Halloween Heritage

Autumn Adventures with the Heritage Village at Chestnut Square

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday of the year. This year, it was an especially stressful one due to internship obligations, but in the most delightful sort of way. The holiday,  the first secular one celebrated by new arrivals to the American colonies, is second only to Christmas at the heritage site. Guests come to learn about heritage holiday traditions, enjoy food vendors and live music, and satiate their need for a slightly spooky thrill with storytelling and haunting tours. I created ten minute scripts and printed handouts for volunteer docents to share details about Victorian mourning customs with the public. The experience made me grateful for a summer computer arts course that I grudgingly enrolled in a few years ago. Adobe Publisher has been a useful skillset to have over the past few months, as well as the typography knowledge to create attractive and engaging materials. The most challenging aspect of the internship during this time was the overwhelming sense of too much to do- a flurry of workplace activity in a new environment, school deadlines, and the pressure of pleasing my supervisors, the board, and most importantly, the public. 

I was unable to observe how the docents conducted themselves with my shiny new scripts during the festivities, as I was a fixture of the oldest home on the campus. The primary Halloween event consists of mostly outdoor stations with staff and volunteers. In previous years, the site has used games such as bobbing for apples to encourage guest participation, but this year hands on activities were extremely curtailed. Instead, guests watched skits and craft demonstrations, including my broommaking demo pictured above. My hands blistered and bled by the end of a night of broom tying, but it was worth it. I was warm in my mourning garb, too, and the microphone speaker I wore meant I didn't have to wear out my voice projecting over noisy crowds. The highlight of the eveing was a delightful young boy who wanted to learn everything he could think of about Halloween. I spent a good 20 minutes discussing his questions with him and the crowd, prompting interesting observations and further questions from other guests and groups. 

I will not be around for the winter holiday celebrations, but I feel the experience has put me in a better place to throw myself wholeheartedly into additional events down the road.