Trick or treating, costume parties, and visiting haunted houses. Dressing up for Halloween brings kids dreams to life. Halloween is also known as All Hallows Evening, but also called All Hallows’ Eve. Halloween is celebrated on the night of October 31st.

The origin of Halloween dates back to the ancient Celtic Festival called Samhain, pronounced as ‘Sah’win’. The festival was celebrated at the end of the harvest season and was the time to stock up on supplies and prepare for the cold winter. In the Gaelic culture, the Gaels believed that the living and the dead would overlap and the deceased would start chaos and destruction. Most of the Gaelic festivals involved bonfires to attract insects which leaded to attracting bats in the area.

“I don’t believe in all that creepy stuff, but I do think it’s a very fun time to go to strangers houses, dress like you never would in public, and ask for questionable candy,” Kayla Crandell, a Junior, explains her reason about Halloween.

Costumes were worn on the night and were imitations of the evil spirits of the dead. The costumes the Gaels wore then are the same as they are now.

“Halloween costumes haven’t changed much,” Aaron Lin, a Freshmen, said.

Trick-or-treating is where kids go from house to house in their costumes and asking for treats from the homeowners by asking “Trick-or-treat?” The “trick” part of the Trick-or-treating is a threat to play a trick on the homeowners property. Trick-or-treating is one of the main tradition of Halloween.

“I think the purpose of trick-or-treating is to get candy. The candy symbolizes how we can respect the dead by giving something back.” Ganchana Tontiwanttanan, a Senior, and Christian Bariuan, a Junior, explains what they think the purpose of trick-or-treating is about.

“I think trick-or-treating has evolved for an older crowd now. All of my friends, including myself, still trick-or-treat and we’re all 17.” Brayden Benzien, a Senior, says.

Halloween has spread all over the world, not just the U.S. but even United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada have gotten the influence from American culture. In some states in the U.S. like Iowa and Massachusetts know trick-or-treating as “Beggars Night”. “Beggars Night” referring to how children go from door to door begging for treats on Halloween night.

The pumpkins with the monstrous carved face are know as jack-o-lanterns. The jack-o-lanterns were originally used to scare off the evil spirits. One person who thinks that the jack-o-lanterns are creepy is Peter Shin, a Junior.

“Looks like an evil monster, intimidating scary face it makes with the pumpkin head. It looks creepy because it looks like it will kill you.” Shin says.