Halloween in Austin, Texas is one of the most popular nights of the year for revelers in the downtown area, especially 6th Street. Every year, throngs of people, old and young alike, dress up in their scariest, wackiest, or most unusual costumes, some home-made, some from expensive costume shops, and parade down 6th Street, enjoying the party atmosphere.

6th Street promises a wild night for those who attend, and there is usually a great deal of consumption of alcoholic beverages and subsequent inebriation. Most people claim to have a great time, even though there are the usual numerous arrests of those intoxicated or rowdy, but there are also more sedate, sober activities around town, many of which are family oriented.

This year promises to be no different from years past on Halloween in Austin, and some of the activities offered by the City of Austin sound almost as much fun as 6th Street, or possibly more fun. Halloween falls on a Friday this year, but many of the city-sponsored events take place a few days prior to the actual date of Halloween, which is the 31st of October.

For example, there is the annual Halloween Trick or Treat Trail under the moonlight tower in Zilker Park on the 26th of October from 2:00pm until 5:00pm, and this events offers a variety of activities, including carnival booths, entertainment, and concessions. Admission is free but participants are encouraged to bring two items of non-perishable food for the food bank to help feed the needy in and around Austin. A live music sing along is on tap as well as the annual Halloween costume contest, and this event promises to be both fun and safe.

Another city sponsored event the same day is the Spooky Science Extravaganza at the Mexican American Cultural Center, and this event involves examination of many Halloween “mysteries” and explaining them in scientific ways. The event’s hours are also 2:00pm to 5:00pm and the event offers an educational experience for children that’s also fun.

Another educational event is being held Tuesday through Sunday, October 21st through November 2nd at the Beverly Sheffield Education Center in Zilker Park, and the event is called the “Haunted Cave”. The hours of this event are 10:00am to 5:00pm, except Sunday, when the event’s hours are 12:00pm to 5:00pm, and this event offers interactive games, a movie about the Edwards Aquifer, and a recreated cave for children to walk through and observe the salamanders in their natural habitat.

On October 30th, a Halloween Carnival is being held from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at the Pan Am Recreation Center, and this carnival also includes a costume contest for the kids and games with prizes. This event will offer a safe place for the kids to wear their costumes and have fun while their parents relax and let the kids spend very little money for a safe night out. All game booths are .25 cents at the event, and food and drinks are .75 cents, and the carnival includes a Halloween Dance so parents can have some fun too. The Halloween Carnival promises fun for the whole family.

Two options for adults or families who don’t choose to hit 6th Street include the Austin Ghost Tour, which is a guided tour of downtown Austin with stops at all of the scariest haunted places in the downtown area. Another possibility is the Mansion of Terror, which is a pitch black labyrinth behind the Walgreens on I.H. 35 at the intersection with 281, and the labyrinth will be full of scary spooks, but since the proceeds go to charity, the event offers a way to help the community while having a good time.

Halloween in Austin will surely be as exciting this year as it has been in years past, and as long as revelers remember to remain sober and observe the laws, everyone should have a great time, so make a plan now, get a costume, and start looking forward to one of Austin’s most celebrated yearly events!

What does Halloween represent? better known as the eve of All Saints’ Day. Halloween in Western countries is about ghosts, ghouls, goblins, and the supernatural.

In Britain, Halloween is associated with children playing ‘Trick or Treat‘ a game where children dress up and visit neighbours’ houses threatening to play practical jokes on the inhabitants if not rewarded with sweets or money. All harmless fun of course.

In recent years, the number of local events organised to “celebrate” Halloween has shot up. Also, merchandise is readily available and many families decorate their homes as they do at Christmas.

Where did this phenomenon come from anyway, the United States? We spoke to Kit Bennett from American website Amazing Moms who pleads guilty on all counts.

Kit says, “It’s huge, I would say it’s right up there with Christmas for kids. We as always have gone over the top,” she said. However, Kit, herself a Grandmother and teacher said she has noticed a change in the United States and people have become more safety conscious.

“How we deal with it has changed. It’s actually getting a little lower key. The kids love to dress up and have the candy but we don’t trick or teat so much now. Our children go to shopping plazas now and go store to store to get candy. Many schools are no longer able to celebrate Halloween but they’ll call it a Harvest Party.”

Kit also told us that some children are banned from attending Halloween events and have accused other children of worshipping evil. Oh dear, this sounds like this yearly activity of fun is all becoming a bit too serious. She also went on to say that the event is becoming a big religious activity in the United States with some people not celebrating it for that reason alone.

However, she did want to point out that she and her family do spend time together on October 31st carving pumpkins and enjoying the whole social occasion.

The most popular Halloween costumes in the United States are a Princess costume for the girls and a Superhero for the boys – again different from the UK where it’s a Witch or Dracula.

In the traditional sense Halloween, or Hallowe’en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31st. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting “haunted houses”, carving Jack-o’-lanterns, reading scary stories and watching horror movies. It’s also believed that Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is celebrated in several countries of the Western world, most commonly in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Japan, New Zealand, and occasionally in parts of Australia. Plus, in Sweden the All Saints’ official holiday takes place on the first Saturday of November.

The most recognisable symbol is the carved pumpkin, lit by a candle inside, this is one of Halloween’s most prominent symbols in America, and is commonly called a jack-o-lantern. Originating in Europe, these lanterns were first carved from a turnip or rutabaga. Believing that the head was the most powerful part of the body containing the spirit and the knowledge, the Celts used the “head” of the vegetable to frighten off any superstitions. The name jack-o’-lantern can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: a candle inside of a hollowed turnip.