THE HISTORY OF COSTUMES

The idea of wearing costumes came from the Celts. The Celts believed in gods, giants, monsters, witches, spirits, and elves, but these were not considered evil, so much as dangerous. The Celtic people believed that on the night of October 31st, the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living. Naturally, the still living did not want to be possessed. To protect their relative’s spirits they built huge bonfires and dressed in ghoulish costumes and masks to fool ghosts into thinking they were other spirits.

Masks have been a way of trying to deal with spirits throughout history. People wear masks believing that demons would be scared away, thinking the people were also demons. The whole purpose was to “treat” the spirits so they would not “trick” you.

In the 1840’s, Halloween traditions were brought to America by Irish immigrants fleeing their country’s potato famine.

Over the centuries, as people became less believing in the supernatural, the practices became more ritualized. Today, Halloween is more popular than ever with children and adults dressing up. Whereas before children and adults only dressed up in more traditional costumes such as ghosts, goblins, vampires, monsters, and witches. Today’s children and adults have more options and not only opt for those costumes but also costumes that represent society’s current fads. Today’s costumes represent cartoon characters, rock stars, TV and movie characters, politicians, or just some silly created look.