Halloween Costumes?

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**Frazzled**

zedmeister wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
I'm am going as an American Tourist.

I have to ask; How does one go as an american tourist?

straw hat, hawaiian shirt, zinc oxide on the nose, camera/binoculars, bermuda shorts, sandals with white tube socks, obnoxiously carrying a large map.

**Dreadclaw69**

http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/origin-of-Halloween.html
You're welcome

To find the origin of Halloween, you have to look to the festival of Samhain in Ireland's Celtic past.

Samhain had three distinct elements. Firstly, it was an important fire festival, celebrated over the evening of 31 October and throughout the following day.

The flames of old fires had to be extinguished and ceremonially re-lit by druids.

It was also a festival not unlike the modern New Year's Day in that it carried the notion of casting out the old and moving into the new.

To our pagan ancestors it marked the end of the pastoral cycle – a time when all the crops would have been gathered and placed in storage for the long winter ahead and when livestock would be brought in from the fields and selected for slaughter or breeding.

But it was also, as the last day of the year, the time when the souls of the departed would return to their former homes and when potentially malevolent spirits were released from the Otherworld and were visible to mankind.

Samhain: its place in the Celtic calendar
The Celts celebrated four major festivals each year. None of them was connected in anyway to the sun's cycle. The origin of Halloween lies in the Celt's Autumn festival which was held on the first day of the 11th month, the month known as November in English but as Samhain in Irish.

The festivals are known by other names in other Celtic countries but there is usually some similarity, if only in the translation.

In Scottish Gaelic, the autumn festival is called Samhuinn. In Manx it is Sauin.

The root of the word – sam – means summer, while fuin means end. And this signals the idea of a seasonal change rather than a notion of worship or ritual.

The other group of Celtic languages (known as Q-Celtic) have very different words but a similar intention. In Welsh, the day is Calan Gaeaf, which means the first day of winter. In Brittany, the day is Kala Goanv, which means the beginning of November.

The original Celtic year
Imbolc: 1st February
Beltaine: 1st May
Lughnasa: 1st August
Samhain: 1st November
The Celts believed that the passage of a day began with darkness and progressed into the light. The same notion explains why Winter – the season of long, dark nights – marked the beginning of the year and progressed into the lighter days of Spring, Summer and Autumn. So the 1st of November, Samhain, was the Celtic New Year, and the celebrations began at sunset of the day before ie its Eve.

The Roman Autumn festival
Harvest was celebrated by the Romans with a festival dedicated to Pomona, the goddess of the fruits of the tree, especially apples. The origin of Halloween's special menus, which usually involve apples (as do many party games), probably dates from this period.

Pomona continued to be celebrated long after the arrival of Christianity in Roman Europe. So, too, did Samhain in Ireland and it was inevitable that an alternative would be found to push pagan culture and lore into a more 'acceptable' Christian event.

Sure enough, the 7th-century Pope Boniface, attempting to lead his flock away from pagan celebrations and rituals, declared 1st November to be All Saints Day, also known as All Hallows Day.

The evening before became known as Hallows' Eve, and from there the origin of Halloween, as a word, is clear.

The origin of Halloween's spookiness
For Celts, Samhain was a spiritual time, but with a lot of confusion thrown into the mix.

Being 'between years' or 'in transition', the usually fairly stable boundaries between the Otherworld and the human world became less secure so that puka, banshees, fairies and other spirits could come and go quite freely. There were also 'shape shifters' at large. This is where the dark side of Halloween originated.

Apples
Samhain marked the end of the final harvest of the summer, and all apples had to have been picked by the time the day's feasting began.

It was believed that on Samhain, the puca – Irish evil fairies (see right hand column) – spat on any unharvested apples to make them inedible.

To ward off the evil let loose at Samhain, huge bonfires were lit and people wore ugly masks and disguises to confuse the spirits and stop the dead identifying individuals who they had disliked during their own lifetime.

They also deliberately made a lot of noise to unsettle the spirits and drive them away from their homes. The timid, however, would leave out food in their homes, or at the nearest hawthorn or whitethorn bush (where fairies were known to live), hoping that their generosity would appease the spirits.

For some, the tradition of leaving food (and a spoon to eat it!) in the home – usually a plate of champ or Colcannon – was more about offering hospitality to their own ancestors.

