From feasts and fires to ghouls and goblins! Halloween has surely changed a lot over time! Not a lot of our students at Ripon High know the entire evolution of Halloween. Some only know Halloween as it is now! While our traditions now are fun and creative, people might wonder where our Halloween came from!

“I think it was based off of Day of The Dead or a really, really old Celtic holiday,” said Mackenzie Perry, junior.

Perry was right about the second part! Halloween originated from a Celtic festival that celebrated the beginning of fall. During this time they believed that ghosts had partial access to their world, able to cause good or evil. A trick or treat! We know where the Halloween obsession with the undead started! 

When asked if they would like to learn more about how Halloween came to us, sophomore Carlos Andrade responded.

“Honestly yes, Halloween is a really old holiday when you think about it,” said Carlos Andrade, sophomore.

Halloween spread to us after the Roman Empire came to the Celtic areas. Halloween went through a lot of acculturation during this time! Christianity made its way there and created All Saint’s Day! This was the beginning of people dressing up in costumes for the holiday!

It only spread from there! Halloween soon became a day of vandalism and pranks, all played by young kids looking to cause mischief. The owners of homes came up with away to persuade them. Candy! It’s thanks to those misbehaving kids and problem solving parents, that now we get a load of candy on Oct. 30th!

“The most important aspects of Halloween would probably be the scary theme in general,” said Apollo Poortinga, junior.

The themes of the undead and spirits were there from the very beginning! Along the way, we adopted the dressing up in costumes and giving of candy. Halloween as we know it now is an amazing night of decorated houses, walking around the neighborhoods, gathering candy with friends, and amazing costumes! We even have a special saying for the night! At every house in order to get candy.

“Trick or treat!”

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