It’s almost that time of year again. The leaves are changing, pumpkin patches are popping up everywhere, and huge bags of candy corn flood the aisle of every grocery store. Get ready to pull out your witch hats and monster masks because Halloween is just around the corner. This predominately American holiday of dressing up and trick-o-treating has been through multiple changes over time. To go all the way back to its origins, Halloween began as a Celtic holiday known as Samhain. During Samhain, people would scare away ghosts by dancing around a bonfire. Halloween later became known as All Hallow’s Eve, after Pope Gregory III made Nov. 1 All Saints Day during the 18th century. The concept of dressing up for Halloween arose during the Middle Ages when people in Ireland and Britain would dress up and go door to door begging for food, which is a practice known as “souling”. It is believed that “souling” is an ancestor of today’s trick-o-treating. Surprisingly, trick-o-treating did not become a huge phenomenon in the United States until after World War II. Today, kids of all ages put on their costumes and go out into the night with their pillow cases in search of giant Snicker bars and bags of M&Ms.
Just as the name of the holiday has evolved over the years, so have the costumes. One look at a Halloween costume from the 1920s will most likely give anyone a good scare. If you throw it back to Halloween inearly 1900s, there will be no sign of today’s pop star, firefighter, and hippie costumes that are stocked along the aisles of Target.
Halloween back in the day:
A nice grumpy cat from 1924.
Two little pumpkins.
A clown from 1924.
Children celebrating their Halloween spirit.
A nice couple struting their costumes all the way back in 1922.
These two young ones are ready for some candy.
And finally, a family proudly showing off their homemade costumes.
Today’s costumes aren’t quite the same as they were eighty years ago; however, if you don’t feel like dusting off your cat ears or cowboy hat, you can always try to recreate one of these beauties.
Photo Credits: cover, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7