Just as spells and incantations of witches were especially powerful at Samhain, so the night was believed to be full of portents of the future.

Ireland's best Halloween party is in Derry
While the origin of Halloween doesn't lie specifically in Derry, the world's biggest Halloween party is held in that city every year. More than 30,000 people take to the streets, most of them dressed as witches, ghouls, vampires and monsters from the Otherworld.

It's a time when you're almost certain to hear the Banshees screaming – assuming you can hear anything much above the marching bands, ceilidh music, hard rock and calypso as the carnival proceeds through the town.

Waterloo Place plays host to a free concert, and many events, including Ghost Walks, are held throughout the city before a spectacular fireworks display brings celebrations to a close.

**Frazzled**

LethalShade wrote:
Well, the stereotypical American tourist is fat, obnoxious, and wears either a horrible Hawaiian shirt or a Star-Spangled Banner T-shirt .

(And he's with his obnoxious wife and his obnoxious kids, of course)

There you go. Me in every day uniform.

**zedmeister**

Frazzled wrote:
zedmeister wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
I'm am going as an American Tourist.

I have to ask; How does one go as an american tourist?

straw hat, hawaiian shirt, zinc oxide on the nose, camera/binoculars, bermuda shorts, sandals with white tube socks, obnoxiously carrying a large map.

Hahaha, also you missed the essential accessory to complete the look:

**kronk**

Don't forget to talk loudly about how everything is better in the states.

**Frazzled**

Mmmm I wonder if i can fit a wiener dog in that fanny pack.

kronk wrote:
Don't forget to talk loudly about how everything is better in the states.

Translation: just be myself.

**LethalShade**

'Murica.

**agnosto**

Going as a firefighter since my 16 month old picked out a dalmatian costume.

**hotsauceman1**

agnosto wrote:
Going as a firefighter since my 16 month old picked out a dalmatian costume.

See, this is why I shouldnt have kids. If my kid did that. I would be Cruella De Vil.
Im just heading to the game store halloween. I was gonna hand out candy on campus to the kids, but I decided Meh, I wanna go home.
Halloween Cookie, 40k and Beer. gonna be a decent night

**Frazzled**

agnosto wrote:
Going as a firefighter since my 16 month old picked out a dalmatian costume.

Awesome. My soon to be 17 year old daughter is going as Batman (not BatGirl-she does not participate in Dress Like a Hooker Day). My boy, well, he will go as whatever his girlfriend decides he's going to go as.

**agnosto**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
agnosto wrote:
Going as a firefighter since my 16 month old picked out a dalmatian costume.

See, this is why I shouldnt have kids. If my kid did that. I would be Cruella De Vil.
Im just heading to the game store halloween. I was gonna hand out candy on campus to the kids, but I decided Meh, I wanna go home.
Halloween Cookie, 40k and Beer. gonna be a decent night

My wife and I talked about it but I didn't want to be a dalmatian.

@Frazz,

The boy has learned early I see.

**Co'tor Shas**

I'm honestly not quite sure what I'll be going as this year. I just got my hands on an old leather greatcoat that I'm OK with sewing stuff on, so I might go as an Ordo Xenos inquisitor.

**Sgt_Smudge**

I've pretty much got a party in two days, so I'll need to think of something quick. I'm thinking Men in Black?

I might do some kind of Inquisitor or Commissar some time soon, got the custom bolt pistol for it. (Seriously, it's huge, bigger than my head. Astartes bolt pistols probably should be, anyway.)

**KingCracker**

Gulgog TufToof wrote:
Just curious what all you creatively-minded folks are doing this year for Halloween costumes. Please only post stuff for this year (unless it's to explain a theme, or year-on-year embellishments, etc.)

Moderators- if this thread already exists somewhere, please feel free to move this post.

Here's mine:

That's an awesome costume

**paulson games**

Here's my pick for Halloween, wouldn't take too much effort for most gamers that I know.

**Eldarain**

Darth Nihilus for me this year.

Spoiler:

**yellowfever**

Now I'm not intending to change the thread but are American tourists really that bad. I've been to several countries (some I didn't want to go to but I was in the military).I was never loud. I'm most definitely not fat. Most of the people I saw were fatter than me. I always tried to learn the culture.

