Post #341030 by The Gnomon on Mon, Oct 29, 2007 12:00 PM

On 2007-10-24 13:05, The Gnomon wrote:

On 2007-10-20 11:37, VampiressRN wrote:
I love Halloween....even all the commercialism. I get sucked into buying all sorts of stuff. This year I invested in Pirate decor, but I have great Vampire/graveyard stuff too.

I'm trying to figure out just when vampires, ghosts, goblins, monsters, and creepy things became part of the Halloween tradition. Haven't had the time to run it down yet.

M'kay. I've dug around, excavated, and exhumed to the extent that time has permitted, but I haven't nailed the coffin on exactly when non-pagan imagery was interred in the Hallowe'en tradition. Here's a better than average guestimate, though.

Bobbing for apples was an old tradition as was making scarecrows and jack o'lanterns. Jack o'Lanterns were originally made out of turnips (and other big roots), but were converted to pumpkins when the holiday migrated to the US. Pumpkin carving was already an autumn tradition in the US and they made a much nicer lantern than a turnip.

Guising in olden days was done by dressing up like ghosts (spirits of those who had passed actually) as well as charicatures of witches and wizards (as the tradition became very popular to non-pagans).

We know that Hallowe'en was largely ignored (intentionally) in the US until the Great Potato Famine in Ireland brought in lots of Irish immigrants, who had been celebrating it since practically forever. So Hallowe'en celebration in the US began it's ascent from relative obscurity to great popularity in the mid-1800s.

My guess is that dressing up as anything you wanted within a whole spectrum of characters from monsters to princesses to clowns to political figures and other celebrities was a post-World-War-I development. In hard times, people dressed up mainly as bums or just in clothing around the house that was not typical attire. When times got better, they could afford to get fancy. As far as masks are concerned, I think that dressing up in costumes at all reminded people of masques (masquerades of 17th Century Europe). That's probably when a lot of non-pagan imagery entered the fray—like vampires for example.

Commercialization of Hallowe'en began at about the turn of the 20th Century CE and as the US was recovering from the 1929 stock market crash that started the Depression, Hallowe'en costumes began being sold in stores. I don't know who were early costume manufacturers. Nowadays they're all made in China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan. I know that Dennison Manufacturing (which is now part of Avery-Dennison—as in Avery labels) made Hallowe'en party decorations back then, but I don't know who cornered the market on cheap costumes.

I think when the US was under the pressures of the Depression and the World Wars, the annual traditions were relegated mainly to kids. Certainly, adults have their share of Hallowe'en parties—often their best parties of the year. But going door to door guising and extorting goodies among adults definitely declined. Especially, when the catch phrase "Trick-or-Treat" was coined around 1950, it was intended to appeal to kids. It was probably coined by a candy company, but I don't know.

I also like the annual Hallowe'en hype, even though I celebrate Samhain by connecting with spirits of ancestors. I'm fond of all the stupid commercials using Hallowe'enish puns, creaking gates, and primal screams.

But I particularly enjoy seeing little 1-year olds dressed up like some lap dog as they make their Trick-or-Treat rounds. Kids that young are pretty much in shock. They are confused about all of the other weird looking kids running around; they don't know why they are wearing some fluffy suit with antennae that light up; it freaks them out to get close to strangers and everybody is a stranger; they have to reach down into a bowl to pull out something unknown (even if it is candy); people make a big deal about how cute they look (so obviously the disguise doesn't work—can't blend in among the other weirdos), then they have to go to the next house and do it all over again. They're in a stupor the whole time.