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Spooky scary skeletons: A history of Halloween

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I haven’t always loved Halloween. Growing up, my parents were kind of anti-Halloween and instead of trick-ortreating, we would go to our church for an All Saints Eve festival. As a kid, I didn't know any different.

The festivals were fun, with games with prizes to win, like candy or cupcakes, and you still got to dress up, which I loved.

Some say that Halloween originated from the Celtic holiday Samhain (pronounced sow-win), which is also the Irish Gaelic name for November. According to History.com, Samhain is celebrated from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 and welcomes in the harvest and the darkest part of the year. It is believed that the veil between the living world and the dead is thinnest during Samhain, which allows for communication between living people and passedon loved ones.

Christianity adopted the holiday as a day to celebrate saints and martyrs, and called Nov. 1 “All Saints Day”, followed by “All Souls Day” on Nov. 2.

Samhain isn’t the only holiday to celebrate communing with or honoring the dead. In Mexico, “Día de los Muertos” (Day of the Dead) is a holiday where the passed-on loved ones visit their living family and friends. It is celebrated from Oct. 31Nov. 2 with food, drink and festivities.

“According to tradition, the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31 and the spirits of children can rejoin their families for 24 hours. The spirits of adults can do the same on November 2,” said History.com.

This tradition was adopted as a mixture of the Catholic All Saints and All Souls Days, and ancient Mexican and Aztec traditions.

As for me, it wasn’t until I was in high school that I really started to get into the Americanized holiday. My closest friend at the time — we’ll call her V — was very much into the horror and frights of Halloween. She was able to get me to watch horror movies and graphic murder mysteries. I was hooked. V and I would plan Halloween parties at her house every year of high school and even a few years after. We would go all out and decorate and have themed food and complex costumes. Those are some of the best memories I have of high school.

Nowadays, I love Halloween and horror movies and even haunted houses. I actually work at a haunted house as one of the makeup artists alongside one of my best friends, Madalyn, during the month of October every year. It allows me to combine my love of makeup and art with my love of horror. I also still love costumes.

The first Halloween costume I have a memory of is a ballerina costume when I was two or three years old. When I got older, I did everything from a pioneer girl to a Disney princess. My favorite costume as an adult was the time I gathered things from my closet to make a costume of Harley Quinn from DC Comics. Or maybe it was the time I dressed up as Eddie Munson from Stranger Things, complete with a denim vest and wig. They were both good.

I can’t quite explain to you why I love Halloween so much. I love the spooky movies and the fun parties, but I think part of it is reconnecting with where my family comes from. My mom’s side of the family is partially Irish and I feel a strong connection to that part of my family’s history.

Whatever the reason for my love of Halloween, it’s here to stay. I look forward to this month of the year every time it comes around. So, whatever your plans for the holiday, be sure to look out for bats and black cats or witches and ghosts. Or Spiderman and Batman? You never know what you’ll see during Halloween.

Brown is a news intern at the Hays Free Press and News-Dispatch. He can reached via email at [email protected].


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