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NEWS: Celebrating Halloween with considerations of COVID-19
Celebrating Halloween with considerations of COVID-19
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY TRIN BONNER THE COLLEGIAN
By Miles Buchan
@buchanmiles
The end of this October marks the third year people will celebrate Halloween in a world where COVID-19 risks are a consideration.
The spread of this disease has changed many aspects of everyday life, and the Halloween holiday has been no exception. However, from the beginning of the pandemic until now, many restrictions have been lifted, and various annual events hosted in Larimer County continue to return in person.
Cases and hospitalizations in Larimer County have steadily decreased in the the past few months. Currently, according to the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment website, Larimer County is at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 community level of “low.” events, from hosting private parties to attending public gatherings, with no COVID-19 regulations in place aside from the recommendation to wear a mask in crowded, indoor public places.
The Tiny Tot Halloween event will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 31. Nearly 70 businesses in downtown Fort Collins will hand out candy.
Trick-or-treating opportunities will be happening throughout residential areas, as well as the annual Trick-or-Treat Street, which will take place from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at Rocky Mountain High School.
Adults looking to have some fun can find an array of lively restaurants to visit and pub crawls to participate in.
Many people will recall the Halloween of 2020, during the first year of the pandemic, being different than any year prior. In a statement issued that year by the LCDHE, the public was urged to follow certain guidelines in order to celebrate Halloween safely. These guidelines limited the size of gatherings as well as established mask regulations.
This statement also included recommendations that applied directly to trick-or-treating. At that time, trick-or-treating was permitted as a low-risk activity; however, parents and children were advised to use caution when it came to candy exchanges and gatherings of people. Gatherings of more than 10 were not permitted, and large in-person contests or parties of any kind were to be avoided.
These measures are no longer in place, but some recommendations still remain. The Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment shared a post to their Instagram giving five tips on having a safe Halloween. The fifth tip is to make sure kids and adults have taken all recommended vaccines, like for COVID-19 and the flu.
For anyone with underlying health issues, additional steps can be taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The CDC recommends multiple preventative measures that have been found to reduce the chances of catching COVID-19.
“If you are feeling sick, be sure to use our website to help assist in further steps,” said Kyle Pallman of the Colorado School of Public Health at Colorado State University.
This year, additional emphasis is being placed on getting a flu shot in addition to the COVID-19 vaccination and boosters to also protect from influenza illness.
“We definitely recommend getting vaccinated for the flu this season,” Pallman said.
Reach Miles Buchan at news@ collegian.com.
HISTORY
The not-so-satanic, true origins of Halloween
By Ivy Secrest
@ivysecrest
The masked faces of small children scuttle past houses lit up by the carved grins of jack-o’-lanterns and ghoulish decorations. Halloween season is upon us, and the familiarity of the holiday is intoxicating.
Often thought of as dark, spooky and even satanic, Halloween actually stems from a much more thoughtful celebration: Samhain. The pagan holiday is mainly focused on connecting with passed ancestors to express gratitude, ask for guidance in the new year and celebrate the year’s harvest.
This connection between the holidays is an important part of history for many modern pagans, like Jordan Beard, a member of the Council at Covenant of the River in Fort Collins. “A lot of people are really surprised to find out that Samhain and Halloween actually have nothing to do with devil worship at all,” Beard said. “In fact, neopagans and a lot of classical pagans … actually didn’t have a concept of a devil figure. So not only were they not worshipping the devil, … they didn’t really believe in one.”
This separation of paganism from satanism is important, especially since the modern holiday of Halloween has been portrayed as demonic in the context of horror movies or even some common costumes.
Much like Dia de los Muertos and All Saints’ Day, part of Samhain is about connecting with ancestors through cultural traditions.
“In particular, Celtic tradition said that the veil between the spirit realm and the physical realm was very thin,” Beard said. “And you could talk to the spirits of your ancestors on these at these times. And so you would do this ritual, and you would connect and send messages primarily of gratitude but also asking for maybe a little guidance.”
Although Halloween stems from the English version of Samhain — Allhallows Eve — and has connections to Wiccan traditions as well, many of the traditions are carried over directly from Samhain.
Take costumes and jack-o’lanterns, for example: Pagans used to carve turnips to carry home embers from community bonfires. These embers would be used to start the next fire in the home and bring the community back with them, Beard said.
“Jack-o’-lanterns were originally carved as a spooky thing, the idea being that that would keep any spirits that had any ill intent towards you at bay,” Beard said. “But later, the jack-o’-lantern actually came to be a carrying vessel for that coal.”
