Tag: halloween

Fall Tropes

Jordan Brown Leave a comment

Every season has fun activities that people associate with it and they look forward to doing these activities when the season gets closer.  The activities tend to vary based on where you live because the weather tends to dictate what activities are doable. It in the Midwest activities for summer are going to the beach and playing in a pool, for winter it’s sledding and building snowmen and having a fire indoors, for spring it’s being able to not wear winter coats and walking outside again, and for fall it’s pumpkin carving and sweater weather.  Fall has a range of activities that people look forward to based on their interests in particular.

A lot of fall activities rely around Halloween, because Halloween is the main event that happens during the season.  Some Halloween fall related activities include haunted houses, trick or treating, and Halloween parades. These activities are directly related to Halloween, but a lot of other fall activities are associated with Halloween even though they are not directly related to it.  Some of these activities include pumpkin picking, apple orchards, and corn mazes. While carving pumpkins is a specific Halloween activity, going pumpkin picking is not. These activities get lumped into the same category because they happen around the same time because November might be too cold to do them.

Other fall activities are not related to Halloween, but are related to being back to school.  The main thing that this includes is football season. Fall is the season for high school, college, and professional football.  While professional football continues into the winter, high school and college generally do not. This means that for a lot of people across America, the leaves changing colors means football seasons and Saturdays being taken over by tailgates and football games.  This is especially true at the University of Michigan. Game day is the most popular day of the week for the entirety of football season (a.k.a. fall).

Fall also means seasonal retail items, mostly pumpkin flavored things.  Only in the fall can one find pumpkin bread and pie at the grocery store, and a pumpkin latte at Starbucks.  This is when people go overboard of consuming their favorite fall themed things, not only food. Fall scented candles and decorations with leaves and acorns on them also increase because they reflect the weather.

This happens with each season, fall is just particularly noticeable because people associate so many things with this one season unlike the others.

Celebrate the (corn)Maze and Blue this Halloween

Jordan Brown Leave a comment

Happy Halloween!  There are many ways to celebrate on the holiday, the most common throughout the US being trick-or-treating or Halloween parties.  There are many ways to celebrate the halloween spirit before and after the 31st.  A popular option in the midwest is by going through a corn maze. Corn mazes are a fun afternoon activity and each one is unique based on the shape and size of each maze.

2016 Corn maze from Gull Meadows farm in Richland, MI.

The process of making a corn maize is more complex than most people expect.  The farmers have to plan what pattern or picture they would like the maze to be in as they plant the corn.  The farmers plant the seeds and then very quickly before the corn grows too high they pick up all of the corn on the path of the maze so that it never grows there and the path is clearly defined.  Most farmers like to have a new picture each year for the maze, and once they pick what they want the maze to look like they have to execute it.  They do this by using gps technology to help them map out the pattern based 

on their land size and then the gps helps them to know what corn to pick up when they are using their tractors to create the path.  At some corn mazes the owners ask guests to guess what shape the maze once they have gone through it.  This is always fun because the guests think about how many turns they made and in what direction to determine what shape it could possibly be.  It also makes guests think about how complicated the maze is, which helps them to fully appreciate the effort, work, and creativity that they owners put into making the maze.

Big farms and orchards typically create a full day of activities for the whole family to enjoy.  They offer apple picking from their apple orchard, pumpkin picking from their pumpkin patch, apple cider and donuts to 

eat, a small country store selling homemade Halloween decorations, a hay ride, and a corn maze.  Some even offer pony rides and face painting as a bonus.  All of these activities draw more people to the maze which makes it worthwhile for the farmers to continue to put in the hard work and effort to make the mazes each year.  It also creates a great day for a family to enjoy the fall weather and get into the Halloween spirit.

A corn maize is a great attraction because it’s fun for every age.  Everyone likes to see how long it takes them to get through it, and competitive families like to split into groups and race to see who can finish first.  To make sure that people don’t cheat by walking in between the paths, corn mazes generally have 

several posts with different shaped hole punches throughout the maze to make sure that each group hole punches a card with every hole punch before they can get out.  To make it even more interesting some mazes have Halloween trivia on their on their posts and your answer tells you what direction to turn at the next fork in the path.  This way it’s more than just luck, but only if you answer the questions correctly.  Corn mazes create an atmosphere where everyone can have fun, enjoy the fall weather, and get into the spirit of Halloween.

Get Creative This Halloween

Jordan Brown Leave a comment

With Pinterest and tumblr becoming more common and popular, it pushes the everyday person to want to take Halloween to the next level.  This means decorating the entire house instead of just the porch and front room, and only making Halloween themed food for every celebration, as well as only wearing homemade/DIY costumes.  These things are super hard to achieve, and somewhat unrealistic for the average person who isn’t amazingly artistic like everyone on Pinterest seems to be.

