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Most people just think Halloween is just a holiday when all children get is candy and that is all there is to it.

Halloween is more than a holiday celebrated on the thirty-first of October. Hallow-een also is known as Hallows’ Evening, Hallowe’en, or even All Hallows’ Eve.

Halloween History and TraditionsKerstenPeters

StaffWriter

Some people go trick-or-treating, have bonfires, carve pumpkins or jack-o’-lanterns, hosting costume parties, and even go to haunted houses. Most children ages one to about twelve go trick-or-treat-ing, an activity for children in which walk from house to house in costumes of their liking, repeating the phrase “Trick or treat?”, over and over again until they have enough candy or have hit up the whole town or neighborhood.

However, what most peo-ple don’t realize is that trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval ritual of “souling,” when poor people would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1st), receiving food in return for prayers for the for dead on All Souls Day (November 2nd).

In Ohio, Iowa, and Mas-sachusetts, the night chosen for trick-or-treating is often referred to “Beggars Night.”

Another amazingly fun part of Halloween is dressing up in all the creative outfits. Masks and costumes were worn in an effort to copy the evil spirits or settle them. The activity of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats goes all the way back to the Middle Ages.

Halloween started from its origins in the ancient Celt-ic festival known as Samhain (pronounced “sah-win”). The celebration of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. Samhain was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and prepare for the winter that was right around the corner.

The ancient Gaels be-lieved that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damage crops.

Issue 2November 6, 20134

“Candy because I love chocolate!”‒ Kim Seibe,Junior

“Probably eat-ing candy and my shirt this year.”‒ Mrs. Aubrey

Weitzenkamp

“Eatin’ all the candy!”‒ Troy Ebel,Senior

Trojan Talk:What is your favorite part of Halloween?

“It’s pretty cool to see all the decorations people come up with and seeing the little kids dress up.”

‒ Lindsay Peters, Freshman

Kaleb Fischer dresses up as a zombie for the Zombie Run. Photo by Makayla Nemecek