Caleigh Montoya, Staff Writer
Trick or treating and wearing costumes are key parts of Halloween. Originating from Ireland and Scotland, young people would participate in an activity called “guising”. The word “guising” comes from the word “disguising”. This is when they would dress up in costumes and go around asking neighbors for fruit, coins, and nuts as “treats” in exchange for their “tricks” which consisted of singing, comedy, etc. This has led to the huge cultural phenomenon we know today, commonly called “Trick or Treating”.
The idea of donning costumes comes from religious beliefs. The people believed that the gods would reveal themselves to humans during this holiday, and if they wore disguises, the ghouls would mistake them as one of their kind. In North America, this evolved into a yearly tradition as it was entirely embraced. With the growth of pop culture came the change of Halloween costumes. Costumes were always meant to be scary but with the boom of new media, people wanted to dress up like those they idolized such as superheroes, celebrities or pop stars. Today, we dress up as idols, cartoon characters, horror movie characters, and other fantasy creatures. Through this tradition of playing dress up, Halloween gives one night of the year for people to be whoever they want!