Magic of Halloween and Costumes

Posted by admin on Oct 22nd 2014

According to the legends, Halloween is the day, or to be more precise the night, when the borders which separate our world from the world of the dead disappears and spirits are free to roam the earth. Of course, legends, rituals and the whole system of belief tends to change, and it is very often incorporated into a different system of belief, thus it is hard to trace the true meaning and true origin of certain festivities or customs. Although, in the academic circles, it is believed that Halloween tradition emerged from Celtic Harvest festivals, but as mentioned before, its pagan origin is really hard to trace, and just firmly claiming the historical facts may only cause dispute and arguments. Origin story aside, Halloween is one of the holidays that simply everybody is looking forward to, and with a good reason. This is why every 31st of October is such a big deal.

The customs during the holidays

Halloween customs are at very core of fondness for this festival, and why people of all ages are so thrilled to celebrate it. First of all, there is the overwhelming spirit of the Halloween that simply spreads through the neighbourhood. People start to decorate their yard and houses in order to make them into something capable of filling people with dread. There is apple bobbing (trying to catch apples that swim in the vessel using nothing but your teeth), carving pumpkins and making them into Jack-o-Lantern, and of course, everyone’s favourite activity - trick or treating. Trick or treating is the very soul of Halloween, mostly because everyone loves candy, moreover, kids love to wear costumes and dress up as someone else, and parents use this amazing opportunity to test their own creativity to make their child look both spooky and adorable at the same time. The holiday has the ability to make us feel nostalgic and wish we were youngsters once again, going from house to house and requesting candy from our neighbours. Somehow, I believe that having all that candy causes nightmares which are later justified as the influence of the Halloween.
Why we love costumes so much
Truth is that ever since we were kids, we had our role models, our paragons, and we tried to get as close to them as possible, and even though we can’t look as attractive as an actress or an actor we adore, or be as strong and powerful as our favourite cartoon character, we can still get closer to them by trying to wear the same outfit they are wearing and having the same hairstyle or makeup. That is why people love costume parties, since it is an event when it is perfectly acceptable to appear dressed as one of our idols, wearing a super hero or heroine costume, a beautiful dress seen on Disney princess, a jedi robe and a light-saber toy, or a turtle shell. We also love to dress to look as supernatural creatures, especially for Halloween, beings that people feared during dark ages, like Grim Reaper - the embodiment of death, blood sucking vampires, sinister witches, ferocious werewolves etc. This is why teenagers love Halloween, they organize costume parties, even cosplays with a certain theme, watch scary movies and pull pranks on people, and it is in the spirit of the holiday that this kind of behaviour is tolerable, we have the opportunity to unleash our repressed impulses and reawaken our inner child, a part of us that keeps daydreaming and refuses to grow up. People are hyped about Halloween, they plan it weeks ahead, thinking about what they should wear, what costume to put on, how to decorate the house, which movies to watch, how to organize a party and which candy they should buy so that they won’t have to clean the yolk stains from their entrance. Needless to say that costumes are the most important part, we won’t to appear as someone or something else, as vividly as possible, spending hours in front of the mirror practicing our lines, our entrance and our posture. The hardest thing is the realization that the holiday will come to an end and that we need to go back to normal, and clean up our house and front yard.