Halloween

It is cold and cloudy the morning of Halloween; excitement is in the air, and all week long people have been talking about what they are going to do on Halloween night. People are dressed in their costumes; I saw a Hit Girl, hippies, Spiderman, clowns, El Catrin, and many other characters. It is exciting to see the costumes that people make up, and they bring a smile to everyone who sees them. People stare at their costumes as they pass by, and admire them.

I arrive to my field cite, and from the moment it is in sight I can tell that today is going to be different just because of the fact that it is Halloween. It is a Friday that is filled with happiness and excitement, and today people do not look tired after a whole week of work; they are filled with energy, and that energy is contagious. People are anxious to get out of school, and to start their plans for the night.

As soon as I walk in loud voices and laughter fills my ears; it takes a while for my ears to adjust, and after they do I can concentrate on what is happening around me. There are long lines of people waiting to order their food and coffee. I take my place in the line behind a tall boy who is dressed up as a clown. He has a scary mask on, the mouth is in a grin and all the teeth are showing, around the eyes it is painted black. When his turn comes to order, he ordered an egg burrito to go. I ordered another egg burrito, and took a seat at an available table that overlooked the whole cafeteria.

It was very entertaining to see the people wearing their costumes. There was a Queen of Hearts, Superman, a clown, and two witches. The place was full and filled with noise, it was very hard to concentrate on hearing what people were saying; it was a Tower of Babel. There were many groups of people all sitting down with their friends chattering; I assumed that it was about their plans for the night. I heard that some people were going to El Paso to party, and spend the night with friends, while others were going to clubs and parties in Juarez. I also overhead some girls talking about how they do not celebrate Halloween; there some cultures who do not celebrate. I do not celebrate either and I do not like dressing up, but I enjoy seeing other people do it. It is very common in Mexican culture that people do not celebrate it, we instead have El Dia de Los Muertos which is on November 2, and it is a time to remember and honor loved ones who have passed away. In fact, I recall seeing people dress up as El Catrin, which is a skeleton and represents the dead.

It is interesting to see how people celebrate Halloween, and how there are cultures who do not. Halloween is replaced in other cultures by a different holiday such as El Dia de Los Muertos. This shows how cultures are different, and how people follow the culture they grew up with.