For many, Halloween is much more than the collection of traditional activities such as pumpkin carving, trick-or-treating, and dressing up. Celebrating the Halloween season can come in all different forms. You’d be surprised at how many different ways there are to celebrate this scary holiday!

In regards to fun costumes, Purim, an exuberant Jewish holiday, certainly covers that. Sophomore Hannah Brown articulates that “Purim is basically a holiday where people dress up and get to be something that they’re not.” In that respect, it isn’t too far removed from the Halloween tradition many of us are most familiar with.

Around this time of year, this common focus on death is paralleled in other cultures. For some Mexican students, Day of the Dead serves as that parallel. “People dress up and there are dances and festivals. Instead of grieving, people celebrate their ancestors’ death by making them a shrine with pictures, candles, and items to remember them by, such as clothes, favorite jewelry and favorite foods,” sophomore Mayte Santos explains.

“In the Philippines we go to the cemetery to commemorate our past loved ones. There are people selling flowers, candles and food. People go there instead of going to work on that day. Some people set up tents to prepare for All Saints Day and All Souls Day. There’s pretty much a party in the cemetery and we talk to everyone even if they’re not family,” senior Camille Casiple says.

As for junior Kate Andrew, a Christo-Pagan, Sahmain works as a similar foil for Halloween. “It celebrates our past ancestors kind of like Day of the Dead. We believe ghosts of our ancestors come back and we celebrate. We build an altar with pictures of our family and we have a big meal and little rituals.”

From parties and fun costumes to trick-or-treating, haunted houses and visiting cemeteries, there are plenty of different ways to celebrate Halloween from being mindful of old traditions and relatives to celebrating just for the sake of it.

Happy Halloween!