Halloween Costumes

Costumes

Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after supernatural figures such as vampires, monsters, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. Over time, in the United States the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses.^[55]

Dressing up in costumes and going "guising" was prevalent in Ireland and Scotland at Halloween by the late 19th century.^[83] Costuming became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 20th century, as often for adults as for children. The first mass-produced Halloween costumes appeared in stores in the 1930s when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in the United States.

Rev. Dr. Eddie J. Smith, in his book Halloween, Hallowed Be Thy Name, offers a religious perspective to the wearing of costumes on All Hallows' Eve, suggesting that dressing up as fictional creatures "who at one time caused us to fear and tremble", people are able to poke fun at the Christian figure of Satan. Images of skeletons and the dead are traditional decorations used asmemento mori