CLASSIC HALLOWEEN CHARACTERS AND THEIR ORIGINS
The anthropological studies of scary phenomena—such as vampires, witches, and zombies—make it all a bit more palatable and less frightening. When we understand where the idea of something comes from and how even the spookiest story came about, it all seems a little less alarming. During the Halloween season, it’s all in good fun to dress up as our favorite creatures, accentuating their most well-known attributes. For instance, when one dons a white sheet with holes for eyes and nothing else, it’s instantly recognizable that you’re a ghost or apparition. This is definitely the simplest and most economical of all the costumes. A vampire, witch, or zombie costume takes a little more planning. So, what are you going as this year? Adult Halloween is more popular than ever. It’s basically an excuse to let your fantasies come alive (and the only time it’s acceptable for grown-ups to wear fangs in public), eat sweets, and drink too many spooky-themed cocktails.
The vampire, an embodiment of everlasting life, has become such a huge part of popular culture that everyone knows the overused tropes. We all know that vampires are said—in lore— to have no reflection, that they cannot stand the sight of daylight (so only come out after dusk), transform into bats, drink blood, are repelled by crucifixes, holy water, and communion wafers, are very pale, wear a black cloak, and sleep in coffins. It’s easy to create a costume based on Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula. Although these stories were around well before the 19th century, Stoker greatly shaped the way we think about the modern vampire. “Dracula” is, by far, the quintessential text to read if you’re interested in vampirism, and it is most likely that Stoker based his character on Vlad Drăculea (known as “Vlad the Impaler,” “who ruled Walachia, Romania, off and on between 1448 and 1477”). Another great work for inspiration to read this Halloween is Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire.” While this work deals with intense thematic material, it’s recommended for mature readers.
“One cannot live long in Haiti without hearing talk of zombies, dead bodies brought back to a half-life by magic.” Superstitions about voodoo and zombies are an integral part of everyday life in parts of Haiti. Zombies are known as either “souls without a body or bodies without a soul.” They are notably “soulless and automaton-like”; this is why zombies depicted in movies have a vacant stare and staggering gait. They are usually characterized by rotting flesh, tattered clothing, and robotic movements. The Swiss and Argentine anthropologist Alfred Métraux studied African culture in Haiti, led the UNESCO Marbial Valley anthropological survey from 1948 to 1950, and is most well-known for his book “Voodoo in Haiti,” while W.B. Seabrook wrote in “The Magic Island” of a banquet of corpses.
Why did people think witches existed? The “ergot theory” is widely known now and basically states that the strange behavior that triggered the witchcraft panic in Salem in 1692 was caused by moldy bread. This induced seizures and even convulsions, and can partly explain why so many God-fearing Puritans were convinced there were witches among them. Witch-doctors or witch-detectives (coined by J.A. Barnes) were highly coveted magicians who could determine if a blight on someone’s crop, diseased livestock, or other bouts of bad luck were caused by witchcraft. Witch-hunts have taken place for hundreds of years (as in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries), but the most well-known are the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts during 1692. There are certain physical characteristics and signs of a witch, such as scars, which were thought to be marks of the devil. A witch or “bruja” may be able to shapeshift from a young, beautiful maiden into an old hag with warts, a hunchback, long crooked fingers, sharp talons for nails, a pointy black hat, a broom on which to fly, and, of course, a black cat for a companion. In folklore, witches usually bear markings of old age; Reginald Scot’s 16th-century English witch was described as “lame, blear-eyed, pale, foul, and full of wrinkles.” In cultures different than our own—such as in Africa—extreme old age isn’t seen as something so horrid as it is here in the United States and Europe. How did they determine who was a witch? If one was suspected of being a witch, she was submerged in water and held down by something weighted and heavy. If she were indeed a witch, she could escape, and if not, she would drown. Others were burned at the stake (such as Joan of Arc in 15th-century France). To learn more about witches throughout the world, E. Evans Pritchard’s “Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande” is one of social anthropology’s most noted texts.
For more on information cited above, check out the following texts and articles:
Man, Myth & Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural, Richard Cavendish (1970)
https://www.history.com/articles/vampire-history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchcraft,_Oracles_and_Magic_Among_the_Azande
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_M%C3%A9traux
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