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Halloween Costumes History and Origins
Of the many best loved traditions in America, the donning of costumes is at the top of the list. Many, many years ago, in times past, adults began dressing in elaborate costumes for Halloween parties, also known as Masquerade parties, long before it became an annual event for children. Dressing up in Halloween costumes is a recent tradition that developed in the twentieth century. The first store bought Halloween costumes were not available before the 1930's.
With the holiday being very loosely based on old Celtic legends about the closeness between the mundane world and that of the spirits at this time of year and the Catholic Church's celebration of their saints, it is no wonder that Halloween costumes have taken on a rather macabre appearance.
The modern Halloween holiday is loosely based on the old Celtic holiday, Samhain, when the veil between the "real" world and the spirit world was considered to be very thin. There is little wonder why Halloween costumes have a creepy and spooky, or even down-right frightening appearance.
With the advent of Hollywood movies beginning to appear all over the country around this time, actors like Lon Chaney, known for his Wolf-Man character and Bela Lugosi, who brought to life the vampire Count Dracula, gave the country the perfect creepy inspiration for Halloween costumes.
Witches, blood thirsty vampires, moaning ghosts, vicious werewolves and many other frightening monsters became the popular choices of trick or theaters every where. Thus the American idea of a creepy Halloween was born. Dressing in costumes gives one the opportunity to "let their hair down" and be someone else for a while, all in good fun of course.
With the increasing popularity of "tricks or treats", children soon joined the adults in costumes and before long Halloween night was filled with spooky, creepy, frightening, or even funny and cute costumed folks going door to door begging for goodies.
Some enterprising business person saw the marketing possibilities for Halloween costumes and soon there was much more available than just frightening monsters. A veritable plethora of pirates, fairies, clowns and superheroes, such as Batman and Superman began showing up alongside more traditional costumes. This idea continues to develop with the changing times and current costume trends include firefighters and police officers as well as various military uniforms from around the world and historical outfits like Roman soldiers or even a medieval Knight.
If you are looking for a quick and inexpensive costume, it is quite usual to "create" a costume from basic everyday clothing. The idea is to make yourself look just the opposite of your usual style of dress.
Halloween is the one of the greatest and best known party holidays on the western calendar, ranking third behind New Years Eve Parties at number one and Super Bowl parties at number two. In terms of business, Halloween ranks right behind Christmas in the amount of money people spent on it. Halloween is a fun secular holiday enjoyable to anyone despite their personal cultural or religious beliefs. The Halloween season remains a yearly celebration and the fun of wearing costumes will be part of this culture for a long, long time.
Copyright © 2007 True Ghost Tales all rights reserved. No part of this story may be used without permission.
Halloween Costumes
Anytime Costumes has a Halloween Costume Exchange Program for donating old Halloween costumes for a good cause. In exchange, you get a discount on costumes for yourself or a loved one. Keep Halloween safety in mind before heading out trick-or-treating this year.
Go back to the History of Halloween or continue to the History of Trick or Treat.
Ghost Stories & Paranormal Articles
These are just the latest stories to be added to the ghost story archive. The archive represents an older section of True Ghost Tales, but we still add new stuff often.
Our Paranormal Blog is updated every day with new ghost stories, paranormal articles, and all sorts of strange and ghostly stuff. True Ghost Tales has a forum! If you would enjoy discussing paranormal topics like ghosts and spirits, or if you would just like to lurk and see what everyone else has to say visit the True Ghost Tales Forum True Ghost Tales Newsletter ~ Get ghost stories and interesting news and information about the paranormal and the strange. Absolutely no-spam - just great stuff to read. advertisement A Ghost in Every House - A Guide to Ghost Hunting, Hauntings, and the Paranormal With the easy to follow guidelines in this book on Ghost Hunting and Paranormal Investigating you can become an effective ghost hunter and paranormal investigator. The book comes with a full money back guarantee. |
Here are just a few of the ghost stories and paranormal related articles on this site. Be sure to bookmark True Ghost Tales so you can come back to read the new stories.
The True Story of The Excorcism of Emily Rose My Daughter's Imaginary Friend Was an Evil Ghost Haunted House for Sale The Train Station Ghost Haunted Cabin in Goliad Texas Ghost in The Funeral Home I Am Possessed By Four Spirits The Little Girl Ghost That Watched Me My Life In A Haunted House A Doll And An Evil Imaginary Friend Ghost Picture From Raynham, Ma. The Full Story Coffee Shop Ghost |
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