**Gulgog TufToof**

KingCracker wrote:
Gulgog TufToof wrote:
Just curious what all you creatively-minded folks are doing this year for Halloween costumes. Please only post stuff for this year (unless it's to explain a theme, or year-on-year embellishments, etc.)

Moderators- if this thread already exists somewhere, please feel free to move this post.

Here's mine:

That's an awesome costume

Thanks! Original inspiration was a kid's costume on MarthaStewart.com of all things- they made it sound easy but I basically learned to sew in the process (hobbying has given me a healthy distrust of glue- plastic, fabric, or otherwise).

Glad to see 1 or 2 pics of other costumes, hopefully this thread will fill out a bit with more once we get closer to the actual day. Keep 'em coming, an Exalt for every pic!

As for you curmudgeonly types, I'm a little disappointed. How is it that a community whose only common thread is an obsession with elves, orks and robots doesn't embrace a Druidic holiday where you get to go to parties in costume? If you don't want to give out candy, give out halloween pencils or something (they'll surely skip your house next year), and there's a whole happenin' world of cool, creative things to see if you just get out of your grandma's basement for this one special night per year!

(Besides, Halloween is the last line of defense against the retailers. If we didn't celebrate it, we'd be bombarded with Christmas music and sale advertisements starting in late September!)

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Jihadin wrote:
Death Jester

That sounds awesome! Pics?

**Buttery Commissar**

Sleeping ~~with the doorbell unplugged.~~

I've lived here 6 years, and not once has anyone worked out where my front door is on Halloween.
My house looks like it's the back half of the neighbour's home.
Last year I put out battery powered candles and a bowl of candy and it was still there in the morning. At a guess, people round here just don't do Trick or Treating.

**BobtheInquisitor**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
agnosto wrote:
Going as a firefighter since my 16 month old picked out a dalmatian costume.

See, this is why I shouldnt have kids. If my kid did that. I would be Cruella De Vil.
Im just heading to the game store halloween. I was gonna hand out candy on campus to the kids, but I decided Meh, I wanna go home.
Halloween Cookie, 40k and Beer. gonna be a decent night

When my son was 16 months old he loved Cruella De Vil. He didn't understand that she was the villain.

This year, We are going trick or treating as fireworks.

**agnosto**

BobtheInquisitor wrote:
hotsauceman1 wrote:
agnosto wrote:
Going as a firefighter since my 16 month old picked out a dalmatian costume.

See, this is why I shouldnt have kids. If my kid did that. I would be Cruella De Vil.
Im just heading to the game store halloween. I was gonna hand out candy on campus to the kids, but I decided Meh, I wanna go home.
Halloween Cookie, 40k and Beer. gonna be a decent night

When my son was 16 months old he loved Cruella De Vil. He didn't understand that she was the villain.

This year, We are going trick or treating as fireworks.

Ooh, great idea!

**ZergSmasher**

I'm obviously too old to do trick-or-treat, but I may dress up as Mario if I still fit in the costume(at work they are going to let us dress up this year). Hope I haven't gained too many pounds in two years!

**timetowaste85**

Bought a Deadpool costume. And ninja swords. Now I need guns. And grenades. And I'll be wearing it to the movie premier too.

**Cheesecat**

I'm going as a cowboy as I like westerns.

**Asherian Command**

I'm going as me, myself and I.

Meaning I am all by myself.

**yellowfever**

Thought this was funny

**Gulgog TufToof**

Of course you know the response: This year we're having a Republican Halloween; we'll give all the candy to the first 1% of kids who come to our door and trust that they'll share it with all the other kids.

**yellowfever**

That's funny too.

**ZergSmasher**

yellowfever wrote:
Thought this was funny

Truer words were never spoken, sadly. Have an exalt!

Edit: the pic didn't come through. Oh well, you all know what it said.

**Dreadclaw69**

BobtheInquisitor wrote:
This year, We are going trick or treating as fireworks.

Will you be playing Katy Perry as the doors open?

This year we'll be dressed up as football fans while the game is on, then we'll dodge the kids bused in (no kids in the neighbourhood) looking for candy while we play the Xboxes in the basement or paint.