Hallowe'en in Oxford

Peter Madams, Social Activities Organiser at Embassy Oxford, writes:

Students in Oxford showed off their scary dark side at a Hallowe'en night last week. There was much spookiness and messy games like ‘bobbing the apple’ and that other funny game where you pass a balloon from between your knees (though I don’t know the name of that). It’s always a good ice-breaker. 

As Wikipedia tells us, Hallowe'en is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints, but is today largely a secular celebration. Hallowe'en activities include wearing scary costumes [as in our photo] and attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, watching horror films and ‘trick-or-treating’.

The UK has now adopted the American tradition of "trick-or-treating" which probably dates back to the early All Souls' Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives.

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