Halloween!

Halloween is one of the greatest and most enjoyable holidays of the year. What makes it so fun is all of the hilarious costumes people dress in, the spooky decorations everyone puts up, Halloween parties, pumpkin carving, and of course all of the candy you can get by going trick-or-treating. Halloween is a holiday that can be enjoyed by people, young and old, because there are so many different, fun activities to do. Although, Halloween is a traditional holiday that has change a great deal by spreading to different countries over many, many years.

Halloween originated over 2,000 years ago in present day Ireland, United Kingdom, and northern France. A group of people known as the Celts, who lived in this area, celebrated the New Year on November 1st in an ancient festival known as Samhain. They celebrated this day as the last day of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark and cold winter; which was a season often associated with death. The Celts believed on the night of the New Year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and dead would be broken, allowing dead spirits to freely roam the earth. They believed that these spirits caused mischief, damaged crops, and made it easier for Celtic priests, known as Druids, to predict the future. The prophecies they made were very important to the Celts because it gave comfort and direction to them during the long and hard winters.

To celebrate the Samhain festival, Druids would build large, sacred bonfires in which the Celtic people would burn crops and animals in as sacrifices to Celtic deities. During the festival, the Celts would wear costumes, typically made of animal heads and skins, and the Druids would attempt to tell peoples’ fortunes. By A.D. 43, Romans conquered most of the Celtic territory, and changed the traditions of the Samhain festival according to their own belief systems. From that time on, the tradition of Samhain evolved as it spread to different countries, eventually coming to America, and has became a far different tradition, known as Halloween. Many of the traditions and superstitions have remained relatively the same; however there are several things such as trick-or-treating that have been picked up by different people and are practiced today.

Halloween in America today for most people is less concentrated on spirits who return to earth and is now mostly about having a good time. One reason I love Halloween so much is because it is one of the only days of the year where it is socially acceptable to dress up in a ridiculous costume. Here at Virginia Tech, students and cadets dress up in a wide variety of costumes. Some are funny, creative, scary, sexy, or just simple. Both girls and guys alike go all out when dressing up in their costumes by wearing makeup, putting their hair in crazy styles, or acquiring all of the necessary accessories that add the finishing touches to their outfits. Although some of these things can get expensive, so others will just make their costumes themselves, which makes it that much funnier.

Dressing up in costumes for Halloween is typically something that younger kids do, unless you’re a college student. On Halloween night, young children usually dress up in their costumes and go trick-or-treating. This is one of my favorite parts of Halloween because you get to walk around town, knock on your neighbors’ doors, and they will just give you free candy! However it is very unfortunate that it is not acceptable for anyone older than eighteen to do this. But in addition to getting lots of free candy, whenever you go trick-or-treating, you get the chance to walk around and see all of the decorations people put up for this wonderful holiday.

On Halloween people decorate their houses with orange lights, jack-o-lanterns, ghost, black cats, or other spooky decorations. Even in my dorm, everyone decorates their doors and writes “Happy Halloween” on their dry erase boards. All the colors associated with decorating for Halloween, like orange and yellow, are perfect with the colors of the leaves that change during this time as well. Even the process of decorating for Halloween can be enjoyable for people of all ages. I personally love making jack-o-lanterns.

Carving pumpkins is something that I really enjoy doing around Halloween. It is a lot of fun to do because you get the chance to get your hands dirty and you can make any kind of pattern you want. Then when the pumpkins are finished, they make great decorations for Halloween because at night when trick-or-treaters come to your house, it glows dimly, giving an eerie sensation to anyone who knocks on your door. But the best part about carving jack-o-lanterns is when Halloween is over and the carved pumpkins start to fall apart, then you get throw them on the road or sidewalk, smashing them in a million pieces. Another thing some people enjoy doing during Halloween is watching scary movies.

Although not everyone enjoys watching scary movies, I mostly enjoy watching the classic ones such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare On Elm Street. Watching scary movies around Halloween is something a lot of people enjoy doing because of all of the superstitious beliefs about Halloween night. Along with carving pumpkins and watching scary movies, there are several other different traditions families do all across the United States.

Some traditional extracurricular activities for Halloween include pumpkin festivals, Halloween costume parties, corn mazes, and other festive activities. All of these traditions derived from a very different tradition and belief that was practiced thousands of years ago. This ancient tradition has involved into something far more commercial and much more enjoyable. Although, Halloween is practiced differently in different countries and may still be very similar to its origins in other places. But in the United States of America, we have turned this holiday into something that just about everyone can enjoy, while still keeping some of the scary traditions.