Halloween costumes—well, any costumes to an extent—hold promise and escape and fantasy within them. The idea we could be someone else for a little while is enticing, particularly if that person is especially wicked in some way we don’t allow ourselves to be. I found this interesting tidbit regarding costumes:
“Although popular histories of Halloween claim that the practice goes back to ancient celebrations of Samhain, in fact there is little primary documentation of masking or costuming on Halloween before the twentieth century. Wearing masks and other disguises and blackening the face with soot were originally ways of hiding oneself from the spirits of the dead who might be roaming around. This is the origin of Halloween masquerading as devils, imps, ogres, and other demonic creatures.” (courtesy of http://halloween.monstrous.com/halloween_costumes.htm)
I love the idea of hiding within the monstrous. Loads of potential there for a story, don’t you think?
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Oh, that reminds me! I did a horror story having to do with a flesh eating disease going through a woman. I am also doing a NaNo post. Wanna come ot my site and post your thoughts on NaNo?
ReplyDeleteI wanna skin Shigune Matsui and wear it's monstrous outer shell as a costume. Ain't halloween hell?
ReplyDelete@shigune: sure! i'll toddle over soon. :) no flesh-eating bacteria here, happy to say.
ReplyDelete@tugboat: that's certainly . . . halloweeny! and sticky. :)