photo credit: Ava Boccio
Halloween is a holiday where many people of all ages dress up in creative costumes and celebrate. It’s also a time for spooky decorations, haunted houses, and trick or treating for candy.
Halloween was started 2,000 years ago by the Celts, mostly celebrated in Ireland, the United Kingdom and Northern France, and celebrated their new year on Nov. 1, which is the end of summer and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of the year that was often associated with human death, according to history.com.
“For Halloween I’m trick or treating with my family in my neighborhood this year,” sophomore Lola McDaniel said.
Another big part of holidays is decorating, and most people have fun decorating for Halloween. Also, adults like to sit around and pass out candy to the children.
“I like to decorate for Halloween more than I like for Christmas and already put up a spider web. We live in a circle and all the kids come in. We pass out candy to them,” Guidance Secretary Cynthia Vande Water said.
During some of the Celtic celebrations, villagers disguised themselves in costumes made of animal skins and tables of food were put out to get rid of unwelcome spirits. In later centuries, people began dressing as ghosts, demons, and other creatures. This used to be called mumming and dates back to the Middle Ages and is now trick or treating, according to history.com.
“My favorite Halloween candy to get is Twizzlers, I always pick them,” McDaniel said.
Some people like the thrill of walking through haunted houses and experiencing the spooky atmosphere. Some haunted houses in this area are Fear Columbus, Carnage Haunted House, and Nightmare Combat.
“I do like haunted houses. I can and will do them. I don’t like scary movies because they scare me and when I’m walking up the stairs and there’s cracks, I’m scared something will grab me,” Vande Water said.
There are some costumes that happen almost every year, which can be basic and get boring. Some popular costumes this year are princesses, police officers, firefighters, and boxers, according to history.com.
“One costume that is overrated is the angel and devil, it’s cute but so many people do it so it’s pretty overrated,” McDaniel said.
Dressing up with friends for Halloween is always fun because people can coordinate group costumes like being princesses, characters from a movie or matching costumes. It makes the experience even more enjoyable when they’re all on a theme together.
“If my friends and coworkers want to dress up then yes, and I’m not sure yet because they haven’t picked a theme,” Vande Water said.
