Ladies and gents, it’s that time of year again — “Spooky Szn.” Time to whip out the apple cider donuts and pumpkin spice lattes,while strolling about at one of the many apple-picking farms in New England and hopping aboard a hay ride. Time to carve a pumpkin into a jack-o’-lantern and place it on your windowsill or the steps of your front door and time to navigate a corn maze and cozy up to a horror film on a brisk October night. Of course, all while donning your favorite woolen sweater and cute riding boots in the spirit of autumn.
Last but not least, the unofficial ending of the season of fall and all things haunted comes with the arrival of Halloween: the celebration of ghosts, witches and sheer terror. We all love a raging Halloween party, whether we’re approaching our awkward middle school years, in the height of our college career or deep in our 20s and 30s reminiscing on the times we partied at frats and drank beer out of red plastic cups. Regardless, Halloween is a universal holiday for all ages, depending on the method of celebration in which we choose to take part. I remember my early childhood consisting of trick-or-treating down the quaint streets of my hometown, where house after house would be adorned with fake skeletons, hanging scarecrows and various menacing creatures. Hand-in-hand with my mom and dad, my sister and I would knock on the doors to be rewarded with candy corn, tootsie rolls and skittles galore while dressed in classic witch costumes with tall, pointed hats.
Little did I know what Halloween culture would evolve into in adolescence and young adulthood. I knew that Halloween embodied the concept of dressing up as something scary, but I didn’t quite realize that it meant dressing up as anything at all. The number of “sexy” bunnies and cats we see on Halloween night is probably more than the number of live bunnies and cats we see in real life over the course of a year. Obviously, this observation is far from breaking news. The sexualized culture of Halloween has existed for longer than I can recall, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t contribute to this trend. Honestly, I’m just curious where this originated from and how the popularization of Halloween parties in haunted mansions and burlesque, Hugh Hefner-type costumes came about.
In reality, we have the Celts to thank for the annual holiday of Halloween, as it was first honored 2,000 years ago as a festival commemorating the end of the year (meaning the harvest). People would build bonfires and wear frightening costumes to scare off the ghosts, who were believed to return from the dead on the eve before Halloween. By the mid 1800s, the Irish wave of immigration brought extreme popularity to the tradition, officially introducing America to our beloved October holiday. While it initially still focused on witchcraft and sorcery, it began to merge into a community-based get-together, a reason to throw a party.
Sure enough, Halloween became less of a religious sentiment as the years went on and more of an excuse to throw wild celebrations, including town parades and community-organized events.
Oddly enough, nothing about the history of Halloween’s creation indicates there should be a transition from dressing up with fear as the goal to exposing as much skin as possible without freezing to death. In my opinion, it seems to be that the modernization of Halloween has begun to lessen the importance of the fear factor, simply because nobody is donning costumes for the sake of actually scaring ghosts away anymore. We’re going to parties to look physically attractive and feel like our best selves, yet still remain somewhat in the spirit of Halloween by dressing up as something we aren’t.
I also find that it’s not only women’s costumes that border on provocative, but men tend to gravitate toward the “shirtless lumberjack” or “sexy policeman” options too. Creative costumes of all kinds are the norm now, whether or not they are traditionally spooky. As a matter of fact, this Halloween I’m letting my creative juices flow and dressing in all black — I call it the ninja. Original, right?
Coffee is my lifeline, every morning, afternoon and night—and occasionally in between. Find me café hopping with my nose buried in a book and a cappuccino by my side for good company. I’ll never pass up a chance to explore this adventure-packed city and its unique, bustling yet mellow culture.
