Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

In honor of the upcoming holiday, this week’s post is not about a specific culture, but about a specific holiday. Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I always loved dressing up in crazy costumes and taking candy from strangers in total darkness, but how did such a strange holiday come about? Where did the fantastic art of Halloween come from?

Part of the answer lies in an ancient Celtic festival that originated over 2,000 years old in Ireland, Samhain (pronounced “sow-win”). This festival was an extremely important celebration that marked that change between the light half of the year (summer) and the dark half of the year (winter). In fact, it’s still celebrated by many today. According to legend, at the time of Samhain, the separation between this world and the other world was at its thinnest. Due to this state, spirits were able to pass through into our world. However, not all spirits that pass over are good. This is where some of the hallmark features of Halloween come from.

People disguised themselves as spirits to blend in with any spirits or mythical creatures they may have come across. This included costumes and masks. There are some wild shoot-off traditions that make for some wild visuals.

One of those is the Láir Bhán (White Mare). On the night of the festival in certain places, there would be a large procession of children going from home to home asking for food to give as offerings for the dead (the beginnings of Trick-or-Treating). These processions would be lead by an older youth or a young adult wearing a Láir Bhán costume. These costumes were a little disturbing, using the skull of a horse as the main piece. The Welsh counterpart to this is the Mari Lwyd (Grey Mare).

Gathering of Mari Lwyd in 2017 in Gower, Wales, Mark Rees

Although the picture above does show that these types of costumes still exist, modern costumes are very different. People dress as princesses, superheroes, monsters, and movie characters. The dressing up is no longer to ward off malevolent spirits but instead to have a fun time making something with the people you love that you can enjoy by wearing.

I’ve always greatly enjoyed making costumes for Halloween ever since I was little. My most favorite one that I’ve made was a few years ago when I dressed up as Beetlejuice. My mom taught me how to sow when we made the jacket together. It’s a memory I’ll never forget. I won best costume that year at school.

Although Halloween has strange roots in a festival that’s still celebrated to this very day, it’s evolved into a completely different holiday. Many different things have influenced it over the centuries. The contrast of longstanding tradition and modern-day versions of holidays are clear when attending either type of event, but both are fun holidays with value for then people celebrating them.

For this week’s piece, I drew a young woman wearing a Samhain witch costume while holding a Láir Bhán/Mari Lwyd horse head. Perhaps she’s our young adult leading the hoards of children in a hunt for offerings… Watch the speedpaint here!

Any suggestions for cultures that you’d like to see? Comment below!