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Halloween Masks
People have been wearing masks for Halloween for more than a thousand years. From history we know that Halloween originated from the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain, which translated means "summer's end". Besides the Celts, this holiday and was celebrated for centuries by many other religions that worshiped nature.
Now days, Halloween is a mystical night for all of us. When we put on a mask it can make us anyone or anything. Masks are the largest share of the two and a half billion dollars spent every year on Halloween costumes and makeup. A huge amount of masks are sold for this day.
Whatever your price range you will be able to find a mask-- from under 10 dollars to over 100 dollars. The more expensive masks are made with quality materials and great care and detail goes into their creation.
Frightening monsters made out of foam latex-aliens, swamp witches, vampires, zombies, ape men, different types of demons, snakes, crocodiles mummies and skeletons all these masks are now used as part of Halloween parties. A belief of the ancient Celts was that the recently dead would come back on Halloween to look for new bodies to live in for the following year.
At that time the tradition developed for villagers to extinguish all fires, dress up in frightening costumes and march through their neighborhoods on the night of October 31st to keep these spirits from inhabiting live bodies. There are stories of Celts burning at the stake people believed to possessed in order to keep the spirits away. However, modern historians reject these legends.
Masks which are constructed well; for example the skull mask shown on the right will cover your head completely but it will not be uncomfortable. It has big eye holes that only slightly effect your view and has cleverly designed openings to breathe through. Some masks which cover your head completely have a long slit down the back to make them more comfortable. Unfortunately, this causes the mask not to fit snugly. To solve this problem Velcro can be placed along the slit to pull it tight.
First you need to buy Velcro dots from a fabric, shopping center or mall; and second a friend who will agree to help you. It is best if the Velcro you buy matches the color of the mask at the point were you will be attaching it. The mask wearer will need the assistance of someone to hold the two sides of the mask bring it together, and the attached it with Velcro closely around the head.
Mask manufacturers tend to make masks large so that they can be sold to as many people as possible. An oversized mask can be made to fit, if it is made out of latex, by gluing soft foam rubber on the inside surface of the mask with either a spirit gum or a low temperature hot glue gun. A hot glue gun can damage your mask by melting it if the tip of the gun touches the mask so be attentive.
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