This is easily the craziest time of year for hostels in Toronto.
Halloween is an ancient pagan festival of Celtic origin that celebrates such pleasant things like death, ghosts and demons and such.
It is held on the 31st of October and usually coincides with a full harvest moon; hence, the LUNACY!
It has become a largely innocuous occasion here in Canada (and elsewhere) where the tradition sees children dress in costumes and go door-to-door ‘trick or treating”. At each household they visit, they are given candies.
But it is also the time of year in hostels where the “adults” become uncontrollable. Especially backpackers. More often than not. backpackers are far from home and in “party mode” as it is and Halloween has become an excuse for a massive “dress-up” party.
As we are right in the middle of Toronto’s Entertainment District, the evening is noisy and wild. It is the one time of year that we have extra staff members on duty at night.
We even have a doorman to make sure that the costumed revellers belong at the hostel. We take the security of our guests seriously.
The following pics show some of the guests in costumes. Bear in mind that this is a normally rational bunch of travelers!
