Why do witches and warlocks go stand-up paddle boarding to celebrate Halloween?

Carving jack-o’-lanterns, watching scary movies, exploring haunted houses and trick-or-treating are long-loved Halloween traditions. In recent years, however, a new creepy ritual has also emerged: witches’ paddling.

This month, partygoers across the country are dressing up as witches and warlocks. But instead of straddling brooms and pretending to fly through the air, they climb onto stand-up paddleboards and float over bodies of water.

Dressed in their costumes – which often include pointed hats and flowing robes – the paddling witches and warlocks become striking silhouettes on the horizon.

“Four hundred people dressed as witches launching at the same time is wild to see,” Anna Marie Madai, co-founder of a witches paddle in Colorado, told the New York Times‘Remy Tumin last year.

Events take place in bays, reservoirs, rivers, lakes and harbours ColoradoCalifornia, Michigan, Florida and beyond. Witch paddles have even gained an international foothold, with gatherings in the United Arab Emirates, British Columbia and more.

Although witches have long been associated with evil, these costume-wearing rowers are anything but.

Some use their annual gatherings to raise money for charity, such as the group in Chatham, Massachusetts, which hosts an event called Witches on the water. Since 2020, the group has donated more than $80,000 to local nonprofits, reports CBS Boston‘s Anna Meiler.

Money will be raised for it this year Dream day on Cape Coda non-profit organization that supports children facing serious illnesses. The organization offers families a free, fun-filled week of adventures at the 31-acre Camp Nan-Ke-Rafe.

“It became pretty clear that we had found something that could really do some good for the local community,” Susan Price, one of the event’s co-founders, told CBS Boston.

So is the annual one Witches and warlocks paddle in Morro Bay, California, benefits the Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County. The event started in 2013 as a way to celebrate some friends’ birthdays and has since blossomed hundreds of people.

Other witches paddles are just for fun. These joyful, festive occasions help foster a sense of community among participants and spectators alike. While gliding across the water, some witches like to cackle playfully at passersby Times.

“A lot of what I do is trying to do things for the community and bring together people who enjoy being on the water,” says Tara Scheller, owner of Rivertowns SUP and Yoga in Tarrytown, New York, and organizes the annual SUP Witches event, told Westchester magazine‘s Cristiana Caruso last year. “People really connect with the idea of ​​witches on the water.”