History of Costume: Hallowe'en
Updated: Nov 13, 2018
Happy Hallowe’en! It’s that time of year again where we all dress up in fancy dress, adults get drunk and kids beg for sweets at their neighbours doors and no one bats an eye. As someone who works in costume I have always get very excited around Hallowe’en as it’s finally a time of year where everyone is playing fancy dress and thinking about costumes. What I’m particularly interested in though is the origins of dressing up for Hallowe’en. Where did the tradition of dressing up for Hallowe’en come from? How did the festival become a celebration of the terrifying or indeed just an excuse to dress up as your favourite character from a TV show or film? In the following I’m going to delve into this world of fancy dress and look at the origins of this colourful and frightening holiday.
Many claim the roots of Hallowe’en stem from the Christian day of All Hallows Eve, indeed this is where the word Hallowe’en comes from. This is the night before All Saints Day when celebrations for Allhallowtide (the time period from 31st October-2nd November in the Christian calendar) would begin (1). All Saints Day is seen as a celebration of, as suggested from its name, all the Saints but also for the recently departed souls that have not yet made it to heaven (2). This could certainly explain the leaning toward the supernatural and the iconography of ghosts seen throughout Hallowe’en. However, Hallowe’en has a deeper history prior to Christianity. Some scholars suggest that its roots are in a Roman harvest festival held at the same time, the Festival of Pomona (goddess of fruits and seeds), but most scholars agree on its true roots come from the pagan Celtic festival of Samhain (3). This festival marked the harvest and the beginning of winter. It was one of four seasonal festival and was celebrated with bonfires, drinking alcohol and feasting, not unlike modern celebrations for Hallowe’en… This time period was also seen in Gaelic communities as a time where the aos sí (spirits/fairies/souls of the dead) where more easily able to cross from the Otherworld into our own (4). This is a further link to the supernatural, but this is where we can finally also see the roots in costuming around Hallowe’en.
It was seen by Celts that mumming and guising (an early Celtic form of performance that included extravagant costumes) as the aos sí would protect you against harm from them when the veil between worlds was weaker. People would dress as the souls of the dead and go door to door accepting offerings on behalf of the spirits which would in turn help protect them. This can certainly be seen as an origin for modern trick or treating and dressing up on Hallowe’en. Sometimes these people would even perform songs or verses in exchange for this food which is traditional that does not seem to have carried over into the modern celebrations (5). These mumming and guising traditions could be seen lasting in Celtic countries well into the 19th and 20th Century, including a particularly Hallowe’en-esque guise made up of a white sheet and a horse skull known as Láir Báhn in Ireland and Mari Lwyd in Wales (6). This is definitely reminiscent of traditional ghost costumes of a white sheet and the skull is extremely morbid and Hallowe’en appropriate. There is also some evidence that in some Celtic regions such as Glamorgan and Orkney in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century that some young people would cross-dress on the night of Samhain (7), perhaps this was the starting of Hallowe’en being “Christmas for drag queens”. It’s easy to see the roots of costuming in these Samhain traditions. But how did this translate into the Christian festival, and what about traditions from elsewhere in the world, for example the Mexican Day of the Dead?
Let’s begin with looking at the influence of Christianity. By the 12th Century, Christianity had adopted the 1st November universally as All Saints Day (8). It would be a time to commemorate the dead and there would even be “criers dressed in black…parad[ing] the streets” (9), these criers could be seen to be costumed for Hallowe’en as well. But the real root of costumes being worn on All Hallows Eve more likely stems from people donning masks or disguises to avoid being recognised by the souls of the dead who were suggested to walk the Earth the night before All Saints Day as a last chance to seek vengeance (10). This is extremely reminiscent of the Celtic tradition of guising to avoid being tricked by the aos sí and it can certainly be seen how this would develop into our modern traditions. Furthermore, some churches would allow their poorer members of the congregation to dress up as saints if they could not afford icons in their own home, as a way to commemorate them on All Saints Day. This is a tradition still carried on by some churches. To add to this there was also a belief in mainland Europe, particularly France, that the souls of the dead, on Hallows Eve, would all rise for a carnival labelled the danse macabre which would be emulated by Christians to remember the “end of all Earthly things” (11). This would involve people dressing as the dead and hosting extravagant masquerades and village pageants (12), most likely predecessors to modern costume parties on Hallowe’en night. However, these traditions died down in England in favour of Guy Fawkes Night in the 17th Century and only really picked back up after the holiday became such a celebration in North America, however, the tradition maintained strong in the Gaelic countries. It was in fact the mass emigrations from Scotland and Ireland that developed such strong celebrations in North America, building from the 18th Century (13). There have also been suggestions that dressing up as things we fear on Hallowe’en is a way of getting over our fears or, from a more religious perspective, poking fun at Satan (14). By the 1930s in America there were mass produced Hallowe’en costumes and the holiday became much more what it has become in the modern Western world.
