. In order to avoid being recognized by ghosts people would wear masks or costumes when they left their home after dark so that the ghosts would mistaken them for fellow spirits. This is why Halloween costumes are traditionally monsters such as vampires, ghosts, witches, and devils. Ever since the origin of wearing customs America has adapted the idea of dressing up for the holiday from children to adults to even pets. By the 1920s the children in America began trick-or-treating and dressing up as a harmless way of involving everyone in town to join the festivities of Halloween. Costumes is a way for those to dress as they please, a way to showcase their personality and dress as their favorite character. This is very exciting to those children who are younger they are able to dress as character from Star Wars to a Disney Princess.
“People sometimes often choose something they identify themselves with. It could be because of their culture or as simple as dressing up as their favorite character. I like to dress up as a skull because it represents “El Día De Los Muertos” and that’s part of my culture and in my family only children are the ones who dress up,” junior Caroline De Anda said.
Trick-or-Treating is a child’s favorite, they can go door-to-door asking for sweets from their neighbors. It’s a way for family and friends to spend their Halloween night getting free yummy treats. All ages enjoy dressing up in costumes and travel in order to get candies,sweets, and at times Accessories in response to their call of “trick or treat!” Adults enjoy giving out candy to kids of all ages, bringing a smile to their faces seeing all the unique costumes they are wearing. They fill their trick or treat bags with candies, snacks, glow sticks, bubbles and sometimes even pencils. Trick or treating is a way for everyone to socialize and have fun from getting candy at a party to knocking at doors for treats.
“I like trick or treating because it takes me back to when I was a young kid having fun with my family all of them. My little siblings like it as well. We give out candy for an hour and then we go out,” sophomore Alicia Adam said.