This year has not been very Halloween-intensive around the apartment, but I wanted to give it a nod anyway. Halloween is an interesting holiday, so it wasn’t hard to come up with this list. Even if we aren’t actively celebrating, who doesn’t love spooky things?

1. While technically not about Halloween itself I think it’s kind of crazy that the Halloween Franchise has 11 movies, plus one coming out this Friday, AND at least one more planned. Also, it was begun in 1978 and there’s a movie coming out in 2022 that’s part of series started with a direct sequel made in 2018 that retcons 40 years of movies. Blows my mind.
2. Jack O’ Lanterns come from an Irish legend of a man who tricked the Devil, was refused entry by God, and wanders the Earth (or Ireland, I guess) with a hollowed out turnip lit by a candle. Americans have to make things bigger, so we turned it into pumpkins. Apparently, anyway.
3. Trick-or-Treat used to be Trick-and-Treat – kids would do tricks not play tricks for non-candy-related treats. Now, there are very few tricks and far more treats. Apparently there was also a version where kids would offer to pray for your dead. That’s also not a thing anymore. I don’t think.
4. Halloween used to be all about getting married (as most things used to be), but my favorite is watching hazelnuts as they roast. You named all your hazelnuts with the names of all the guys you wouldn’t mind getting married to, then tossed them in the fire. Whichever one didn’t pop and burned to ashes instead, that’s your man. How these ladies kept track of which hazelnuts had which names isn’t mentioned. And what happened if 2+ burned to ashes? Will you be widowed and have to marry again? I have questions.
5. The same article from above mentions hiding jewelry in mashed potatoes and whoever found it would also find true love. Which would be easy – it’s the cook who put the jewelry in the mashed potatoes. They have the money for jewelry and the ability to make delicious mashed potatoes. Win win.

Okay, I won’t lie, none of these are very spooky. The spookiest thing I know about Halloween is that black cats are sometimes removed from adoptable lists around Halloween so they don’t get sacrificed or whatnot. I have no idea how much truth there is to the idea of cat sacrifices, but I hate it.

Anyway, I’m going to go watch the Scream movies.

-Sarah

• Holidays