Copyright © 1999 Silver Ravenwolf
Scholars are currently tussling over the origin of masks and costumes. Some feel that these fun forays into fantasy were worn to scare off things that screech in the night, where others are firmly entrenched in the ideology that costumes and masks brought the individual wearer closer to the spirit world by creating a sympathetic energy between themselves and the natural world. Regardless of the reasoning, costumes and masks pop up frequently when studying the roots and growth of Halloween. Today, parents and children alike vie for the right to parade around town, dressed in their favorite fantasy finery. (In the sixties our parents only did that behind closed doors at the neighbor's Halloween party, unless, of course, there was a parade nearby that you could use as an excuse.) Today, in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, moms work months before the Harvest Parade to concoct magnificent costumes for the kid dies (and themselves), while dads work diligently in their garages trying to come up with the miniature float that will win the grand prize. National Theme Productions, a costume rental agency, reports that in 1980, one in every four adults aged eighteen to forty wore a costume and that sixty percent of their rentals were adult oriented. Price does not seem to be a problem as we circle the millennium, and adults are willing to pay over $150 for rentals or costume purchases related to the holiday, let alone the cash used for cards, food, and decorations.