THE VARSITY The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880
October 30, 2023
Vol. CXLIV, No. 8
The power and play of the Halloween costume By transforming into who we aren’t, we become who we truly are Divine Angubua Associate Comment Editor
A core memory of mine is the first Halloween party I ever went to. In my first year of university, my friends and I decided to dress up and go to a frat house on Halloweekend. I was excited to dress up as a Black ’90s disco diva. Finally, the inner child that was robbed of afro wigs and flared jeans his whole life was going to be fed. Beneath the childish anticipation, ghoulish decor, and the promise of reckless abandon, I had never been a fan of frat parties. Still, one of my friends was celebrating their birthday, a few others were on the prowl for mates, others wanted to drink until they dropped — and I was the fresh victim of a failed situationship. My friends outnumbered me, so I surrendered to their plans with hope for the best. As the night unfolded, I watched a screaming Cher from Clueless get dragged out of a mosh pit with a
leg that looked broken; I saw a Peter Pan who lost the pirate of his dreams to a corseted pink bunny sob beneath the soft red light; and I witnessed a vampire and a fairy who will never speak of that night again and what it ignited between them. And I, the lone disco diva, will never forget how I watched the world transform under the power of masks, wings, and makeup to become a new thing — a wilder, bigger, freer, truer version of real life. The origin of Halloween traces back to the ancient Celtic tradition of Samhain, meaning “summer’s end.” Practiced some two thousand years ago, this practice involved people dressing up in animal skins to drive away malicious
spirits and devils from amongst them. Trickor-treating, too, traces its roots back to the Celtic practice of mumming, where peasants dressed as goblins and performed a trick in exchange for money or food. Over the centuries, the tradition has gained traction and become a global cultural phenomenon. This year alone, the United States is projected to generate about $12.2 billion of spending for Halloween costumes. From the costumes and candies to the scary movies and bizarre parties, I think our obsession with Halloween comes from our desire to escape the confines of reality and convention, and to reckon with our deepest fears, anxieties, and desires. In North America and across the world — as they did in ancient Celtic society — people are coming together to celebrate as much as to confront their alter egos. Where the Celts cast out demons and evil spirits from their communities and homes, people today don the Halloween mask to come to terms with who they are. Behind a costume, we are made new. Nobody knows us, and by the power of anonymity, we can live by our own rules. We can be as weird as we want to be and still be socially accepted and celebrated. From inside the Michael Myers mask holes and under that orange Chucky wig, we can connect with our fear of death. As witches and vampires, we can play with the supernatural and believe in magic as children do. At haunted houses and themed tours, we can expose ourselves to our deepest fears within our comfort zones. In this, there is joy and the understanding that perhaps nothing is ever as scary as it seems and that we, too, can wear the face of fear and make our enemies tremble. Continued on page 12
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