<lloween is a pretty strange holiday. Forget the candy, costumes and pagan history. October 31st stands out because of its consistent presence, yet changing significance through every stage of our lives.
When we were children, Halloween was a time to go all-out. We trick-or-treated with our neighborhood friends until dark, sometimes taking more than our fair share at each house. Our parents would warn us not to eat the candy corn or other non-wrapped treats, and to watch out for chocolate-covered razor blades. Then we would go home to sort our loot by size, shape and color, and trade with our friends or siblings. Not much later, we would get sick from eating too much sugar, and roll into bed.
At a certain point, many of us became a little too self-conscious to dress up and go trick-or-treating, so we just stayed home and bitterly passed out candy with our parents.
In many respects, college is a return to the glory days. We still dress up, and some of us still overindulge (although maybe not in candy).
Halloween at Carleton is a time for us to be ourselves. We can run around and act like kids, while knowing that we are in a safe and accepting environment. There is no stigma, or reason to be self-conscious about putting yourself out there and celebrating. We should keep these things in mind as we get ready to celebrate one of Carleton’s most fun traditions – the Halloween Concert and Costume Contest.
What Halloween will be like once we leave Carleton, we have yet to find out. In the meantime, if you’re looking for inspiration for this year’s costume contest, see below for a retrospective of the editors’ childhood (and college) costume choices.