It’s jacket season. I’m not sure how we got here already, how my first semester has slipped from brand-new and 85 degrees to over halfway done and needing gloves. I’ve watched the tree in front of Baldwin Hall turn from green to red, with more leaves on the sidewalk than the branches at this point. A chill is in the air. Suddenly, it’s Halloween.
The basic concepts of “kid-Halloween” are pretty simple and universal: visit a pumpkin patch, carve said pumpkins, decorate, find a costume and, of course, trick-or-treat. As a former kid who partook in such practices, I can say that these foundational elements of the holiday are what shape the American societal understanding of Halloween, and how future generations will continue to interpret it. Trick-or-treating, in its earliest forms, goes back to 16th century Irish and Scottish “guising,” and though modernity has adapted these traditions, the cultural impact continues to define Halloween. However, the biggest contributing factor that made the holiday so special as a kid was the magic surrounding it. The anticipation that built as the season progressed, mixed with corn mazes, movies and scary stories, gave Halloween the nostalgic feeling that I associate it with today.
As I’ve faced the growing pains of the shift between youth, adolescence and adulthood, Halloween has been redefined time and time again. Certain aspects of “kid-Halloween” have subsided, while others have turned into defining features of my celebration. Trick-or-treating has been left in the past, and group costumes, digital camera pics and parties have come to the forefront. The excitement rooted in Halloween has shifted from the magic of the holiday to the activities surrounding it, even if a lot of that childhood magic was the activities themselves. This is something that, as we grow older, cannot be replicated, only replaced. Each October, when the leaves start to change and the wind starts to howl, we find ourselves another year removed from the childlike wonder that once made Halloween so special, leaving me to question: “What now?”
2025 will be my first Halloween as a “real-world” adult, away from home and left to my own devices. And while I am thrilled to be experiencing the college take on one of my favorite holidays, I am yet again redefining what Halloween means to me. Myself and my peers, especially fellow freshmen, have taken our new-found independence and run with it. It is truly up to me how much I choose to engage in anything, really, and the context of Halloween is no exception. What was once a given means for celebration could now be easily avoided with little push back. Nothing is forcing me to “get into the spirit” in the way that childhood tended to, with class parties and almost mandatory Halloween parades. And while this fall, I have done everything from carve a slightly questionable Jack-O-Lantern to scream in some poor scare actor’s face at Ghost Lake Haunted House, it’s been easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and sometimes, forget about Halloween all together.
So how do you celebrate Halloween as an adult? How do you make room for a fleeting feeling of youth that, for many of us, requires more upkeep and attention than we can maintain? To me, the immediate answer is to first, find a community that wants to do it with you. Halloween is a contemporary longing for connection. From youth to adolescence, Halloween was a chance for people to share social experiences. Meeting up with friends to compare candy hauls, laughing together over a cheesy 80s horror film and even the simple (yet frustrating) act of putting out decorations with your family while losing feeling in your fingers created strong bonds with those around me. And though it might require a different level of attention, this can be carried into college. Find the folks that will explore all aspects of Halloween, even if they seem childish, and embrace them. Watch a scary movie, visit a haunted house, decorate your dorm. Halloween is what you make of it.
Our priorities change as we age, something that can, as stated before, leave reservoirs of what once was to be replaced with what now is. When approaching Halloween, and holidays in general, with an adult perspective, these priorities translate to your celebration. If you carry a strong sense of nostalgia for “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” a simple movie night is the perfect way to keep that energy alive. If you value experiences with those close to you while wanting to maintain the Halloween spirit, go to a haunted house or corn maze. The celebration of Halloween may not be as concrete as it used to be, but if certain things are important to you, make an effort to see them through. October only has so many days.
Finally, don’t be afraid of vulnerability. Everyone holds different memories, associations and traditions surrounding Halloween, and reflecting on what these are and where they come from can lead to further introspection. In my case, through my earliest years, Halloween was a time in which my non-nuclear family felt “normal,” wherein both parents came together and we trick-or-treated as a unit. This, albeit subconscious, created a sense of security in the holiday that I hadn’t experienced simply due to being a child of divorce. As I aged, I became aware of the complexity of my family, but the feeling of security in Halloween remained, even if redefined. This year was my first chance to fully explore this on my own, and as I continue into adulthood, will continue to develop. I encourage those of us who are “college-ing” for the first time to reflect on our pasts, and make a point to prioritize our present.
I believe that Allegheny students find the magic of Halloween, even between comp proposals and studying for exams. As I go about my daily routine, I see carved pumpkins in my hallway and hay bales in the quad, spider-webbed doorways and students adorned in on-theme merch. (Shoutout to the Merriman Campus Store). I hear whispers of ghost hunts and pumpkin patches, and like the subsequent Instagram posts that serve as proof of these activities. But most of all, I sense those around me connecting with one another over something that has connected us our entire lives. The holiday of Halloween is a chance for us to unite and celebrate, and though it isn’t as cut and dry as knocking on doors for candy, witnessing my peers throughout this spooky season gives me hope that as I begin my adult-ing journey, what was important to me in childhood and adolescence can, in fact, be maintained. Happy jacket season.