By Scott Smith

smith@newsroom.byu.edu

From singing carols to wedding anniversaries, BYU students and faculty have created some interesting traditions to celebrate Halloween.

Jon Madsen, 23, a senior from Provo, said Halloween is a unique holiday that caters to a darker side that doesn't get much attention.

He said every year he does several things to celebrate Halloween.

"Every year a friend of mine and I get together our favorite spooky, depressing sounds and songs to make a CD," Madsen said.

This year he said it has been difficult to continue the tradition because his friend now lives in Maine. He said the Internet helped considerably in putting together this year's Halloween CD.

Aside from his individual Halloween traditions, Madsen said he also believes in continuing with the more common Halloween traditions.

"I also always try to go trick-or-treating," Madsen said, "I find the freshman girls dorms are very profitable."

Another student and her family have borrowed the tradition of caroling from Christmas and applied it to Halloween.

Kristi Steimle, 21, a junior Mesa, Ariz., majoring in history, said her family used to convert Christmas carols into Halloween carols to pass the time while on family trips.

Steimle said the carols have turned trick-or-treating into a Halloween caroling party for her family.

"Anytime we are really bored we have a tendency to burst out with Halloween carols," Steimle said, "Mostly it is just for Halloween and anytime we work on our costumes."

She said the carols have been compiled into a songbook so they can be remembered and used whenever they are wanted.

Students are not the only ones with fun Halloween traditions.

"My wife and I both preferred Halloween to just about any other holiday", said John Gholdston Co-managing News director for NewsNet, "Which is why we choose Halloween as a wedding date."

He said they love Halloween because it gives everyone an excuse to let their hair down and have fun.

To celebrate their anniversary, Gholdston said each year he and his wife hold a small party with six to eight close friends.

He said for the first four or five years they produced radio mystery dramas, complete with sound effects.

Now they like to play the 'How to Host a Murder Mystery' games, he said.

This allowed them to dress up, take on foreign accents, and act out their individual characters, Gholdston said.



Copyright Brigham Young University 24 Oct 2000