We all remember the feeling of carrying a tacky, pumpkin-shaped bucket filled to the brim with sweets – head dizzy with sugar, teeth aching and pulsing from the night’s indulgences – and scrambling door to door with our friends, snatching any sliver of candy offered to us.
Our last Halloween certainly wasn’t as memorable. Silence wafting through the streets, gloomy plastic skeletons leaning slack against dejected, deformed pumpkins. We have all peeked out the window to marvel at the eerie stillness of the night. Out of the various holidays of the year, Halloween was the one beaten bare to the bone by Covid.
“A lot of the typical, standard activities were cancelled. We went trick-or-treating but not many people were out … just to the few houses giving a lot more candy,” recalls Ms. Fanton, media arts teacher and advisor of the Fashion Club.
Sara Heyman, a freshman at San Mateo High School and member of the Fashion Club, said that last year’s Halloween “was really depressing. I walked through my neighborhood and people would throw candy at you from like six feet away, and then they’d leave it on their lawn. It was very sad.”
Things are looking up, though. With Covid restrictions loosening, the spooky season’s festivities are awakening from the dead. Cheery pumpkins dot the streets again, and stringy webs weave through bushes and trees, complete with furry spiders peppered all over the leaves. Spirits are being lifted by our high hopes of a thrilling Halloween.
“I’m very excited about this year’s Halloween. I think with the vaccine a lot more people are going to be out and about,” said Ms. Fanton. “Hopefully it’ll be closer to more typical years, as far as celebration, and it seems like there’s more events going on. Pumpkin patches open, and stuff like that.”
Heyman expressed similar sentiments. “I am very excited to participate in Halloween this year, not only because I have new friends from high school, but because last year was really sad. I hope this Halloween will be more back-to-normal.”
When asked about the festivities of this year’s Halloween, Ms. Fanton stated that she thinks “everyone will still be in masks, especially kids. All the staff are wearing costumes.” As for their costumes, “the teachers are all doing scrabble pieces.” Heyman said that she plans on wearing a costume as well. “I’m going to be a hippie with some of my friends, and I’m going to go trick or treating.”
Although the long-term effect of Covid on Halloween is unclear, Ms. Fanton thinks that “Covid has just made people a lot more careful with everything, careful about masks, masking, careful about if they’re sick. People are just more scared of getting sick.” Even with the disastrous effects of the pandemic, people still anticipate a festive spooky season. Intricate costumes, stocking up on candy, sinister decorations – all are measures taken to make this year’s Halloween live up to its potential.