The Gallagher room hosted Halloween this year by throwing a costume contest party this past Thursday. Students gathered together to celebrate the end of spooky season by playing games, eating snacks, and dressing up for the occasion. Students’ costumes ranged from classic witches, to Barbie & Ken.
Students were able to vote via QR code for their favorite costume. The crowd cheered and clapped while dressed up students displayed the hard work that went into their creative costumes. The costume party contest was spread into various categories such as scary, funny, and most original. This gave students full creative liberties to dress in anything that would get them the winning prize.
The two-hour long event was a great way for students to celebrate Halloween and embrace the holidays tradition of eating lots of candy, since many students didn’t intend on trick or treating this year. Many of these Halloween traditions date back to the ancient Celts, early Roman Catholics, and 17th-century British politics.
It is interesting to see how far we’ve come since the conception of the holiday which dates back to 2,000 years ago. Halloween began as a festival of Samhain, a Gaelic commemoration marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the “darker half” of the year. This festival was celebrated at sunset on October 31 and lasted until sunset November 1. The Celts, who lived in what is now considered Ireland, UK, and France believed that celebrating at the midpoint between fall equinox and winter solstice was an important time for giving offers to the dead and to communicate with them.
This celebration ultimately began as a way for people to reconnect with their deceased loved ones. Large bonfires, food, and drinks were offered to the spirits in hopes of their souls returning for the day to be honored. During this time many feared of dark spirits and unwanted monsters could try to join in on the festivities so costumes made of animal skin were worn in the hopes of scaring off the unwanted visitors.
As the years went on, people began to dress as the ghosts and demons they once feared and put their own spin to an ancient tradition. While at the Samhain festival, people (typically children) started to preform little antics, pranks, or tricks in order to receive food, drinks, or treats from the wealthy families who had enough to spare. Thus, starting the trick or treat tradition kids know and love today.
During this time, the Irish also began the tradition of carving scary faces into potatoes or turnips to ward off evil spirits. They would sometimes even take it a step further and place these carvings on their windows with a candle lit inside of them, left to burn all night to keep evil away.
These traditions were brought to the U.S in the mid 19th century when a large number of immigrants migrated over trying to flee the Irish Potato Famine. Irish and Scottish communities gathered together to continue their Celtic traditions and eventually passed it on to their neighbors, creating Halloween as we know it. According to history.com Halloween is the nation’s second largest commercial holiday after Christmas.
At the Bucks Costume Contest students like 20-year-old English major, Jules Garnder made sure to turn heads with her Caroline inspired costume. Gardner, who is also in the drama club made sure to let her creative juices flow while reaching complete accuracy with her costume as she showed up to campus today with a blue wig, yellow jacket and shoes to match. Caroline’s beloved character would not be the same without the button eye which Jules made sure to incorporate. When asked about her costume choice she said “I love Caroline, always have. I knew when I chose this costume, I immediately wanted to make her accessories. I am very dedicated.” Her dedication shined through as she took the stage to present her costume.
By the end of the Halloween Party, students had made their decisions. The winner for scariest costume was a Vampire. A student dressed as Garfield took home the prize for funniest costume and Cleopatra won most original. Costume winners were given a “food and fun” gift card to enjoy. 18-year-old international student Kris Samosudova found winning the scary genre costume contest very unexpected. “Most of what I’m wearing is stuff my grandma already had. The dress, gloves, even the wig I already owned.” She says “I’m happy I won; I haven’t been to any of these places (listed on the gift card) so now I get to try them out.”
Students left the Gallagher room with the Halloween spirit and looking forward to what the spooky weekend would bring.