Fall Fun: Activities and Traditions in the U.S.

Now that Autumn, or Fall as we like to call it, is just around the corner you are probably encountering all kinds of new traditions you have never heard of before!

You will start hearing people talk about Pumpkin Spiced Lattes at Starbucks and how much they love Pumpkin Bread and Halloween. You will have people ask if you go apple or pumpkin picking, and when you say no they will be shocked. Welcome to Fall in Pennsylvania, here are a few of our favorite Fall activities and traditions we like to do when the leaves start to change color and the air cools down.

Fun Fall Activities and Traditions:

• Halloween – It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. This would occur on the night of October 31^st when they believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. Although this is an old myth about the origins of Halloween, the night is now known for its nighttime trick-or-treating, costumes, spooky movie and attractions.
  • If you want to learn more about the history behind Halloween and how it all started, check out this fun video: http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
• Trick-or-Treat – A tradition since the 1920’s, children and adults of all ages dress up in various costumes on October 31^st, for Halloween, and go door to door in search of candy.
  • The customary “Trick-or-Treat” saying when you knock on a door is a threat to the homeowner that you will play a “trick” on them if they do not offer you a “treat”, and thus the saying was born.
• Costume Parties – As children grow older it is more common for them to attend costume parties instead of Trick-or-Treating. Costume parties are a great way to express yourself. You can see funny costumes, scary costumes, couples or friends dressing up together with a theme, and even celebrity impersonators.

• Pumpkin Picking – When the pumpkins are ripe and ready for picking in
• the fall, families and friends get together and go to local farms to have fun picking the very biggest and best pumpkins. Then they use those pumpkins for all kinds of fun fall ideas. Oftentimes people use pumpkins in cooking fall cuisine or decorating their front yard.
• Pumpkin Carving– You have to do something with all those pumpkins, and the best way to use them is to carve them and make them into lanterns with funny and scary faces!People love to carve pumpkins for Halloween especially, often making scary Jack-O-Lanterns like to picture you see above.
• Apple Picking – The best apples are ripe for picking in the fall and make the best apples pies. It’s fun to spend the day with friends picking and tasting all the apples, and then taking them home to make a delicious treat.
• Bobbing For Apples – A creative way to play with all the apples you just picked is to go bobbing for them! A favorite fall game, you fill a large bucket filled with water and apples, and you have to go fishing for them. There is one catch, however, you can’t use your hands; you have to put your hands behind your back and try to get the apple out with your teeth! Can you do it?
• Watch Halloween and Scary Movies – Every October in anticipation of Halloween and the fall season, many people like to watch traditional Halloween movies and scary movies.
  • Halloween, The Addams Family, Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic, The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Rocky Horror Picture Show – all of these movies play on TV during the month of October.
  • These movies are NOT scary, they are just considered classics and are Halloween or Fall/Autumn themed, but there are plenty of scary horror movies to watch in the fall, just look for them! New scary movies come out in theaters in the U.S. every year! 

 This is just a taste of what Fall is all about here in the U.S. and we hope this helps you understand some of our strange obsession with pumpkins, costumes, and scary movies. Hopefully you will come to love these traditions just as much as we do!