Halloween Has Lost Its Magic: How Can I Celebrate It Again?

by Rachel Barter ’27 on October 30, 2025

Opinion

I know it is not a popular opinion to have, but Halloween is my least favorite holiday, and it has lost its magic for me.

I don’t like Halloween, probably because I am cut off from trick-or-treating, which was my favorite part of the holiday. However, I also think it is due to the increasingly elaborate expectations of Halloween costumes, especially in college. I feel like there is pressure to create original and elaborate individual costumes or even group costumes. Thus, without trick-or-treating and creative ideas, I often feel at a loss for how to celebrate Halloween every year.

This is all without mentioning that Halloween in college is associated with excessive drinking, which seems to be heightened at Providence College. Furthermore, even if I had good Halloween ideas or even a couple of bad ones, there is a lot of pressure at PC to have a different costume for every Halloween festivity, especially for women, which adds up.

Despite my ill-will towards Halloween, which has been festering for quite some time, I want to rediscover the beauty of Halloween while I am still in college, given the importance placed on Halloween during this time. Perhaps next year I will dip my toes in the Halloween pond by carving a pumpkin, who knows where I will display its rotting carcass after, and roasting the seeds as well as using the “guts” to make homemade pumpkin goods.

Maybe I will bake those classic pumpkin chocolate cookies and pass them out to my friends like reverse trick-or-treating, or perhaps I will have an epiphany about what creative or boring costume I should wear using mostly clothes that I already have.

Or maybe I will continue to celebrate Halloween in the most lackluster ways, such as eating Halloween-branded candy, taking advantage of holiday goodies (especially pumpkin ones), or admiring fall-scented candles in store aisles.

Realistically, I will visit the Roger Williams Park Zoo during their fall and Halloween-inspired events, such as their Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular, which gives me just enough of my Halloween fix.

One Hundred Years of PC History

by The Cowl Editor on September 19, 2019

News

Students and Friars on the first day of classes in 1919.

by Hannah Langley ’21

News Co-Editor

On the afternoon of September 18, 2019, the Providence College community came together to celebrate 100 years since the College’s official opening. The event, held on Slavin Lawn, was open to all members of the PC community.

Free food and desserts were available to all, and tables were set up throughout the lawn so that people could come together and spend time with friends and faculty.

Back in 1917, the College was founded by a small group of Dominican friars and the bishop of Rhode Island. After only receiving a land grant of 18 acres and $10,000 from Bishop Harkins, the Catholic community in Rhode Island came together to raise over $150,000 to build Harkins Hall. It took one year for Harkins Hall to be built, and by September 18, 1919, the College was able to open its doors and begin teaching.

The College began with only 71 male students and nine Dominican friars. Harkins Hall was the only building on campus, as PC began as an all-male commuter school.

The first residence hall, Aquinas Hall, was not built until 1939 under the leadership of Bishop Harkins and Father John J. Dillon, O.P, who was one of the first few presidents of PC.

Other Dominicans included Father Meagher, and subsequent presidents, such as Father Robert J. Slavin, O.P., and Father John F. Cunningham, O.P.

Although 100 years have passed since PC opened its doors and much has changed, including the addition of nearly 100 acres of land, the admittance of women, and the opportunity to pursue over 50 different majors, the main message of the school — to provide a Catholic education in the arts and sciences —has not changed.