It’s the spookiest time of the year again and Bristol is out in full force. With the legendary Zombie walk, Day of the Dead activities at the Museum, pumpkin carving workshops and parties all across the city, Halloween lovers are spoilt for choice.

Why do we celebrate Halloween? But for those of you carving pumpkins, apple bobbing and perfecting your skeleton contour, do you know why you’re doing it? Halloween has become a multimillion pound holiday, and is even bigger business in America, but its origins are often forgotten or disputed.

Most commonly, Halloween is considered to have its roots in Roman, Celtic and Pagan traditions. Spirits of the dead were believed to roam the land of the living and destroy the crops, marking the end of harvest. Many dressed up in frightening costumes to protect themselves from ghostly attacks.

In an attempt to stop these Pagan traditions, Christians adopted similar practices as a celebration, and used the date to honour wandering souls. Various traditions were passed on and by the 1920’s, Halloween was a huge affair for America, which became increasingly popular on a global scale.

What are you dressing up as? But even without these traditions, it seems people relish any occasion for fancy dress- something students do very well. This Halloween sees a wealth of topical costumes, with Harley Quinn’s, Killer Clowns and Donald Trumps aplenty.

Here are classical studies students Flora and Ruby. Ruby, what was your costume this year? 
I was part of a group costume, there were 7 of us, and basically I went as Greed, one of the seven deadly sins. I had an umbrella and I taped money round the umbrella and had a sign saying Greed, then underneath it said ‘Making it rain since 1996’. 
So not a scary costume as such…Flora, do you think it’s important to go for scary costumes or not really? 
No, not necessarily. I think some of the best costumes I’ve seen this year have just been fun. In Motion the other night, there was a guy dressed up as Donal Trump. I think that’s way better than being scary. 
Whether you prefer a scare-free October or have planned a host of spooky activities, have a happy Halloween!!!