![]() ![]() Taken around 1925, this photograph shows children wearing makeshift ghost costumes for Halloween. That and parties were the parts that really caught on with everybody in this country.” “And by the time we get into the early 20th century, prank-playing was a huge deal in America. “They loved that whole idea of playing pranks at the end of fall and on Halloween,” Morton says. One aspect of Halloween that was particularly appealing to American kids was the mischief-making. at that point, as Irish and Scottish immigrants came to America in droves and brought their traditions with them. Halloween was just getting introduced to the U.S. “Belsnickeling is actually the closest thing we have to trick-or-treat, but there probably is not a real direct tie to that,” she says. Morton says one Christmas tradition called belsnickeling, which mostly took place in parts of Canada and the northeastern United States, involved people concealing their identities with masks and costumes, going door to door and performing little skits in exchange for treats from their neighbors. There was no strict thing where it was associated only with Halloween.” “Costuming was very popular at the time in general. ![]() ![]() “People dressed up for all kinds of parties, for school pageants, for other holidays,” Morton says. They would dress themselves up in big top hats or whatever they found in the attic, maybe paint their faces with soot, and people would give them money or firewood for the celebrations,” Morton says.ĭuring the Victorian era, dressing up in costumes was incredibly popular, but Halloween didn’t have a monopoly on the trend yet. 5, 1605 - by dressing up and begging for supplies to burn effigies. But in England children around that time began to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day - which commemorates a failed plot to blow up Parliament on Nov. The practice of going door to door for soul cakes was pretty much gone by the 19th century. “Kids saw this happening, so the kids would dress themselves as beggars and put soot on their faces and so forth and offer to do the same thing - go from house to house and offer to say the prayers for the loved ones,” Morton says. Eventually, children wanted to get in on this activity, too. Beggars would go from house to house offering to say prayers for the souls of deceased loved ones in purgatory in exchange for “soul cakes” - small treats that had been specially made for the occasion. 2, a more widespread costuming tradition began to take form. Morton says All Saints’ Day had a “very minor tradition” of costuming that was practiced sporadically among some parishes, with some congregates dressing up as saints for the day or having a small pageant in the church.īut when the Catholic Church added another feast day called All Souls Day, which was celebrated on Nov. ![]() Little is known about these celebrations since the ancient Celts passed down their histories orally, leaving no written records, but Lisa Morton, who has authored several books on Halloween, including Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween, tells Yahoo Life there’s no evidence that costumes were part of the festivities.Ĭatholic missionaries arrived in Ireland around the 5th century, but rather than stamping out Samhain they instead co-opted it, incorporating the holiday into their own traditions and moving the Catholic feast of All Saints’ Day so that it was celebrated on Nov. The revelries included feasting, tales of ghost and spirits and perhaps animal sacrifice. 31 to mark the end of harvest and the start of the winter season. What we know as Halloween began with the ancient Celts, who celebrated a holiday called Samhain beginning on Oct. Here’s a look back at the history behind Halloween costumes and getting all decked out for the scariest night of the year. (Photo: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)įrom spooky to sexy to just plain bizarre, the custom of dressing up every Oct. Like this Halloween reveler dressed as Napoleon Dynamite last year, many modern costumes are inspired by pop culture. ![]()
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