What is Halloween?

Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on October 31st. Carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating are two activities commonly practiced on this holiday. Trick-or-treating consists of kids dressing up in costumes and going from door to door, asking, ¨trick or treat?¨. The house owner will then say, ¨treat” and give the kids candy. People also carve faces into pumpkins and put a candle inside for a creepy decoration. Gabe Hettinger, a Penns Valley senior, said he will dress up as a Shrek character for Halloween. 

History

The tradition started as an ancient Celtic festival. This day marked the end of summer and the start of the frigid winter. This period was often associated with human death. It was believed that the boundary line between the living and dead was blurred and ghosts could come back to life. Celts would commonly dress up in animal skins from head to toe and try to tell each other fortunes. This is where the tradition of dressing up came from. Eventually, the Celtics were conquered by Rome who honored a goddess of fruit and trees around the same day as Halloween. This is what historians believe created the tradition of bobbing for apples.

Where to trick or treat

Most towns all over America practice the tradition of trick or treating. Some of the towns in Penns Valley that practice trick or treating are Spring Mills, Centre Hall, Millhiem, and Rebuersburg. Trick or Treat is mainly for kids, so go while you still can! Learn more about Halloween here: https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween