Halloween Comes Early in College

Despite an unexpected October snowstorm blanketing Cambridge in a wet layer of snow, Harvard students sloshed through soggy streets to celebrate Halloween—if in somewhat dampened tones—in a variety of ways, from Fright Fest in Annenberg Hall to the annual Heaven and Hell party in Currier House.

Earlier last week, students in the Yard kicked off the celebrations by carving pumpkins with their entryways, decorating the gourds in the likeness of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” and in another instance styling it as an “Occu-Pumpkin.”

Other pumpkins sought to reflect current events.

“We decided by consensus that we were going to carve the Apple symbol into our pumpkin as a tribute to Steve Jobs,” said Matthews Hall Proctor Sujata Bhatia, whose entryway named the pumpkin “Stevie” and lit it with an iPhone.

The pumpkins were on display Friday night as freshmen gathered in Annenberg for a night of dancing, candy, and a costume catwalk.

“It was neat to see Annenberg in the dark. It’s something you don’t get to experience very often,” said Katherine M. Kulik ’15. Popular costumes included a group dressed as the cast of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” someone dressed in aluminum foil and calling themselves “leftovers,” and a girl who dressed as entropy.

While some costumes were more intricately planned, many outfits were of the last-minute variety.

“The process of haphazardly throwing together last-minute costumes was fantastically fun,” said Katherine Y. Ebright ’15.

Some students decided to brave the weather and left Cambridge for an excursion with the Outing Club. On Saturday, the club took a group of about 20 students on a Halloween Hike in the Blue Hills.

“It was kind of rainy near the end, but that didn’t matter. It was nice getting out,” said Martin R. Reindl ’15, who said the hike was only somewhat Halloween-themed. “It was really just people hiking. But we got Halloween candy at the end, so I guess that counts.”

But in Cambridge, Saturday night saw several Halloween-themed parties, with the well-attended “Heaven and Hell” as one of the main attractions. Despite the winter storm warning that was in effect until Sunday morning, many students still found their way to the party, where, according to Currier HoCo Co-Social Chair Kristin N. Rose ’12, attendees had to wait outside for nearly 30 to 45 minutes in order to gain entrance.

“Many of the parties on Harvard’s campus are exclusive, so it was good to have one Halloween party that all students were invited to,” said Meghan E. Magee ’15, who attended Heaven and Hell.

For some students, however, the trek to the Quad was too high a price to pay given the wet snow and heavy winds that persisted throughout the night. “I didn’t think it was worth walking to the Quad in the snow,” said Tara Jain ’15.

Darragh J. Nolan ’15 also decided to stay in because of the weather. “I was getting ready to go to a Woodbridge Party and Heaven and Hell, but then I looked outside and saw the snow.” Instead, he and his friends made tea and hot chocolate and watched “The West Wing” and “Horrible Bosses.”