It’s October, and the season of Halloween is upon us! This year, Stanford OHS is celebrating the event in a number of ways, and many societies and clubs are holding additional Halloween-themed gatherings.
Halloween has a complicated history and has changed much over the ages. It originated from the Celtic festival Samhain and was influenced by the Roman celebrations of Feralia and Pomona. The Christian holiday All Saint’s Day (also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas) played a role in shaping today’s Halloween and also contributed to the name.
In the late 1800s, the Irish Potato Famine forced countless Irish citizens to leave their homeland, and many fled to what is now the United States of America. These immigrants helped to spread Halloween across the developing US and brought a key tradition with them: pranking.
Around this time, teenage pranksters pulled all sorts of tricks: allowing livestock to escape, defacing houses and property, and causing vehicle accidents. As this supposed “harmless” pranking grew more severe and caused several fatalities, towns tried to entertain their youngsters in other ways, organizing parties and celebrations. Trick-or-treating was one way to keep mischief-bent youth busy on Halloween night and stop them from causing trouble.
Although Stanford OHS students won’t be pranking unsuspecting neighbors, we can still enjoy Halloween’s benefits. This year, OHS is celebrating the age-old holiday with its annual Halloween assembly, which was held on Friday, September 25. The event consisted of several fun roast and compliment battles, a Halloween-themed Gartic Phone, a Pixel dress-up game, and the long-awaited costume contest!
Mathias Gomez (‘26) was the overall champion in his Defender Strange cosplay, with Dr. Chudzinski’s child’s 2020 Grammy award-inspired costume taking second place, and Dr. Hick’s hedgehog teapot taking the gold for the all-around best teapot costume.
This year, Halloween-themed in-person events include pumpkin carving and decorating in New York City, an apple cider-filled farm tour in Snohomish, Washington, and a spooky haunted house adventure in Pleasanton, California.
If you missed these events, or if you’re looking to participate in even more Halloween fun, consider submitting to Pixelate and Literature Club’s Photography & Poetry Competition, or the Latin Club’s Halloween Showcase.
Middle school representatives Addie Zang and Halo Shaffer are also hosting a middle school costume contest – email a photo of your costume and a short description to [email protected]. Voting will begin on October 27, with more details to come.
Although you may not be able to go trick-or-treating in-person with your school friends, there are still many ways to celebrate this holiday at OHS. Happy Halloween!