A new trend that has begun on Pinterest is to paint a pumpkin instead of carving one.  This trend is a great and easy idea that people of all ages and skill levels can easily achieve.  It allows you to be more creative if you want, but it’s not a necessity.  Both simple and complicated designs look great on a painted pumpkin.  And as a bonus, if you mess up then you can just repaint the entire pumpkin orange and start over instead of being stuck with it, like when carving.

Oddly shaped pumpkin I painted as a strawberry

Another bonus of painting pumpkins is that it allows you to get creative with the pumpkin you pick.  There is no longer only two options of short and fat or tall and skinny pumpkins because those are the only two that look good with a carving, now any size and shape of pumpkin works because you can use its shape to your advantage.  If you get a curved pumpkin you can make it look like a strawberry.  If you get a hourglass shaped pumpkin you can make it look like a skeleton head, or a triangle pumpkin can be a witches hat.  These are all also super cute and creative ideas that take little to no skill or time to achieve.

The only potential downside to painting a pumpkin instead of carving it is that you can’t put a candle in it to make it light up and be able to see it at night.  But that is easy to get around by putting several candles next to it or a lantern or really any light source, to be able to show off your pumpkin in the dark.  This means that there is no downside to painting a pumpkin instead of carving one.  Will follow the new trend this Halloween?

Why do people dress up for Halloween?

jbaz Leave a comment

On Monday, the Center for Campus Involvement hosted a spooky event in the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Tower on North Campus to recognize the tradition of Halloween. When the clock struck 8pm, the doors opened and so began a night of embarkments on a thrilling 15-minute ascent through the bell tower memorial. Those involved generously dedicated their time to this spectacular project and offered free admittance to UM students.

samhain-festival

This holiday of costumes and candy, ghosts and ghouls, beasts and bonfires originated from the Celtic festival of Samhain dating back nearly 2,000 years. Autumn marked the end of bountiful summer harvest and the onset of a dark winter embodiment of human death. According to Celtic beliefs, the boundary between the living world and the dead world became unclear on October 31st, the eve of the new year on November 1st. They celebrated Samhain by lighting bonfires and dressing in costumes to ward off the ghosts that returned on this haunted evening. Supposedly, the presence of these other worldly spirits allowed Celtic priests, also known as Druids, to make accurate predictions about the future. This history led me to wonder what if spirits really do return to Earth? Since everyone is dressed in character, maybe you are unable to distinguish costumes from true beings. Or what if people like mediums really can communicate with past life to learn about the future? Just some food for thought.

I may not be a Druid, but I would predict that the Center for Campus Involvement will host an event similar to this on a future All Hallows’ Eve based on the turnout for this outstanding performance. Throughout the year, a variety of events such as the upcoming Battle of the Bands, Pixar UMix, and free finals breakfast are made possible by this organization.

History.com Staff. “History of Halloween.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 02 Nov. 2016.

Wolverine Halloween Creativity

Hannah Levine Leave a comment

Halloween at the University of Michigan. My favorite time of year. Houses are hopping with cliché Halloween playlists and frats are pulling out the big guns with dry-ice drinks (for anyone 21 and over) and spooky spider webs. Everyone’s on their A-game, excited to show off their more creative sides. And let me tell you, the Wolverines are bursting with creativity. No matter who you are, an athlete, engineer, psychologist, or writing major; you’re probably doing everything you can to one-up your classmate for the best, most creative and inspired Halloween costume for the big night, I mean week, of scares.

One way I like to admire Halloween on campus is to stop by Ragstock, the neighborhood place to go for all things costume related. This year, I needed to grab some last-minute essentials for my costume, so I had the perfect excuse to go. While there, I had the chance to see what Michigan students would be wearing this year. Of course, there were the traditional sexy cops and spaced out hippies, but I was more interested in the people hanging out in the “make-your-own-costume” section. There, I found students gathering vests and boots and face paint galore, not to mention fake blood and teeth, anything metallic, and pirate hook hands. I got excited and started paying attention to all of the potential costumes I would be seeing this weekend.

First, I saw a faux fur vest. At the same moment, someone else saw it and shouted, “it’s perfect for my Macklemore costume!” Then, in line I saw someone else checking out with that very same vest. Another Macklemore? I thought. But I was wrong. This person was buying the vest for his couples costume, and I don’t mean a tribute to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. In fact, he didn’t need the vest for himself at all. Instead, he was picking it up for his friend. They were going as Parks and Recreation‘s popular duo Jean-Ralphio and Mona-Lisa Saperstein, which, if you ask me, is an absolutely perfect and creative use of a faux fur vest.

