Halloween at
Shanghai Livingston
American School
by Eric Park with Photos by Robert van West
H
alloween is celebrated on
the night of October 31,
which is the eve of All Saint’s
Day. On this day, many peo-
ple dress up in costumes and
go to different houses to get
treats and candy. Halloween
originally came from the an-
cient Celtic festival called
Samhain. The tradition of
wearing scary costumes like
ghosts, zombies and vam-
pires comes from the Pagans.
They believed that dead spir-
its get power to return to the
living world to damage crops
and spread diseases. The
costumes are worn to scare
off dead spirits from damag-
ing things in the living world.
On October 31, staff and
students were able to wear
costumes and celebrate Hal-
loween at school. Different
games were provided on the
school field for younger stu-
dents to enjoy under the su-
pervision of upper grade stu-
dents. There were varieties
of games like ghost bowling,
musical chairs, ball throw-
ing, and more. Upper grade
students had the chance to
interact with younger stu-
dents to give them joy and
guidance.
Andrew Park was working on
the ghost bowling section
and he said “It was hard to
work the full four hours with
younger students, but I felt
proud and happy when I saw
little kids having fun.” Many
students are looking forward
to having many other chanc-
es to help and interact with
younger students.
Students, parents, and teach-
ers came to SLAS Halloween
festival with creative and
scary costumes. Our school
rewards students in cos-
tume by providing commu-
nity service time and giving
prizes. Halloween festival is
the chance to show off and
express individual creativity
and identity. Our school en-
courages all people to come
to the festival in costume.