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Bike share program is coming to Boise State.
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Editorial:Instagram does not make you a real photographer.
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Cross Country heads to Mountain West Championships.
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October 31, 2013 • Issue no. 20 Volume 26
Boise, Idaho
First issue free
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Lance Moore @LanceMoore07
The history of humanity’s love of being scared resonates back through the ages so much, that it has become subconsciously ingrained into the imagination of society, deep into every dark crevice of human psychology. Think about it; some of the earliest games parents play with their young infants is “Boo.” This is where a parent hides behind something, like their own hand, to then subsequently removes it and says “boo,” in turn provoking a simultaneous joyful/terrorstricken jolt from the infant where they squirm around as if not knowing how to react. Where did it all begin? Halloween or “All Hallows Eve,” is one of the few times of the year that both Western Christian civilizations and nonChristian civilizations conjure up festivities that include costumes, watching scary movies and decorations of scary images. This secular, community-based holiday began back with the ancient Celtic pagan festival of “Samhain.” People would light and dance around bonfires, dressed in costume, to ward off evil or roaming spirits. Some traditions were adopted by the eighth century rising Catholic Church. Pope Gregory III would decree that Nov. 1 be “All Saints Day,” where saints and martyrs were honored. Aspects of “Samhain” were utilized in the
Madison Killian @MaddaySunn
Around Halloween every single year since its start, there is a local group of Boise State friends dedicated to having the best costumes around. They get together, and decide on a theme and go nuts. Many of these people go to or have graduated from Boise State, not that anyone would recognize them while in costume. “Chris Gibbons and I, we were on the wrestling team at Boise State, and the annual wrestling Halloween party is huge. To get in, you have to have a good costume,” said Bowser, or Levi Holt, a Boise State graduate. “The costumes got pretty competitive. We started compiling all of our friends and we made the X-Men that year and it was huge.” The gang had such a blast that year that they decided to keep the new-found hobby alive. Another year, the group went as villains from the mega popular superhero page Design Megan Nanna/THE ARBITER
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day before “All Saints Day,” which was referred to as “All Hallows Eve,” now Halloween. Halloween is a holiday with superstition, some a skewed of truth as well as glaring fantasy. Honed around the themes of mystery and magic, traditions are rooted in many religiously notable times in human history. For instance, the superstition of having black cats cross one’s path being bad luck dates back to the Middle Ages when the belief was that witches would turn themselves into black cats in order to avoid detection. The idea of Halloween, even down to its roots historically, is highlighted by a core belief in spirituality. During “Samhain,” the ancient Celts would not only dress up in order to ward off roaming spirits bad or unknown but also to commune with dead relatives or friends, as opposed to now where spirits of Halloween are viewed more diabolical in the sense that they are evil or demonic. Every ghost is viewed as scary or visually unappealing in order to generate the commercial profit machine that has become a stamp upon Western culture. Over time Halloween has become an ingrained American tradition, as well as the second highest commercial holiday of any holiday. It is estimated that Halloween brings in around $6 billion annually.
Taking costumes to a new level comic Batman. The tradition has been going on for four years. “Eventually it stopped becoming a wrestling thing, it became more of an us thing,” Holt said. This year, the group dressed as characters from the popular video game Mario Kart. To make matters even better, they went go-karting in the Mario Kart fashion. It’s no surprise that children and parents swarmed the team for photos the moment they stepped into the building. “We usually do about a week's worth of stuff," Holt said. "We put all this money and work into our costumes; we might as well get the most out of it.” This year, almost every major character from Mario was represented. Decked out from head to toe, not one single detail went unnoticed. Mario, Donkey Kong, Princess Peach, Daisy, Bowser,
Toad, Yoshi, Waluigi and Shy Guy were all in costume and ready to race. After planning the theme and deciding who gets to be who, it takes about two months for each person to make their costume, which they do completely from scratch. “We all have crazy schedules with work and school and everything else, so to make it look decent, you need to have a little bit of time,” said Toad, otherwise known as Kaycee Holt, an accounting graduate student. The members of the group are all very good friends and are all smiles in their costumes. “We are the weirdestfriends on the planet," Levi Holt said. "If you take every person here and single them out individually, we’ve always been kind of loners. It’s crazy we all found each other.”
ILLUSTRATION Christian Spencer/THE ARBITER
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