Next, I saw someone carrying around a big curly wig from the more psychedelic section of the store, but no fringe or bellbottoms. Turns out, this student was going to be the late, great Bob Ross, the iconic PBS painter we all know and love for his small obsession with trees. What a unique way to use a wig! Another girl picked up a gold body suit and exclaimed, “I’m going to be C3PO!” Someone else grabbed some fake blood and explained to her friend how it would turn her shark leggings into a shark attack.

All of these were great ideas, and I left with the distinct feeling that I needed to find a way to make my costume, an ode to Cleopatra, a little more creative. With this thought in my mind, I found myself listening to every Halloween costume idea I heard around campus. These ideas were largely pun-inspired and equally creative, and I loved every one of them. One girl used a dress slip and taped Freudian terms on it to transform herself into a Freudian slip. Another girl found a hard-hat and jumpsuit and wore a shot glass necklace and earrings to be a “miner in possession.” Someone else was going to go with his significant other as robbers who were “partners in crime.”

Thousands of Halloween costume ideas have been publicized online on places like Buzzfeed and Pinterest, and I know I could look at those for some extravagant and creative costumes, but that doesn’t really matter to me. I don’t really care what those people are wearing this year. Instead, I love to take a stroll through the Diag, stumble into Ragstock, or hit up a costume party. That way, I can appreciate the brilliant minds of my peers, the people I surround myself with every day. They are some truly creative people.

Happy pretending, Wolverines!

Halloween Screams

Natalie Minor 1 Comment

FORGET pumpkin spice. Tomorrow is the first day of October, which means it’s time to accept what all you non-spooky people of the world have been denying for the entire month of September. IT’S HALLOWEEN. Yes, the official date of Halloween is at the end of the month, but really there is enough to go around for all 31 days and then some, so don’t be a spoil-sport and deny yourself of some of the greatest binge-watching and jump scares (if that’s your cup of tea) that the world wide web has to offer.

Now, I may be a little biased, seeing as my birthday is basically Halloween plus/minus 24 hours, but this holiday is not just for the Scorpios of the world. Halloween is all about nostalgia – connecting to old pagan and folk roots and traditions, celebrating the supernatural creatures that we’ve come to know as myth, and recognizing our connection to the past through talk of the unknown. Sure it’s become an increasingly commercialized holiday that is no longer associated with its religious origins, but the increased awareness of the things that lurk in the shadows is something that is not lost upon us. If the upcoming sixth installment of Paranormal Activity tells us anything, it’s that we still do have an interest in the unexplained, even if we try to come up with any excuse to tell each other otherwise (see: “yeah, man, Paranormal Activity wasn’t scary at all, I totally didn’t have trouble sleeping for a week after”).

So what’s my point? If you spend the entire year living with your face pointed at the sun and avoid the shadows, now is the time to step over to the creepy side. I’m giving you an excuse to watch those ghost shows that you don’t believe at all but that are just so interesting to watch. Give Ghost Hunters a try if you want to watch something that could trick you into believing in the spirit world, or Ghost Adventures if you just want to watch a guy with extreme shark fin hair talk dramatically at the camera. If you want to be creeped out and listen to some famous people, check out Celebrity Ghost Stories – but maybe not at night. There is a new show called Amish Haunting that is incredibly fake and disturbing (i.e. goat baby), but it’s the kind of train wreck from which you can’t look away.

Don’t forget the horror movies – the State Theater will be screening A Nightmare on Elm Street, Goodnight Mommy, and Rocky Horror Picture Show in October. Rocky Horror is a must, but make sure you look up the show’s traditions first. Don’t forget the family movies either. You may not be eight years old anymore, but Hocus Pocus and Halloweentown will still hit the spot. Who doesn’t want Bette Midler to put a spell on them? And lest you forget, Halloween is just another excuse for you to watch Harry Potter. ABC family will of course be showing the boy wizard during their 13 Nights of Halloween, along with gems like Caspar and the Addams Family.

I’ll leave you to it, then, while I go watch something just a tad bit scary. I’ll just put these here to pique your interest:

 

(Say hi to Kevin McCallister’s mom – yeah I went there, Christmas is around the bend)

 

As an aside, I would like to thank the unusually large number of trick-or-treaters that breezed through my parent’s neighborhood almost 22 years ago, and my brothers for making my dad take them trick-or-treating so that my 9-months-pregnant mother had to keep getting up to answer the door.