Halloween has been around for around 2,000 years. As you can imagine, the holiday has changed quite a bit since its early pagan beginnings. It originates in Europe as a festival called Samhain which celebrates the end of a harvest. Historians can track the tradition of wearing a costume on Halloween to 1585 in Scotland, which has since been sustained with activities like trick-or-treating and costume stores. Usually, these costumes depicted spirits and creatures from Celtic folklore. Now the usual costumes you’ll see are vampires, witches, ghosts, etc.
Unfortunately, there have been times when it was not uncommon to see costumes depicting racial and religious stereotypes.
One of the most common of these costumes is the Native American. There are many reasons why it is not ok to dress up as a Native. The history of murder and takeover of the Native Americans and their land for example, When the British came to America the Natives were not treated nicely, unlike what A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving might suggest. They were massacred and stripped of their land, and the ones that lived were put on reservations where they had to give up their spirituality and native languages. Children were placed in schools where they were forced to learn English and learn the Christian way, and many of them died from illness. So for non-Native Americans to be dressing up as their chiefs and dawning symbols that they don’t know the meaning of, you can imagine how upsetting it is.
Another example is blackface. Blackface was a practice in the early 20th century with “minstrel shows” where white men and women would rub burnt cork on their face in order to turn it black, they would then put on rugged clothes in order to make fun of African Americans. These shows depicted black Americans as being illiterate and stupid. Considering the history of blackface and the treatment of black Americans in general, these costumes are unacceptable.
Then there are non-racial costumes that are still incredibly insensitive yet very common. The homeless person, or “hobo”. People will make themselves look dirty and disheveled, as well as covering their faces in soot and carrying a bindle. To mock someone for being in a position that they never asked for is always horrible, especially when there are an estimated 116,600 people, just in California, being affected by the homelessness crisis. Many of these people lost their jobs or had jobs that didn’t pay the bills. Some suffer from mental illness or addiction and had no one to help them. A lot of teenagers are kicked out of their homes for being part of the LGBTQ+ community or for not holding the same religious standing as their families. There are hundreds of reasons why someone might be without a home, and to mock them and think of them as a disease is inhumane.
These are only a few examples of insensitive costumes that have been worn by Americans, there are so many more. America has a history of not recognizing other cultures and lifestyles as valid, and this only proves that. It seems to have gotten better these last few years but there are still things that as a society we can do better. And recognizing other cultures as something to respect and not mock is a good starting point.