Throughout the district today students, teachers and parents participated in numerous acitivites celebrating Halloween- dressing up in many creative costumes and parading in and around our schools. Our K-8 schools collaborated in our annual Halloween Parade (Wallace, Calabro, and Connors) supported by the Hoboken High Band and Demarest High School had a Halloween Bar-B-Q. Sightings of the infamous "Pink Ladies" and "The Thunderbirds" could be spotted around Wallace School...throughout the day as teachers and administrators also joined in on the festivities of the day. Many district children and parents also participated in the annual Ragamuffin Parade on Washington Street after the school day concluded.
Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain.The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year." Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the living and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.
Halloween is now the United States' second most popular holiday (after Christmas) for decorating; the sale of candy and costumes is also extremely common during the holiday, which is marketed to children and adults alike.
