The original night of Halloween, according to The History Channel’s website, was actually called Samhain, where it involves Celtic citizens dressing up as ghoulish goblins and starting fires around their towns to make the spirits of their angry ancestors leave them alone. Eventually Pope Gregory III changed the name to “All Hallows Eve,” and named November first “Saints Day” in order to supplement the “evil traditions of the pagan holiday Samhain.” As the years moved on everyone just started calling it Halloween. That being said, there are still age old traditions of dressing up and carving pumpkins to put candles in them.
Candy is said to have come into Samhain (Halloween) when the Celtic people would leave meat and dessert cakes and pies on their doorsteps for the ancestors who “still walked the earth could be appeased” according to Mental Floss.com. Nowadays, children accompanied by their parents dressed to the nines as their favorite cartoon character go door to door, saying “Trick-or-treat!” and getting handfuls of candies in their pillowcases, plastic grocery bags, and jack-o-lantern shaped buckets. Young adults decide to wean away from their parents, going to Halloween parties, staying out till all hours of the night, pumpkin smashing among other things.
Adults have the opportunity to go out for Halloween parties, costume contests, and other adult things. That is, if they don’t have kids, of course. If they do then there is an unsaid rule that moms and dads need to take their little boys and girls out for the night to load up on treats, visit haunted houses, and show off their awesome costumes!
A poll regarding Halloween took place at NC. According to the poll, 47.5% of participants were freshmen, 13.7% were sophomores, 14.2% were juniors, and 24.5% were seniors. Students answered the question “Do you still dress up for halloween?” Out of all the students who answered, 30.9% said that they do not dress up any more, and 69.1% of voters, the majority, answered that they still proudly dress up in costumes for halloween night.