However, it is not only the Celts and Christians that remembered the souls of the departed and began dressing up around the end of October. Another commonly talked about festival, and a huge influence in Hallowe’en costumes in the mid-2010s, particularly in Britain, is the Mexican holiday, the Day of the Dead. Much like Christian All Saint’s Day, the Day of the Dead has its roots in ancient culture. The origin of the Day of the Dead comes from the ancient Aztec’s festival celebrating the ancient goddess Mictecācihuātl (15), the goddess of the underworld, her name translated to “Lady of the Dead” (16). The Day of the Dead, however, was not celebrated across the whole of Mexico until the early 21st Century when it was made a national holiday to unify elements of Catholicism and indigenous culture. Before then Northern Mexico the festival was not widely known as they had other indigenous traditions (17). There are many traditions surrounding the Day of the Dead, but in relation to costume there are particular ones that have also permeated into international Hallowe’en celebrations. One element of clothing that is sometimes worn are shells around the neck so that when they dance around graves the noise will wake up the dead, some even dress as the dead during such celebrations (18). It is not these traditions that have permeated though; it is the common symbol of the skeleton and decorated skull that is seen throughout Day of the Dead celebrations. Masks of skulls are worn called calacas (19). There is dancing in colourful costumes, skull masks and devil masks as well (20). The decorated skull is also sometimes painted directly onto the face which became particularly popular in Britain a few years ago as a Hallowe’en costume. Moving further south from Mexico the celebrations mostly stem from the influence of culture from the United States in Latin America, and they have begun to sprout in Chile, Argentina, Peru and Columbia. Although, in Columbia there has been a tradition similar to trick or treating done on November 2nd called Tintilillo de Cartagena de Indias, but there are no particular costuming traditions that have permeated across the rest of Hallowe’en traditions (21).
Outside of the Western world Hallowe’en has infiltrated cultures through its popularity in North America. In Asia, for example Hallowe’en celebrations such as dressing up and making jack-o-lanterns etc. have only really come from the influence of American culture; although, many Asian cultures have taken to lighting candles or lanterns honouring the dead around this time in similar celebrations to Mexico and the Celts (22). It is not really celebrated across Africa, but there are some celebrations in South Africa that have come from the spread of American culture (23). Some have suggested a link between the Hindu festival of Diwali and Hallowe'en, Diwali is a celebration of light over darkness and triumph of good over evil, which some might suggest is similar to what Hallowe'en is trying to celebrate. It is also the marker for Hindu new year which does align with the original Celtic festival of Samhain (24).
Overall, it seems that the tradition of dressing up for Hallowe’en dates back as early as the Hallowe’en traditions themselves, from the Celtic Samhain as well as the Aztec festival of Micetcācihuātl. These original traditions of dressing as the deceased developed over the centuries to wider spectrums and from the late 20th Century onwards the scope of what one can dress as on Hallowe’en has broadened and now it seems to have become an excuse to just get in fancy dress and enjoy ourselves, whether we are children or adults.
References:
3 Rogers, N. (2003). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 11-13.
21 Páez Otey, D. (2017). How does Latin America celebrate Halloween?. [Blog] The Colombian Post. Available at: http://thecolombianpost.com/index.php/living-people/17068-halloween-in-latin-america-how-it-is-celebrated-and-what-its-history [Accessed 30 Oct. 2018].
22 Halloween Celebration in Asia: A Blend of Two Cultures. (2013). [Blog] Motion Elements. Available at: https://www.motionelements.com/blog/articles/halloween-celebration-in-asia-a-blend-of-two-cultures [Accessed 30 Oct. 2018].
23 Baldwin-French, P. (2015). Halloween in South Africa: Ghosts, Goblins and Ghouls, Oh My!. [Blog] Zawadee Blog. Available at: https://www.zawadee.com/blog/halloween-in-south-africa [Accessed 30 Oct. 2018].
24 Mondesir, D. (2018). The History of Halloween: Samhain. [Blog] Providing Biblical Tools for Spiritual Warfare. Available at: http://www.desireemmondesir.com/home/2015/10/31/the-history-of-halloween-samhain [Accessed 31 Oct. 2018].
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