It’s the morning after Halloween, and I have an issue: what the hell is going on.
While I’ve always known Halloween was a very American concept – one we’ve tried to latch onto in Australia because, yes, we also like lollies and dress ups, please – I’ve always been under the impression that I understood what it was about.
Scary things. Ghosts, witches, zombies, needles in strawberries. Real screwed up sh*t.
Historically, it was intended to be a night where you dressed as a monster or a ghost so you couldn’t be distinguished from any ‘undead’ released to roam the night. Obviously.
So costumes that make sense include a corpse bride, or a devil, or Cat and Romy from The Bachelor (that’s a joke I completely stole from Joel Creasey but sorry it’s hilarious).
What doesn’t make sense is… literally every costume I’ve seen from 2018. Scary costumes, it seems, are now the exception, not the rule.
NO ONE DRESSES UP AS ANYTHING SCARY AND I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT’S HAPPENING.
Photos of the Kardashian family on Wednesday night show them dressed as Victoria’s Secret angels. While that actually is terrifying, somehow I don’t think the Kardashians get the… irony. I think maybe they just wanted to dress like models. With wings. And lingerie.
Harry Styles went as Elton John.
Nicky Hilton went as her… sister. Paris. Why.
Ariel Winter went as Pamela Anderson, and Sarah Hyland went as a taco, with her boyfriend going as Belle. So it’s like Taco Bell.
Terrifying.
OLIVIA MUNN WENT AS THE HILARIOUS CHARACTER FROM CRAZY RICH ASIANS. Like, yes, we all want to dress up as Peik Lin. Just not for Halloween. Pls.
KYLIE JENNER WENT AS A BUTTERFLY.
These. Costumes. Aren’t. Scary.
These. Are. Just. Costumes. You. Wanted. To. Wear.
Which is fine. But they have precisely nothing to do with Halloween.
Interestingly, when I did some research, I found the history of Halloween isn’t necessarily all ghosts and monsters. According to one theory, dressing up originated from the idea of hiding your identity from the dead. So over time the philosophy has become ‘the more original the better’.
Still – surely there are other occasions for people to dress up just for the sake of it. Halloween is fundamentally defined by spookiness, the supernatural, and (in the US and Europe) the beginning of winter – a time of darkness, coldness and (in the past) a great deal of human death.
Essentially, I feel like Cady from Mean Girls, turning up in a really freaky costume and wondering why everyone’s dressed as sexy mice.
It's not that I think I have the right to tell people what to wear, it's more that I don't understand what they're wearing, or why.
Ultimately, wear whatever you like.
But if people are haunted by your Victoria's Secret costume (lol those expectations of women are probs one of the scariest things about 2018), you can't be mad.
Top Comments
Sorry but all this bloody halloween crap does not "belong" here in Australia! As far as I am concerned, it is yet another way for retailers to foist unwanted crap etc on to families, when halloween is not even an Australian "thing". We are becoming more Amercanised every day with stupid bloody things like halloween. The rubbish sold to the public in the name of "halloween" is beyond a joke in my opinion! I am not a grinch or a "do-gooder" but I just think this is one "thing" we do not need in this country! Why is it considered "necessary" to celebrate a European custom which has no real relevance to Australians?
Because it is an Irish/English tradition and we are (well the anglo saxons of us) are descended from Brits. And because we are a MULTICULTURAL country. I read a good point from an Aussie elsewhere defending Halloween. If you don't like American things, don't drink coke or eat maccas. Or watch American movies. If you research halloween you will find it came from the UK, not America. And it has a LOT of relevance to Australians. Maybe read up on it's history before spouting such monocultural/anti-American rubbish. I think many people assume halloween is American when they don't know what they're talking about.
I love halloween but it grates on me that because it is celebrated in England, Ireland, America etc - the northern hemisphere - on October 31, people down here in the southern hemisphere don't understand that we are 6 months early or 6 months late. People I have noticed don't seem to research the tradition, even though we have the internet and google. If they did they'd see it is a SEASONAL occasion, and unlike Christmas, is not celebrated on the same day world-wide. Those who think halloween has some importance will know that it is all about a PRE-WINTER harvest. Hence, the colours. Orange and brown. Fall, autumn. The colours are the clue. In Ireland, particularly in Gaelic culture, England and America, people celebrated the harvest to last for winter. Pumpkins were part of that harvest. In America, Oct 31 is autumn going into winter. In Australia, we are spring going into summer.
April 30th is the southern hemisphere's halloween. I think people simply don't know this fact. I know many pagans and druids and witches in Australia grimace at us celebrating halloween on October 31st. I've read the sites and facebook pages where it is discussed, and it really irritates Aussie pagans and spiritualists that we are celebrating it on the wrong day due to a lack of education. Also, just before it switches from autumn to winter is when the veil between earth and the other world is said to be at it's thinnest. Hence the idea of ghosts, etc and dressing up. That, is April 30th in the Southern Hemisphere.
So, what I'd really love to see is public awareness, and a mass movement for Australia (and NZ and other southern hemisphere nations) to educate others on the importance of what halloween means. If it is all about dress up and sweets and that's all, you don't care about the substance of halloween, that's ok; but to many people they do care about the meaning of halloween and what it symbolises, there is a deeper meaning than just trick or treat and dressing up, and it upsets many that others don't seem to care about the real true meaning so don't care when it is celebrated. I would love to see an education campaign, focusing less on the dress up and sweets, and more on what halloween means, and with that a focus to shifting the date and adopting our true halloween date of April 30th. The more people know, the more awareness of the truth, the more we can get people to celebrate our autumn harvest festival in.....autumn. Come on Aussies, get behind it! April 30th! Celebrate halloween, but respect the tradition and celebrate it on the right date.