This Year for Halloween there were all sorts of costumes! Though it was very cold outside it didn’t stop the Halloween spirit in everyone! If you’re like me, then you might wonder, where did dressing up for Halloween even come from? The custom of dressing for Halloween comes from three Celtic festivals called Samhain, Calan Gaeaf, and All Souls Day. Samhain falls on October 31st to November 1st. This is when they marked the end of the harvest season, but on this day, they believed that the barrier between the living and the dead was breaking. Calan Gaeaf falls on November 1st, it is a festival that is very similar to Samhain, they would dance around a fire and write their names on a stone. After they had put their name, they would place them around the fire. All Souls Day is to receive soul cakes, which was like Trick or Treating except with cakes. Residents would dress as animals or monsters to scare off evil spirits leading to what we do today. For Halloween we always dress as our favorite character and ask for candy around the neighborhoods of our own communities! Valley Stream South sure had spirit!
