Its Halloween!!!!!!!

[NeoSpartan]

Yep its that time of year again. Time to dress up like you've wanted all year and go kick it!

And continuing in the tradition of EB impired costumes I stared this thread so the rest of the creazy EB fans can post their costumes: (I know I ain't the only one g**d*** IT!)

this year I chose to be this fella:


using this one's tunic:
http://www.aceros-de-hispania.com/im...-falcatas.jpeg

So far the only thing I am missing is the armor plate, I didn't have to finish it today and had go clubbing without it. The only other issue is the helmet, its decent but it didn't come out the way I wanted it to.
(oh since it was so damn cold out I had to wear the cloack I made last year for my Gallic costume).

[Tartaros]

Höhö,
that´s great!!! very nice costume

[General Appo]

As I´ve already said, I´m going as one of these guys.


I´d post a pic of myself like this but since I´m going uncensored (no loincloth) I´ve got a feeling some mod would just take it down and ban me. So...meh, you´ll just have to use your fantasy.

[Maion Maroneios]

Nice costume there, NeoSpartan! We don't celebrete Halloween where I come from unfortunately, though :-P

Maion

[Wausser]

Welcome to the club Maion

[machinor]

We don't celebrate it either (FORTUNATELY).

@NeoSpartan: I don't know where you live, but won't you be freezing in that shorty-short costume?

[Gleemonex]

We don't celebrate it either (FORTUNATELY).

Why is it fortunate that you don't celebrate Dress-Like-A-Slut Day Hallowe'en? I take it you've never been to a North American university or dance club on Hallowe'en.

-Glee assuming a 99.993% chance that you're male, because you're here

[machinor]

It is fortunate because I live in Europe. And in Europe, Halloween is not really a tradition like in North America but more of a commercial thing mostly known through 80s-horror-movies. Yes, there are some Halloween parties and stuff but it's really mostly just artificial and if there is anything like a Halloween-feeling of some kind, than it is more a bad feeling due to hype generated by malls/stores/whatever to sell more stuff.

Carneval (or Fasching as it is called in Austria) would be the traditional European equivalent although it's less focused on "spookyness" and more on general dressing-up-stupidly and drinking-excessively. Great fun! :)

[Wausser]

Carnaval as we call it, it's great

It's indeed the less spooky creepy European equivalent of Halloween

[Dodge_272]

It is fortunate because I live in Europe. And in Europe, Halloween is not really a tradition like in North America but more of a commercial thing mostly known through 80s-horror-movies. Yes, there are some Halloween parties and stuff but it's really mostly just artificial and if there is anything like a Halloween-feeling of some kind, than it is more a bad feeling due to hype generated by malls/stores/whatever to sell more stuff.

It's huge in the UK and almost as bad as valentines day in terms of commercial bollocks.

In terms of commercial bollocks, only Christmas gets away with it.

[Maion Maroneios]

Why is it fortunate that you don't celebrate Dress-Like-A-Slut Day Hallowe'en? I take it you've never been to a North American university or dance club on Hallowe'en.

-Glee assuming a 99.993% chance that you're male, because you're here

That's exactly what I mean by saying unfortunately, 'cause I have friends from America

Maion

[Nobo]

Carneval (or Fasching as it is called in Austria) would be the traditional European equivalent although it's less focused on "spookyness" and more on general dressing-up-stupidly and drinking-excessively. Great fun! :)

Haha, Fasching is awesome! It's basically a drunken 3-day stupor, filled with costumes, parades and copious amounts of alcohol

[Gleemonex]

It is fortunate because I live in Europe. And in Europe, Halloween is not really a tradition like in North America but more of a commercial thing mostly known through 80s-horror-movies. Yes, there are some Halloween parties and stuff but it's really mostly just artificial and if there is anything like a Halloween-feeling of some kind, than it is more a bad feeling due to hype generated by malls/stores/whatever to sell more stuff.

Besides candy, and I can't see myself eating more than maybe 40 euros of candy in one day, how can Hallowe'en possibly be commercialised? [1] As a Canadian, one of the reasons I love Hallowe'en (besides the fact that its origins predate fabricated Christian holidays) is because there are no mascots or events or obligations to be commercialised. Anyone can make a crappy vampire costume out of construction paper and ketchup, and you can hold a Hallowe'en party in your home if you don't want to pay cover to be squished against drunken hotties in a nightclub. And there's no insipid music that drones on all October (besides perhaps "Monster Mash").

