By: Brady Quinn
Halloween at the University of South Florida brought out an eclectic mix of costumes, candy, and crowded parties. But as students roamed the campus dressed as everything from Batman to Jesus, one dining hall worker experienced Halloween from a vastly different perspective.
While many students planned their costumes and lined up party playlists, Venkata Krishna Pokala spent his evening steeped in his own cultural festival—a holiday worlds apart yet falling on the same October evening.
For Pokala, Diwali is a deeply significant cultural celebration that brings together family, tradition, and spirituality. A graduate student studying computer science at USF, Pokala participated in Diwali by lighting diyas—small clay lamps—performing rituals dedicated to the Hindu god Krishna, and enjoying sweets shared among loved ones. He lights a diya [lamp] to pray for his god just like how “Christians will light candles for Jesus,” Pokala said.
The holiday, which is celebrated with firecrackers, prayers, and festive gatherings, marks the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil, offering a stark contrast to the social celebrations that unfold on Halloween. The festival is celebrated in different ways in different regions of India.
In India, some people generally avoid celebrating Halloween because they believe that the ghost stories and decorations associated with it can bring bad luck by inviting ghosts into their homes, Pokala said. He added that he has over 100 coworkers who have no idea what Halloween actually means.
“I know we have moved to some other country we need to habituate to,” Pokala said. “But I have no idea about what even Halloween is.”
Halloween has a long and complex history that mixes both Christian and ancient Celtic traditions. Originally, Halloween was part of the Christian celebration of All Hallows’ Eve, the night before All Saints’ Day, a time to honor saints who had lived good lives. It was meant to be a holy day, not a spooky one. But for the ancient Celts, October 31 marked the festival of Samhain. This was the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, and it was also their New Year’s Eve. The Celts believed the veil between the living and the dead was thinnest on this night. To protect themselves from evil spirits, they lit bonfires and held ceremonies. Over time, as Christianity spread, the church combined this festival with the Christian holiday, and Halloween began to take on its current form.
While Pokala celebrated Diwali with tradition and quiet reverence, a different kind of song filled the stairwell of Juniper Hall that same night. There, Natalie Natividad’s voice echoed as she strummed her guitar, her lyrics reverberating in the empty space. A marketing student’s true passion, a dream that she hopes to merge with her future career in marketing. But that night, her “celebration” was limited to a short practice session amid heavy studying. When asked about what she did on her Halloween weekend, she did not say anything about going out.
“It was spent studying for my stats exam,” Natividad sighed.
But for some students, Halloween was all about the weekend parties. Second-year student Jamaica Bowie spent Thursday through Saturday hopping from house parties to frat events.
“Pretty good, pretty entertaining,” she said, reflecting on her Halloween.
Her party marathon started with a Thursday night house party. Friday was packed with back-to-back frat gatherings that swirled between Taylor Swift anthems, EDM and even Brazilian funk.
“They started playing Brazilian funk remixes,” she said, laughing. “But it was like, people yelling in Portuguese to American song beats.”
In the last two days, she slowed the weekend’s pace with a movie night and some last-minute homework.
While Jamaica’s Halloween was full of surprises, Nikolas Reyes found his holiday tinged with disappointment. The sophomore had spent Halloween afternoon looking over chemistry notes. When he received his grade, he looked down.
“I was up all afternoon on Halloween studying for my chem test, but I got a 64,” Nikolas said.
For Nikolas and others who spent the holiday weekend studying, Halloween wasn’t much of a celebration. But through the rituals of Diwali, late-night study sessions, and chance encounters with music, this Halloween offered a unique glimpse into the everyday lives of USF students. Some gathered around house parties; others gathered in spirit with family back home.
For Venkata, it was a night of tradition and introspection; for Natalie, a melody shared with the quiet stairwell. And for many, it was simply a night like any other, punctuated by the rhythms of college life.