The jack-o’-lanterns were intended originally to scare spirits and protect communities, and people dress up in costume for similar reasons.
After performing the rituals to connect with ancestors, pagans were fearful the spirits would want to stay in the earthly realm. In order to combat this, they would adorn masks and cloaks so spirits wouldn’t follow them home, Beard said.
Though these traditions may seem rooted far in the past, they are still very real for neopagans. Halloween is now a night for fun and celebration, but the old traditions are still practiced within the pagan religion as Samhain approaches.
“I’m not offended in any way that Halloween is commercialized and modernized and celebrated by people that have no connection to the religion at all,” Beard said.
Beard did clarify that he thinks education of the culture was important. If we are going to grab onto old traditions and modernize them in new cultural practices, we should educate ourselves on what the origins really are.
“I think that’s where we run into problems with what a lot of people call cultural appropriation or cultural misappropriation,” Beard said. “They’re not bothering to know what it is that they’re borrowing.”
The Covenant of the River hosts the Denver Witches’ Ball as an opportunity to educate the community about the meaning of the season as well as get people to engage with the Wiccan and pagan communities.
While the event is advertised as a Halloween masquerade ball, it can be a spiritual activity if attendees choose to view it that way.
Halloween may be a spooky scary time to trick-or-treat with friends and parade around in costume, but the ongoing sense of community that stems from the celebration’s origins in Samhain has yet to fade.
Reach Ivy Secrest at life@ collegian.com.
CULTURE
How to not culturally appropriate with Halloween costumes
By Alexander Wilson
@alexgrey0604
Editor’s Note: All opinions reflected within are views of the individual author only.
With Halloween right around the corner, it’s time to talk about costumes and cultural appropriation.
Cultural appropriation was first termed in the 1980s to discuss colonialism in academic spaces, eventually expanding from academia to the media. Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another, and typically more dominant, people or society.”
Halloween has been riddled with offensive costumes for some time now, but as society progresses, so must the narrow view on appropriation.
“People have to stop trying to seek authenticity in the ways in which they are trying to mimic things that have historically been problematic or have been utilized outside of a cultural context,” said Aaunterria BollingerDeters, a visual culture theorist working as an ethics instructor at Colorado State University.
Here are some basic guidelines on how not to offend groups. Avoid religious, tribal, ethnic costumes
Basically, no turbans, Indigenous clothing, tribal markings, Cleopatras or dreadlocks if you’re not from that culture. For example, don’t wear a sombrero and mustache if you’re not of Latinx descent just for a costume. Their culture is not yours to make a joke out of.
On that note, don’t wear religions as costumes either; go put away that sexy nun costume.
Contrary to popular belief, popular characters in the media can also be used in appropriation. So don’t wear an accent or change your skin tone for a Jasmine costume. Avoid costumes depicting mental, physical disabilities
How often have you seen the psych patient in a straitjacket costume? The romanticized depiction portrayed by the media of people with mental illnesses experiencing psychotic episodes is not only harmful to the community but completely false, and it creates a stigma against them. Nobody ever thinks that these costumes depict real people who have experienced that.
Ableism has been rooted in our society for hundreds of years, and it’s time to change that. When picking out a costume, remember that even though it’s a character, it can promote a false narrative for the community. So maybe put away that mobility aid and fake limp for your Walter White Jr. costume. Don’t be transphobic
“Mrs. Doubtfire” is a funny movie until you realize the damage it causes to the transgender community: the transphobic “manin-a-dress” trope. Using someone’s gender identity as a costume is not funny nor is it original, so put that “White Chicks” costume back on the shelf. Steer clear from sexualizing children
Now, it sounds simple, yet Halloween stores have proven otherwise. Aisles filled with sexy schoolgirl costumes, sexy baby costumes and pedophilic priest costumes should be thrown away and burned. It’s just weird — don’t do it. Keep away from tragedies
Don’t romanticize Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer; nobody is hot enough to forgive for murder. Many victims of tragedies are still alive, so don’t ruin the night for them by making their trauma your costume. On that note, take off the numbers on your wrist and put away the whip.
Cultural appropriation affects everyone, and knowing the real consequences is the first step to understanding.
“Visual representation is extremely important, and when you’re leaning into this ability of being able to dress and go out and have fun, you also have to think about the power of this representation and what you’re conveying and potentially what that can do to someone rather than thinking of it as just a costume because it’s never just a costume,” Bollinger-Deters said.
Reach Alexander Wilson at life@ collegian.com.