Now, the commercial thing is exactly what I hate about Christmas and, to a lesser extent, Valentine's Day. It's obvious that a holiday where the main activity is buying crap can be commercialised.

Carneval (or Fasching as it is called in Austria) would be the traditional European equivalent although it's less focused on "spookyness" and more on general dressing-up-stupidly and drinking-excessively. Great fun! :)

I don't know about the USA, but Hallowe'en isn't very spooky in Canada anymore. Costumes tend to be either elaborate or funny, and the only vestiges of spookiness are those that are indelibly associated with night (which is another reason I love Hallowe'en -- it's a late-night holiday) or goth chicks.

When is this Fasching thing?

-Glee

---------------------------------
[1] I'm not accusing you -- I honestly don't get it.

[machinor]

Don't worry, I wasn't going to take that as an accusation. Well here, whenever you see something Halloween-related then it's a commercial or ad telling you about some special Halloween offer you shouldn't miss. So it's really mainly connected to selling stuff (that is not even related to Halloween per se).

Fasching or Carneval comes from old pagan and later Catholic tradition. It takes place around February. In pagan times it was part of the Spring festivities to party hard and make a lot of noise to scare evil spirits away. In Catholic times this tradition transformed and focused more on the feast element. It's basically one large demonstration of gluttony before the Lent starts with Ash Wednseday. Thus the name Carnival (ger. "Karneval" and ital. "carnevale") from lat. "carne vale" meaning "good bye, meat" as in Catholicism one would not eat meat during the Lent. The exact character and elements of Carnival from region to region. In Germany for example Carnival does not only span over a few days but over weeks. In the Rhine regions Carneval was turned into a mockery of militarism from the 18th century on since that region was a major battlefield in the wars between France and Prussia. So in Cologne you would encounter so called Carneval Clubs who parade in uniforms caricaturing 18th century military uniforms etc.
Also the Carneval in Venice is quite famous. I must say that Venitian Carneval has always had a very eerie and sinister feeling to it... just look at those costumes and masks. They are quite spooky.

[Wausser]

Here some movies of carnaval in my town

We always start at the 11th of November with the elections of dukes, counts etc for all the carnaval "clubs", and the actual carnaval starts the Friday before Ash Wednesday, with a big parade on Sunday. The parade is the biggest parade above the big Rivers(The Rhine and Waal).
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=cFcBqaQyrC0
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=2daH4qK5RMA





@machinor

Here in the Netherlands carnaval only gets celebrated in the Catholic regions(the south and parts of the east) The Protestant regions don't really celebrate carnaval.

[General Appo]

Meh, we don´t "celebrate" Halloween either, we just recognise it. Maybe use it as an excuse to throw a little part or two, but certainly not buy a lot of crap.

[machinor]

@machinor

Here in the Netherlands carnaval only gets celebrated in the Catholic regions(the south and parts of the east) The Protestant regions don't really celebrate carnaval.

I'd think so since it is basically quite Catholic in character (especially the gluttony part :D).

Talking about Lent.... I remember a friend once telling me that in some areas of Turkey during the Ramadan they have a similar tradition to Catholic Carneval more or less. Since during Ramadan, Moslems should fast all day, as soon as the sun goes down there is a large banquet. Not quite the same but kind of a feast related to a period of fast...

[Nobo]

Here in the Netherlands carnaval only gets celebrated in the Catholic regions(the south and parts of the east) The Protestant regions don't really celebrate carnaval.

I will probably be in Maastricht on the 11th

[Tellos Athenaios]

Carnaval as we call it, it's great

It's indeed the less spooky creepy European equivalent of Halloween

Not really, and in fact Europe does have a Hallowe'en (like) tradition. It's Catholic, and it's one of the two days that are there to ensure coverage of everybody in the Catholic faith.

Ever heard of All Souls' Day (2nd of November)? Following All Saints' Day (1st of November)? In Mexico these two are also known as Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

[Tellos Athenaios]

the 11th of November

Which is the one that gets closest to the "trick or treat" aspect: St. Martin's Day.

[Wausser]

Not really, and in fact Europe does have a Hallowe'en (like) tradition. It's Catholic, and it's one of the two days that are there to ensure coverage of everybody in the Catholic faith.

