Do you remember some of your first Halloween costumes? Were you dressed as a black cat like I was? Or maybe you were a Jack O’Lantern? Better yet a wicked witch?
“Me and my friends were ninja turtles. We handmade our turtle shells, it was awesome,” said senior Taylor Manthey.
Well, hold onto those memories because I’m sure every youngster will remember the year 2012 when Halloween wasn’t celebrated with classmates or allowed kids to go door to door as normal.
On October 31st, Governor Christie’s Administration signed an executive order postponing the night of mischief for trick- or – treaters to Monday, November 5th. It’s a good thing too because candy was scarce in shut-down stores and many already consumed fist- fulls of chocolate well before Wednesday.
Ellen Jensen, music teacher for St. Rose Grammar School in Freehold says, “I just feel so bad for the kids, they have been looking forward to coming to school in their costumes for weeks.”
Even though Hurricane Sandy prevented New Jersey from successfully celebrating Halloween on October 31st 2012 as previous years, the day was still held in spirit.
Instead of trick-or-treating on dangerous streets where trees, transformers and power lines were unstable several alternatives were used allowing for children to still dress in their costumes and parade around for sweet treats. Such alternatives included “Trunk or Treating” where car trunks were filled with candy in designated parking lots and allowed for children to celebrate in safe corridors.
Aside from pillow cases full of Kit Kat’s, Reese’s and M&M’s the best part of celebrating Halloween is finally revealing your costume or disguise. But who might we give credit for such a frightful night?
In Western Europe, the Celts were responsible for wearing the first costumes so they could disguise themselves from spirits returning to the physical Earth. These spirits were known to cause harm to the folk people. Therefore, by dressing up in animal skins, the Celts could trick the spirit by hiding their real identity. The holiday was not known as Halloween until later into the nineteenth century, according to History.com. October 31st was initially celebrated as the festival of Samhain, which celebrated the New Year and prepared the Celts for the cold, dark winter season, which began November 1st.
Symbols for the holiday include black cats, witches, spiders and bats which represent death and the dark winter months ahead. The other color associated with Halloween is orange, which comes from the autumn harvest and most commonly pumpkins, which were first used as lanterns.
Since Halloween came after Frankenstorm Sandy, it was difficult to divert her attention and avoid the East Coast.
“It’s just not safe outside for kids right now. I know my students are disappointed but this decision helped keep them safe,” says Ellen Jensen.
In an official statement issued by Governor Christie, he claimed, “As Governor, it is my responsibility to use all available resources of the state government to protect against the emergency created by Hurricane Sandy – postponing Halloween celebrations by five days is a commonsense and necessary step to accomplish that.”
And it was, because if Halloween began as a celebration to protect the people, then what better way to ensure their safety before we ward of ghouls and goblins?
IMAGE TAKEN from manrepeller.com
