For Kids, Treats No Trick

When students in the Quad opened their doors Friday evening, they found themselves facing a three-foot tall Michael Jackson, a dead bride, and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

The dead bride, also known as Margaret Pena, is 13 years old and one of the students involved in Mission Hill After School—a tutoring and mentoring program that serves students in two housing projects in Mission Hill.

“I got divorced, so now I’m getting revenge,” Pena said, with her face covered in white and black paint.

Another girl, who wished to be identified only as Michael Jackson, claimed to have trick-or-treated at Harvard for the last 40 years. How old is she? “50, of course.” Her favorite song? “I like all of them. But especially ‘The Way You Make Me Feel.’”

The trick-or-treaters—50 Mission Hill After School students ranging in age from 5 to 14—knocked on the doors of Harvard’s dorms in the program’s annual Halloween sleepover night.

“The holiday really lends itself to having fun with kids,” said Amanda F. Guardado ’10, one of the heads of the Mission Hill After School program. “It would be a crime not to do anything.”

Through Mission Hill After School, Chinatown After School, and Boston Refugee Youth Enrichment (BRYE), the Phillips Brooks House Association brings more than 150 young students to trick-or-treat at the end of October.

The children’s annual presence on campus is one of the few lasting Halloween traditions at Harvard, and brings the students’ youthful spirit door-to-door every year.

A NIGHT IN DISGUISE

PBHA-sponsored trick-or-treating events allow undergraduate mentors to relive childhood Halloween memories, and to provide their students with an opportunity to celebrate the holiday in a welcoming environment.

Chinatown After School hosted 47 kids last Saturday to trick-or-treat in first-year dorms in the yard.

Chinatown After School set up a carnival in Currier House, complete with games, face-painting, and pumpkin carving.

BRYE also had a trick-or-treating event during the day on Halloween for the students in the program.

At the first stop on Mission Hill’s trick-or-treating tour, kids scrambled up the stairs, racing to be the first at the door.

But as soon as they knocked and the doors opened, they fell silent, suddenly nervous to be face-to-face with a college student. “Trick-or-treat?” they offered quietly, with wide eyes.

The volunteers stood at their sides, like proud parents. “Remember to say thank you!” they instructed.

“Sometimes I say I haven’t gotten any candy so that I get more,” confided Michael Jackson to one of her leaders.

The students in the Quad who volunteered to have candy on hand were eager to welcome the little guests. “We miss doing this at home,” Cabot resident Nan R. Du ’12 said.

“I would absolutely do it again. It makes me feel like I’m living at home,” Cabot resident tutor Richard Johnston said.

Program directors said bringing their students to Harvard’s campus allows them to celebrate Halloween safely—an opportunity they may otherwise not have.

“Most of these kids won’t go trick-or-treating on Halloween. Many of them live in apartment buildings in Chinatown, which is not conducive to trick-or-treating,” said Lydia Krooss, a sophomore at Wellesley and one of the heads of Chinatown After School. “A lot of the kids are from immigrant families—the idea of trick-or-treating seems kind of strange.”

“Chinatown is very crowded and safety is a big issue for the younger ones,” said John Z. Zhao ’12, another head of Chinatown After School.

On Friday, Mission Hill volunteers gathered in the Quad to shepherd their students from dorm to dorm as they wildly shouted trick-or-treat songs.

“Maybe this will tire them out before the sleepover,” one volunteer suggested with a shrug.

A LASTING TRADITION

Though PBHA’s trick-or-treating events are one of the few ongoing Halloween traditions at Harvard, there is virtually no institutional record of their inception.

None of the heads of the programs interviewed knew which of the groups had started the trick-or-treating tradition.

PBHA Director of Programs Robert J. Bridgeman said the trick-or-treating traditions began before he arrived at PBHA 15 years ago.

While the origins of this tradition remain unclear, it is one of the few annual Halloween activities that still continues today.

For example, Harvard Crimson editors used to trick-or-treat at the homes of deans and administrators each Halloween and compare their candy offerings, according to Professor of Folklore and Mythology Stephen A. Mitchell and The Crimson’s archives. But the last record of Crimson trick-or-treating was in 1993.

Mitchell said he recalled Halloween events taking place in the upperclassmen Houses, but didn’t remember any annual traditions.

Dean of Freshman Thomas A. Dingman ’67 said institutionally-sponsored events for students, and occasionally, department-sponsored events for faculty families, are held from year to year.

Until a new tradition takes hold, it looks like the kids will be here to stay. “Everyone just likes it so much and it works so well, that I can’t imagine wanting to end it,” Krooss said.