The Costume Culture of Halloween: Why Do We Dress Up?

Written By Natasha Bowles

Halloween is an event that has origins all round the world, however the event is most closely related to the Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced: SAH-win) meaning ‘summers end’. It would take place at the end of October as in their calendar November was the beginning of the new year.

The Celtic people believed that “the dead and living merged together the night before” (Robinson, 2022) and they would host large celebrations and sacrifice animals to predict the future and communicate with the dead. During this celebration “it was expected that ancestors might cross over during this time… and Celts would dress as animals and monsters so that fairies were not tempted to kidnap them.” (History, 2018)

During the Middle Ages Samhain developed into fire festivals and people would light fires and bonfires to ward off fairies and witches, here they would also carve turnips and fill them with coal – these were the start of the Jack-O-Lantern. This is also where the tradition of leaving cakes and food out for ancestors began.

Witches colluding with a deamon, 15th Century, source: British Library: Cotton MS Tiberius A VII/1,f.70r.

The later medieval period saw the merging of pagan beliefs with Christianity. All Saints Day took place on the 1st November and saw Catholic Churches displaying “relics” of holy saints. Most churches were quite poor during this period and had to improvise with their celebrations and decorations, the parishioners would end up dressing up as different saints, devils and angels and parade through the grounds for the public to watch.

Hutton mentions that after the reformation most of the Catholic rituals and festivals were abolished, which “left nothing but a vague sense of Halloween as a time with creepy associations.” (2014) He also suggests that the traditions survived due to the old rituals staying within the communities in Ireland, hence why it travelled to America during the massive Irish emigration across the pond in the 19th century.

Most traditions remained in the UK and mumming arose as a popular way to celebrate. Mumming was the act of “disguising oneself, going door to door, and performing songs, dances and plays in neighbours’ homes and in public places.” (Winick, 2013) This may have been influenced from the earlier Samhain traditions of trying to protect oneself by dressing up. Although this was a tradition around most religious holidays (Millington, 2002) it stuck formidably onto “All Hallows’ Day”.

Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, 2011, source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/skinnylawyer/6451248811/in/photostream/

In the 18th and 19th Centuries, there was also the white mare known as Láir Bhán in southern Ireland.  Láir Bhán was a man who would walk around the town dressed in a white cloth and horses’ skull, who would often be gifted food from farmers. These gifts of food would be seen as good luck and many children and parties would follow Láir Bhán as they travelled round the village.

During the 20th century, especially in America, Halloween had become a holiday, and was celebrated with parties and events. However, due to struggles in the earlier decades of the 1900s vandalism was common during celebrations. To deter vandals, communities and leaders directed Halloween towards the youth of the day and it was celebrated within schools, at home, and community halls. (History, n.d.)

Image of girl dressed in pumpkin fancy dress, 1928, source: Waterdown Public School/Private collection, originals donated to York University Archives. WikiMediaCommons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Waterdown_Public_School,_Ontario,_1928_halloween_costume.jpg

Although Protestants weren’t pleased with the masses celebrating a pagan festival, entrepreneurs in the 1930s saw an opportunity. Costumes and decorations were mass-produced and sold to families around America. Even hosiery companies sought to exploit this holiday as seen in this advertisement from ’Ipswich Hosiery’ in the 1920s.

By 1950, Mumming had been revived and turned into trick-or-treating. It was cheap and bought the community together. It didn’t quite stop vandals as many would wake up to a porch covered in eggs or toilet roll but it helped the relationship with one’s neighbours through the charitable act of gifting sweets and candy.

Costumes in the 20th century still mirrored the Celtic and traditional religious festivals with witches, skeletons and animals being the most prominent, however, pop-culture quickly dominated the scene towards the turn of the century. Halloween in 1991 saw the streets of America riddled with the Terminator and in 1995 Star Trek characters were the most popular choice on the evening of 31st October. (Galindo, 2015).

The 21st century hasn’t moved on much in terms of traditions and costumes, it has only grown with now around 69% of Americans planning to participate in the holiday. The National Retail Federation have estimated that Americans will spend close to $10.6B this year on Halloween festivities, with $3.6B of that going towards costumes alone. (National Retail Federation, 2022)

 

References:

Historic Ipswich. (n.d.) Ipswich Hosiery. Available at: https://historicipswich.org/2022/10/24/the-ipswich-hosiery-industry/ (Accessed: October 2022)

History. (2018) Samhain. Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/samhain (Accessed: October 2022)

Hutton, R. (2014) Halloween? It’s more than trick or treat. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/28/halloween-more-than-trick-or-treat-origins (Accessed: October 2022)

Galindo, B. (2015) Here’s The Biggest Halloween Costume For Each Year Of The ‘90s. Available at: https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/the-10-biggest-pop-culture-halloween-costumes-of-the-90s (Accessed: October 2022)

National Retail Federation. (2022) Retail Holiday and Seasonal Trends: Halloween. Available at: https://nrf.com/topics/holiday-and-seasonal-trends/halloween (Accessed: October 2022)

Millington, P.T. (2002) The Origins and Development of English Folk Plays, National Centre for English Cultural Tradition. University of Sheffield.

Robinson, L. (2022) The History of Halloween Costumes and Why We Dress Up. Available at:  https://www.thefactshop.com/fashion-facts/halloween-costumes-history/ (Accessed: October 2022)

Winick, S. (2013) Mumming at the American Folklife Centre. Available at: https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2013/12/mumming-at-the-american-folklife-center/ (Accessed: October 2022)

Natasha Bowles