This year’s Halloween is only a couple of days away, which means that you’ll be getting ready for trick-or-treating and stocking up on yummy candies! The holiday is celebrated in many parts of the world that, even college students take it pretty seriously when it comes to Halloween! Boo-ckle up because we’re bringing you some of the unique and amazing Halloween traditions at universities from around the world!
YSO Halloween Concert – Yale University, Connecticut
Courtesy: Yale University
Yale University is one of the most famous research universities established in 1701 and is the third oldest university in the USA. Due to their strong belief in keeping up with traditions, they have Halloween themed desserts and goodies.
Amongst the popular Halloween traditions at universities in the US, Yale’s showstopper event is their YSO Halloween Show performed by the Yale Symphony Orchestra (YSO) who play a live soundtrack of assorted genres of music to accompany a silent movie filmed by the YSO students. Tickets for the show sell out within a few minutes after they go on sale as this is the second most attended event of the year at Yale.
Healy Howl – Georgetown University, Washington
Courtesy: Teen Vogue
Have you ever watched the movie, “The Exorcist”? Some of the parts of the legendary movie were filmed in Georgetown University in 1973, but the campus goers aren’t creeped out by this fact. Annually on October 31st, all the students gather around the Jesuit Cemetery near Healy Hall and watch “The Exorcist” which was directed by William Peter Blatty, who is also an alumnus of the university. The movie is set exactly to end before midnight commences. It is one of the popular Halloween traditions and when the clock strikes twelve, everyone looks at the moon and lets out howls for a minute. It is said that the howls can be heard for miles around the campus. This is why the tradition is called Healy Howl in Healy Hall. Creatively pun-ny!
Annual Pumpkin Drop! – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge
Courtesy: The Tech
Another key mention in our list of halloween traditions at universities from around the world, MIT’s annual pumpkin drop is as amazing as it sounds! MIT is a well renowned private research university known for its STEM courses but, this isn’t the only thing that they put their science and math skills to use. Every year, trick-or-treaters drop pumpkins off one of their tallest research towers. Participants dressed up in their Halloween costumes gather on top of the 295tf tall EAPS Green Building and drop pumpkins which are splattered at the feet of crowds below. Students also freeze their pumpkins so that they explode with a BANG!
Pumpkin Festival – Pennsylvania State University, University Park
Courtesy: Penn State News
For students of the Penn State University, Halloween is the time to get ‘pumped up’ for their Annual Pumpkin Festival. The Arboretum at the University hosts the festival and hands out free pumpkins to the participants in which around thousands of Jack-o’-Lanterns are carved. It is one of the popular Halloween traditions at universities in the countries. The carved pumpkins are then judged at the pumpkin festival and the best Jack-o’-Lanterns are awarded ribbons. Also, the first hundred participants are given a free ice-cream cone. Nothing tops free goodies, isn’t it?
All-Hill Halloween – University of California, Los Angeles
This is one of the cutest Halloween Traditions at universities around the world! UCLA is well known for its comprehensive higher education programs and its social charity events to collect funds for underprivileged children. Every year, elementary and middle school children from low-income backgrounds from the local LA schools are brought together to the UCLA dorms for a safe and fun night of trick-or-treating and the students dress up in costumes and hand out candies to the children.
This tradition is done so that the children don’t miss the excitement of Halloween. This event offers a safe space for the kids to enjoy as it isn’t safe to do so in their own neighbourhood. Giving back and Social Charity plays a major role at UCLA so they do their best to incorporate safety and fun together.
Thus, we hope that this blog took you on an amazing spooky ride across the best Halloween traditions at universities around the world! Want to pursue higher studies abroad? Reach out to our experts at Leverage Edu and we will help you find the right university as per your interests and aspirations! Happy Halloween!
This year’s Halloween is only a couple of days away, which means that you’ll be getting ready for trick-or-treating and stocking up on yummy candies! The holiday is celebrated in many parts of the world that, even college students take it pretty seriously when it comes to Halloween! Boo-ckle up because we’re bringing you some of the unique and amazing Halloween traditions at universities from around the world!
YSO Halloween Concert – Yale University, Connecticut
Courtesy: Yale University
Yale University is one of the most famous research universities established in 1701 and is the third oldest university in the USA. Due to their strong belief in keeping up with traditions, they have Halloween themed desserts and goodies.
Amongst the popular Halloween traditions at universities in the US, Yale’s showstopper event is their YSO Halloween Show performed by the Yale Symphony Orchestra (YSO) who play a live soundtrack of assorted genres of music to accompany a silent movie filmed by the YSO students. Tickets for the show sell out within a few minutes after they go on sale as this is the second most attended event of the year at Yale.
Healy Howl – Georgetown University, Washington
Courtesy: Teen Vogue
Have you ever watched the movie, “The Exorcist”? Some of the parts of the legendary movie were filmed in Georgetown University in 1973, but the campus goers aren’t creeped out by this fact. Annually on October 31st, all the students gather around the Jesuit Cemetery near Healy Hall and watch “The Exorcist” which was directed by William Peter Blatty, who is also an alumnus of the university. The movie is set exactly to end before midnight commences. It is one of the popular Halloween traditions and when the clock strikes twelve, everyone looks at the moon and lets out howls for a minute. It is said that the howls can be heard for miles around the campus. This is why the tradition is called Healy Howl in Healy Hall. Creatively pun-ny!
Annual Pumpkin Drop! – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge
Courtesy: The Tech
Another key mention in our list of halloween traditions at universities from around the world, MIT’s annual pumpkin drop is as amazing as it sounds! MIT is a well renowned private research university known for its STEM courses but, this isn’t the only thing that they put their science and math skills to use. Every year, trick-or-treaters drop pumpkins off one of their tallest research towers. Participants dressed up in their Halloween costumes gather on top of the 295tf tall EAPS Green Building and drop pumpkins which are splattered at the feet of crowds below. Students also freeze their pumpkins so that they explode with a BANG!
Pumpkin Festival – Pennsylvania State University, University Park
Courtesy: Penn State News
For students of the Penn State University, Halloween is the time to get ‘pumped up’ for their Annual Pumpkin Festival. The Arboretum at the University hosts the festival and hands out free pumpkins to the participants in which around thousands of Jack-o’-Lanterns are carved. It is one of the popular Halloween traditions at universities in the countries. The carved pumpkins are then judged at the pumpkin festival and the best Jack-o’-Lanterns are awarded ribbons. Also, the first hundred participants are given a free ice-cream cone. Nothing tops free goodies, isn’t it?
All-Hill Halloween – University of California, Los Angeles
This is one of the cutest Halloween Traditions at universities around the world! UCLA is well known for its comprehensive higher education programs and its social charity events to collect funds for underprivileged children. Every year, elementary and middle school children from low-income backgrounds from the local LA schools are brought together to the UCLA dorms for a safe and fun night of trick-or-treating and the students dress up in costumes and hand out candies to the children.
This tradition is done so that the children don’t miss the excitement of Halloween. This event offers a safe space for the kids to enjoy as it isn’t safe to do so in their own neighbourhood. Giving back and Social Charity plays a major role at UCLA so they do their best to incorporate safety and fun together.
Thus, we hope that this blog took you on an amazing spooky ride across the best Halloween traditions at universities around the world! Want to pursue higher studies abroad? Reach out to our experts at Leverage Edu and we will help you find the right university as per your interests and aspirations! Happy Halloween!