My absolutely FAVORITE holiday!!

Halloween is my favorite holiday!  I mean, seriously, what’s better than combining cosplay and candy?  Two of my absolute favorite things! 

Most people think that Halloween is a Christian holiday, meant to usher in All Saints’ Day on November 1st with All Hallows’ Eve on October 31st. (All Hallows’ Eve was shortened to Halloween)  It was in the 8^th century that Pope Gregory III designated November 1^st as All Saints’ Day.  But actually this isn’t where Halloween got its start.

Halloween actually originated with an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain (pronounced sow-in) which is a festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year.  During this festival people believed that the dearly departed came back as ghosts, so they would light bonfires and leave food and wine on their doorsteps for these spirit visitors.  Ghosts were thought to revisit their old homes seeking hospitality.   People would also wear masks when they left their homes, in the hope that they would be mistaken as a fellow ghost, and would not be haunted.  There are also records that shows that as part of Samhain people would go from house to house in costume, either reciting songs or verses in exchange for food. This was known as “mumming” and “guising”.  Hmmm … mumming … is that like “mummy”?  Probably not.  But “guising” and “disguise” are definitely related words!

As immigrants (yes, Donald, immigrants) came to America, they brought with them their traditions, including the tradition of All Saints’ Day and All Hallows’ Eve.  But, by the early 1900s, the holiday became more of a secular tradition than a religious holiday.  And in the 1950, the holiday started to resemble the current traditions that are celebrated all over this country on October 31^st, with kids going house to house to “trick or treat”.

For adults, the “traditions” of this holiday are VERY different from going “trick or treating”.

For adults it’s a time dress up, drink and have a big ‘ol party!  Like adults actually need a holiday to do this?!

In New York, the Village Halloween Parade is a time-honored tradition.  Believe it or not, this parade is actually in its 42^nd year!  And it gets bigger and bigger every year!  Definitely a must-see at least once in your lifetime!  But if you plan to go, get there early. And I mean REALLY early.  Or you will be 6 people deep!

Halloween has become a day to parody the popular culture of the times.  Some costumes are very clever.  Like this couple costume of “Lego my Eggo”

Others seem to cross the line of funny (the new Kim Kardashian Paris robbery costume isn’t going over too well).  I am wondering how many Donald and Hillary costumes are going to be out there this year.  Probably sprinkled in with some Bernies.

I’m not sure when in history it also became a time for women to dress in the skimpiest of outfits and look as sexy or slutty as they possibly can.  I’m sure if I dug deeply enough on Google, I could find that out.  Or at least see lots of slutty Halloween costumes.  This one young … um, lady … seemed to be able to come up a costume that was both clever and slutty at the same time.  Kudos!

And yes, back in my younger days I had my fair share of those sexy type of costumes.  A belly dancer, a fallen angel, a fairy. This was me as “Little Red Riding Hood” a number of years back.

I cannot tell you how many times I heard some version of “Hey, I'm the Big Bad Wolf.” that night. *eyeroll*

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m older, or because I got sick of dealing with drunken horny guys, or because I realized that I could be soooo much more creative than just wearing a very tight, low cut/high cut (depending on whether we’re talking about tops of bottoms) outfit, maybe putting on some devil ears, or cat ears, or angel wings or whatever to make it look more costume-y and less prostitute-y.  But I decided to move away from the "let's see how slutty I can dress" type costumes, and moved on to the more creative, and definitely more comfortable costumes.

In the past few years I have been:

a Minion

Lots of fun, especially since I could sing the "Banana" song.  But rather warm in that fleece lined hoody!

a cracked porcelain doll

and a Monster from “Monsters, Inc.”

But this year, I’m going all out!!  

I am going to be honoring my all-time favorite television show and going as … a walker from The Walking Dead!  Sorry, I will not be revealing the costume in advance of the party that I’m going to be attending.  But it will definitely NOT be a sexy/slutty costume!

It’s going to be an AMAZING costume!!  I have been studying tutorials online and doing practice sessions with my special effect gashes in my skin.  My test runs have been coming out really good! I cannot wait to do the whole thing together, with the special effects makeup, the ratty hair, the dirty raggedy clothes and even the “undead” eyes!!  I've got to practice my walk, but I've got the growly grumble noise down!

Yes, the party is at a bar, where the treats will be of the alcoholic nature.  And I’ll have to take a subway to get there.  Oh what fun that will be!!  Can't wait to see the reactions!

My only concern is that some other TWD fan will get into character as well, and stab me in the head!