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Continued from the previous page in between. Local communities such as Creek Pavilion. Over 100 neighbors show
Georgetown and Round Rock hold annual up for this event. And, of course, we are all
Many Protestant churches celebrate All Halloween festivals offering a myriad of familiar with the annual Sun City Texas
Saints’ Day on the first Sunday in Novem- activities such as movies in the park, trick- Halloween Dance, where several hundred
ber and use the occasion to commemorate or-treat villages and pumpkin decorating. residents enjoy good Halloween fun.
the dead. Among Texas’ large German Tours of towns with haunted reputations
population, many churches celebrate To- are very popular, as are haunted hay rides, Wishing you all a very happy Halloween,
tenfest. Also known as Totensonntag or eerie corn mazes and scary movie parties. free of toil and trouble.
Ewigkeitssonntag, this German holiday Austin has its own haunted tours, which
was established in 1816 by King Freder- can be experienced either on foot or in a
ick William III of Prussia, who required customized vintage Cadillac hearse.
Lutheran churches under Prussian rule
hold a celebration in memorial of the dead Texas State Parks also offer safe alterna-
on the last Sunday before Advent. Today, tives to neighborhood trick-or-treating. Es-
Totenfest often coincides with the celebra- tero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco
tion of All Saints’ Day. has presented the Spooky Science Fest
every October since 2007. Costume con-
For over 40 years, Halloween has been tests, hayrides, archery and an obstacle
celebrated in Mexico and continues to gain course are just a few of the many activities
popularity with children. However, many children and adults enjoy. McKinney Falls
Mexicans feel Halloween conflicts with Día State Park in Austin holds a Pumpkin
de Muertos (the Day of the Dead), which Painting Party in October as well.
is celebrated from sundown on Oct.31
through Nov. 2. The souls of deceased chil- In Sun City Texas, some residents get to-
dren are honored on Nov. 1, while adults gether at neighbors’ homes or reserve space
are honored on Nov. 2. Graves are cleaned within the community for celebration. For
and adorned with ofrendas (altars), cem- the past two years, Neighborhood 50 has
pasúchil (Mexican marigolds) and paper held pumpkin carving and painting con-
decorations called papel picado. Families tests at either the Legacy Hills or Cowan
leave personal mementos for the dead on
their altars, such as toys and candy for PHOTO BY PHOTO PHIL
children or photographs and tequila for
adults. In Texas, where 39 percent of the A group of Sun City residents dressed as bikers at the 2014 Halloween Dance.
state’s total population is Hispanic, Día de
Muertos is often celebrated in elaborate, ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG
city-sponsored festivals. Some celebrations,
such as those in Austin, San Antonio and
Port Isabel, go on for several weeks with
multiple community events taking place
throughout the cities.

Knowing that Halloween started in Ire-
land, one would think it would top the
Irish list of celebrations. But it doesn’t -
St. Patrick’s Day is the number one cel-
ebration in Ireland, followed by Christmas
and Bloomsday, a day which honors one of
Ireland’s most famous literary masters,
James Joyce.

Halloween may be at the bottom of the list
in Ireland, but not here in Texas. Today, we
Texans love dressing up in costumes rang-
ing from angels to zombies and everything

36 | SUNRAYS OCTOBER 2016