Ever heard of All Souls' Day (2nd of November)? Following All Saints' Day (1st of November)? In Mexico these two are also known as Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

I mean in forms of costumes etc, not the religious background

[mlc82]

I had a single day to improvise a costume for a HW party with my girlfriend last night, and figured some bizarre meshing of celtic warriors from EB would be more fun than cutting eyeholes in a sheet and going as a ghost (probably the easiest emergency costume).

This is like the "300" version of celtic anything, I know it's awful and all, but I only had about 4 hrs to get it together! I have a sledgehammer, so tried to go with the Ordmalica look, but didn't have anything to make the armor/chest plate with, or the long shirt, so kind of combined the weapon, as I didn't have time to make a shield (unfortunately my hammer is obviously from the present day, and looks nothing like the Ordmalica's 2 handed hammer, but it's the idea that counts right?), with whatever I could find that looked slightly like what some of the EB Celtic levies or spearmen wear. Then of course, the "woad paint"




Of course, no one had a clue of what I was supposed to be- I'm shocked at how many people don't even know what a "Celt" is! That sounds to me like someone saying "Japanese people? What are those?", or whatever.

The worst guess at what my costume was supposed to be, was "Are you the Incredible Hulk?" WTF? Does that look remotely like the Incredible Hulk? I should have replied with something equally stupid, like "No, I'm a horse", but the look of confusion I was getting from "I'm an ancient Celtic warrior. This is woad paint" was just too much fun.

[Nobo]

Which is the one that gets closest to the "trick or treat" aspect: St. Martin's Day.

yea, but st. martin isn't actually related to it. It just happens to be on the 11th. I think the 11th of November is part of carnaval, because there used to be a meat-free time before christmas, too

[mlc82]

Yep its that time of year again. Time to dress up like you've wanted all year and go kick it!

VERY cool! I like the shield and Falcata!!

[machinor]

I had a single day to improvise a costume for a HW party with my girlfriend last night, and figured some bizarre meshing of celtic warriors from EB would be more fun than cutting eyeholes in a sheet and going as a ghost (probably the easiest emergency costume).

This is like the "300" version of celtic anything, I know it's awful and all, but I only had about 4 hrs to get it together! I have a sledgehammer, so tried to go with the Ordmalica look, but didn't have anything to make the armor/chest plate with, or the long shirt, so kind of combined the weapon, as I didn't have time to make a shield (unfortunately my hammer is obviously from the present day, and looks nothing like the Ordmalica's 2 handed hammer, but it's the idea that counts right?), with whatever I could find that looked slightly like what some of the EB Celtic levies or spearmen wear. Then of course, the "woad paint"


Of course, no one had a clue of what I was supposed to be- I'm shocked at how many people don't even know what a "Celt" is! That sounds to me like someone saying "Japanese people? What are those?", or whatever.

The worst guess at what my costume was supposed to be, was "Are you the Incredible Hulk?" WTF? Does that look remotely like the Incredible Hulk? I should have replied with something equally stupid, like "No, I'm a horse", but the look of confusion I was getting from "I'm an ancient Celtic warrior. This is woad paint" was just too much fun.

Absolutely fantastic! Here's your tread for that marvellous costume:

You should have simply said: "I'm Mel Gibson... FREEEEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
That's as 300-style-Celt as you can get.

[desert]

We always start at the 11th of November...

My birthday is on the 11th.

Hooray for Armistice Day!

[Wausser]

11-11-1918



My birthday is the 12th

[Pontius Pilate]

I was going to dress up as a Roman legionary, but real chain mail, and authentic helmet and swords are really expensive and I didn't want to just buy one of those cheap stereotipical Roman customes you can get at your local store. Anyway, Halloween is one of the best holidays here in America. You get to dress up as anything you want and get lots of candy. This whole Carnaval thing you guys are talking about doesn't seem too good to me. You Europeans are surely missing out on alot of stuff. Hey I never realized how many people there are, on these forums that aren't from U.S.

[Nobo]

I used to live in the US for a while, so I've seen both halloween and carnaval. I wasn't too big a fan of halloween... it just seemed like everything was the same as always. You went to the same parties, people were doing the exact same things, except they were dressed up... Maybe I just don't really get it, cuz I didn't grow up with it. I'm sure you have a completely different relationship to the holiday, if you went trick or treating as a kid...

[Maeran]

I'm liking the carnival idea actually. I especially like the fact that it does not coincide with anything else and so gives me another excuse to have a party.