Halloween as it is celebrated today originated in the area now known as Ireland, the United Kingdom and the northern part of France from a festival called the Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts believed that the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the unliving became one. On the night of October 31, they would dress up in costumes as saints, angels and devils and light a bonfire to ward off the ghosts and other spirits that they believed returned to earth.

According to The History Channel online, Halloween has progressed from giving food to less fortunate people, holding parades and wearing animal skin costumes to people dressing up for fun, trick or treating in their neighborhoods, decorating their lawns and seeing Halloween as celebration rather than a symbol of fear..

“I’m either having a party at my house or going trick or treating. I’m going with my friend Bailey. We are going to do the purge together,” Bryleigh Snellgrove said. 

People used to carve faces into turnips instead of pumpkins so that the Devil wouldn’t roam the earth, which came from a myth called “ Stingy Jack.” Now people carve images into pumpkins with no purpose other than fun.

“Carving pumpkins is a thing we do with our family,” Rory Cashiola said. “We take pictures and put them outside with candles until November sometimes.”

With all the activities on Halloween night, safety is something that people focus on. 

“I’m not going to take candy from strangers, or people I don’t recognize,” said Kaitlyn Hall. “  We are going to carry bats around with us, because it goes with our costumes and to protect us,” Snellgrove said. 

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What are you doing for Halloween? 

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