According to History.com, Halloween started as the Celtic festival of Sahmin on October 31. It began to spread throughout the world and eventually spread to the United States by the 1840’s. People began to implement many different ways to celebrate this holiday with family and friends by wearing costumes and even their own version of what we call trick or treating. They went door-to-door, singing to get candy and treats. Children would also have a parade.
People would celebrate this by lighting bonfires and sticks to make a scary scene and dress as ghosts. Early cultures were very scared and feared ghosts, which is why that was one of the first costumes ever used to celebrate this holiday. They would put bags over their heads and poke holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth for air. They also decorated their bags with shapes, designs and more to make their costume just that much better. These ghost costumes were also very spiritual, as they had many rituals and connections.
According to Reader’s Digest, MVOrganizing, The Active Times, and CBS, these were some of the most popular Halloween costumes of the past 70 years:
1950: Cowboy
1960: Hula Girl
1970: Astronaut
1980: Pac-Man
1990: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
2000: Britney Spears
2010: Zombies
2020: Spiderman
This shows the relevance between Halloween costumes and world events. As we see in 1970 the most popular costume was an astronaut, likely tied to the moon landing in 1969. Another example is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles being popular in 1990, the year the first film of the series was released. Finally, we have Spiderman in 2020. This is relevant to recent cultural and world events because it coincides with the popularity of the Marvel movies, but also because Covid-19 was spreading and this costume has a mask. Many parents bought this so their children could still enjoy a good Halloween despite the pandemic.
Many people across Middle Creek are wearing all different kinds of Halloween costumes. For example, some things students in Newspaper class are dressing up as include a soccer player, an inflatable T-rex, The Riddler, Bugs Bunny, an identity thief, Scout from Team Fortress 2, and Hank J. Wimbleton. Some of their younger siblings are going as a werewolf, a witch, a dinosaur, and a police officer.
I plan on dressing up as a doctor. What’s your Halloween costume?
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