By Nicole Vernon
Halloween is quickly approaching! This holiday has a long history with many traditions and you may even notice that Halloween in the U.S. may resemble some of the same traditions you may participate in during this time of year in your home country. The name itself originated from “All Hallows’ Eve,” the day before All Saints’ Day.
Today, in the U.S. Halloween has turned into a community event. It is typical for families to celebrate by dressing their children in costumes and going door to door “trick-or-treating”, where children ask for candy by saying “trick-or-treat!” Each community designates hours that trick-or-treating will be held and also whether it is a one or two day event. Often the designated time falls in the evening and lasts for a couple of hours. Not all families and households participate in trick-or-treating, so those who will pass out candy to trick-or-treaters will leave a light on outside their house as a signal that trick-or-treaters are welcomed.
Once children reach high school age, they are often considered too old to go trick-or-treating. However, there are still plenty of fun activities for all ages associated with Halloween! Other activities that take place on or around Halloween include:
- Carving pumpkins
- Bobbing for apples
- Telling ghost stories
- Visiting Haunted Houses and attractions
- Watching Horror movies
- and many more!
Many houses also decorate for the occasion with the goal of creating a scary, but fun environment. Items such as pumpkins, scarecrows, fake bats, spiders, and skeletons, tombstones, and much more are used as decorations.
For more information, check out the history of Halloween as well as some top movies to watch on Halloween!