Halloween and Día de Los Muertos bring out all manner of events for residents and merchants in La Jolla and Pacific Beach, who this year are going all out with parties, decorations, costume contests, and trick-or-treating for kids of all ages.

In fact, this year’s Halloween, celebrated the weekend before the Monday holiday as well as that day, is not restricted to humans alone. There are animal costume contests planned in both beach communities.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY

Mavericks Beach Club at 860 Garnet Ave. held a doggy costume contest on Oct. 26. The Pawloween party featured doggie toys and treats for all the pups that stopped by as well as a “Mutt Menu,” which featured pet-pleasing tasty bites like grilled chicken breast with white rice.

The club will also kick-off the Halloween with a Horror Story: Halloween Party on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 10 a.m.-2 a.m. Mavericks will be celebrating with a twist on the hit show “American Horror Story,” where each bar is themed like a different season of the show. From the Asylum to Freak Show, be prepared for DJs and scary drink specials, along with contortionists, acrobats, scary acts, and plenty of more entertainment from 8-11 p.m.

CREEPY CANDY CRAWL

Formerly Pillage the Village, the Halloween-themed trick-or-treat event in downtown La Jolla is now known as the Creepy Candy Crawl. Enjoy an afternoon of treats on the streets of La Jolla Village on Monday, Oct. 31 from 3-6 p.m. at participating businesses. Bring your trick or treaters to La Jolla Village for free Halloween fun. A candy bag for trick or treating can be obtained at REBA at 908 Kline St. Look for colored balloons to find participating merchants. No registration is required. For more information, visit lajollabythesea.com.

PB PUB CRAWL

Not to be outdone, Pacific Beach is holding a Halloween Bar Crawls from Friday, Oct. 28 through Monday, Oct. 31. Get those costumes ready for the crawls, which start at 6 p.m. each night. Participating bars include Pacific Beach Alehouse, 710 Beach Club, Cabo Cantina, PB Pub, San Diego Taproom and more. Tickets to this Halloween Pub Crawl start at $15, and include entry to all participating bars and their drink specials.

LA JOLLA DOG-O-WEEN

The nonprofit La Jolla Loves Pets Foundation is teaming with Decker’s Dog and Cat to bring a Halloween dog costume contest to the Jewel on Saturday, Oct. 29 from 10 a.m.-noon at La Jolla Rec Center, 615 Prospect St. The event is to include a silent auction and vendor booths featuring both pet and other local family oriented products. It will be held out on the rec center lawn and 150 to 200 guests are expected. Ticket costs range from $10 for individuals to $30 for families. Tickets can be purchased at the door or at lajollalovespets.org.

“It is a fundraiser, and all the fees from this ticketed event go to four different pet charities, including the San Diego County Animal Shelter,” said pets foundation spokesperson Olga Wharton Newman. “We will have a dog costume contest, a dog parade and kissing booth, even a pet and human psychic, Mina Galvin from Dogs Dream Rescue, who will be giving free readings.”

Wharton Newman said there will be a blessing of the dogs at the opening of ceremonies. “Then we’ll have pupuccinos provided by Decker’s, along with an artist painting dogs,” she said adding that there will be a dog agility performance, plus arts and crafts including the painting of water bowls and doggie bandanas. “We’ll also have dog hats and dog jewelry for sale,” she added. The event will include 10 local vendors selling pet- and family-oriented products.

HALLOWEEN ORIGINS

Halloween or Hallowe’en is celebrated in many countries on Oct. 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day. It begins the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints and martyrs. One theory holds that many Halloween traditions were influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain, which is believed to have pagan roots.

It was not until after mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century that Halloween became a major holiday in America. Most American Halloween traditions were inherited from the Irish and Scots. In Cajun areas, a nocturnal mass is said in cemeteries on Halloween night. Blessed candles are placed on graves, and families sometimes spend the entire night at gravesides. Halloween celebration was gradually assimilated into mainstream society and celebrated, coast to coast, by people of all social, racial, and religious backgrounds by the early 20th century. Halloween traditions spread to many other countries, including mainland Europe, by the late 20th and 21st centuries.

DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS

The roots of the Día de Los Muertos celebrated in contemporary Mexico and among those of Mexican heritage in the United States and internationally, go back some 3,000 years, to the rituals honoring the dead in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The aztecas and others living in what is now central Mexico held a cyclical view of the universe and saw death as an integral, ever-present part of life.

Upon dying, a person was believed to travel to Chicunamictlán, the Land of the Dead. Only after getting through nine challenging levels, a journey of several years, could the person’s soul finally reach Mictlán, the final resting place. In rituals honoring the dead, traditionally held in August, family members provided food, water, and tools to aid the deceased in this difficult journey. This inspired the contemporary Día de Los Muertos in which people leave food or other offerings on their loved ones’ graves, or set them out on altars called ofrendas in their homes.