Why Do We Wear Costumes on Halloween?

Some of you may find this hard to believe, but there was a time, many moons ago, when children dressed up on Halloween not as Marvel superheroes or Disney princesses, but as ghosts and goblins and all manner of ghoulish, ghastly, terrifying monsters.

Shocking, I know. But this is pretty much how the Samhain tradition of wearing costumes originated: the goal wasn’t to appear cute or strong or extravagant, it was to disguise oneself from—or perhaps even blend in with—the supernatural beings that might potentially be crossing over from the Otherworld. That meant adopting a frightening appearance.

Starting in the 16th century, if not earlier, groups known as “mummers” or “guisers” would pay homage to this Celtic custom by galavanting around in costumes on Halloween. Here’s how author and folklorist Florence Marian McNeill explained guising—and its origin—in her book, The Silver Bough Volume Three: A Calendar of Scottish National Festivals – Hallowe’en to Yule (note: this same passage also appears in her later work, Hallowe’en: Its Origin, Rites and Ceremonies in the Scottish Tradition):

[T]here is nothing even nominally Christian about the Hallowe’en guisers. It is thought that they may have originated in a folk-memory of the actual initiators at the Druidic feast, who, as masked men, represented spirits, but until fairly recent times their object was to avoid being recognised by the spirits of their dead, who might possibly do them a mischief.

To-day, the grotesque masks and fantastic garments of the guisers represent the uncanny creatures whom their forefathers believed to be at large on this occult night—ghoulies, ghaisties and bogies; fairies, banshees and gruagachs; witches, warlocks and wurricoes; brownies, urisks and shelly-coats; kelpies and water-bulls; spunkies, gnomes, trolls and sprites: the whole unhallowed clanjamfrey of the netherworld.

Let us pause for a moment to appreciate McNeill’s use of the word “clanjamfrey,” which is officially my new favorite word of all time.

It might also be interesting to learn that in addition to the wearing of “grotesque masks and fantastic garments” on Halloween, face-painting appears to have its origin in Samhain as well—and it’s directly connected to those ceremonial Samhain bonfires I’ve written about in previous posts (and in Samhain in Your Pocket). You know, those communal fires lit by druids from which all members of a community would re-light their homes’ hearth fires, transporting embers via jack-o’-lantern, as one did in ancient Ireland and Scotland.

To quote McNeill:

Instead of masks, some of the guisers have blackened faces. This is a relic of the blackening with the ashes of the Druidical bonfire for protection and good fortune.

source: The Silver Bough Volume Three: A Calendar of Scottish National Festivals – Hallowe’en to Yule

---

Editor’s note: this article is an excerpt from “The Celtic History Behind Our Favorite Halloween Traditions: 6 Samhain Rituals That Refuse to Die.

---

Want to learn the full story of Samhain? Check out…

Samhain in Your Pocket (Celtic Pocket Guides 2)

---

Want to learn about the darker side of Irish mythology? Check out…

Irish Monsters in Your Pocket (Celtic Pocket Guides 3)

---

Neon Druid: An Anthology of Urban Celtic Fantasy

---

More the listenin’ type?

I recommend the audiobook Celtic Mythology: Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes by Philip Freeman (narrated by Gerard Doyle). Use my link to get 3 free months of Audible Premium Plus and you can listen to the full 7.5-hour audiobook for free.