JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
Not ' our ' Halloween, this depiction of a ballet in 1836 is like an advertisement for Halloweens of the future. Well, black cat, ghouls, graveyard, unsure on dog and aggressive short guy. Like some equally bizarre balls and other ' dress up ', it could have been a Tuesday in July, not All Hallow's Eve on the Church calendar.
Of course we had our Ichabod's to curl one's toes, poor guy. It just did not have to stop there- s if an entire war was not scary enough. NYPL, Children's Book section.
Originally intending the whole, usual ' History of Halloween ' aka, a potential snore, tripped over something more fascinating. Yes, All Saint's Day, in the Church, a day to remember those who passed from this earthly realm ( and still does ) was preceded by ' All Hallow's Eve ', the night before when those saints- aka dead people- came back for a visit. Church meets superstition morphed into today's orange and black gigantagon scare and chocolate fest. Short version, please excuse, to all our experts?
A ' Masquerade ' Ball, with some costumes we'd consider odd, disturbing and confusingly bizarre today. Like if it was Halloween! For adults!
Yes, the costumes supposedly originate as a means to scare away equally scary spirits. We've slipped a little on this over decades- from Joe DiMaggio to Hines Ward, not a lot scary about the sports hero costumes bought, for instance. Well, James Harrison frightens everyone. We like it that way.
No worries, children were indeed included in the rage. I read somewhere ' fancy dress ' meant very post war but keep finding era ads using the term.
Lost through time, it transpires the heroes of sports and history, ghouls, ghosts, politicians, goodness and famous rogues impersonated all for fun has been a long, long standing tradition. Long! We just keep digging it up ( sorry ). It's just, plain fun to dress up, even as adults. And while we're at it be bizarre and scary.
Even earlier, across the Pond at legendary, legendarily snooty ball room Almacs, a Regency era Masquerade Ball. We have indeed been at this awhile although not seeing the bizarre here.
So- to keep it simple, best, most ' era ' examples? Something called a ' Masked Ball ' slowly morphed into a social event called a ' Masquerade Ball ' and finally, at the tail end of Victorian Era, " Fancy Dress Ball ". No expert, guessing from Godey's, Harpers and Demorest articles by the Civil War era we would have been attending ' Maquerades ', balls where the bizarre were displayed, seemingly with some cerebral theme we would never figure out today. Like Dante?
These would be typical of a lot of ads from the 1850's, and there are a lot. Dressing in costumes was a much bigger deal than I knew or suspected until looking around the topics. And including the chance to scare, frighten and makes one's toes tingle? Best Halloween in July or May or August ever. We really, really have been at this for awhile. Kind of nice.
Saving the Pilgrim- Comforting- Ghost-Knight-Story for the next Halloween thread.... preview. Sorry, you bump into this stuff and can't resist.
I'm not sure, it may be a Thanksgiving story........