Witches: do you think it is perpetuating stupid stereotypes of Witch to dress up like a "witch" for ....?

Question

.....Halloween and/ or Samhain?

If you are dressing up, (and I imagine many of us are!) what are you dressing as?

...of "a" Witch, I meant to say...

to pinklayni: no, I am not joking. Witches are real people and I am concerned about dressing in a manner that my fellow Witches might find to be not a good idea for us. Are you prejudiced against Witches or do you just not respect other people's spiritual paths?

again to pinklayni: with all due respect, you do not know what you are saying. Do you know what a Witch is? D you consider yourself something that has a label attacked to it, like "Christian?" Do you DO what a Christian DOES? If so, isn't that what makes you a Christian, what you DO, not the label? Well, Witches are what we DO, and we Witches have the privilege of calling ourselves Witches just as much as you have the privilege of calling yourself whatever you call yourself. If you think there are no Witches, you are misinformed or you are thinking of the dumb Hollywood stories about us. We do exist, and we do Witch stuff. We are what we do, and we re what we say we are, just the same as you. How would you like it if I said there is no such thing as a Christian? You would probably laugh it off. I wouldn't say it though, because another's path is not for me to discredit as real or not.

Answer 1

I ALWAYS dress as a Witch. I wear my ceremonial robes. Blue cape, bluejeans and a Green T-shirt, and go barefoot. folks ask me what I;m dressed as and I tell them. I'm a Witch. they look at me kind of funny until I tell them that Witches dress just like everyone else. They're amused by the fact that I REALY DO dress as a REAL Witch, and are impressed by my statement and putting my actions where my mouth is.

BB,
Raji the Greenwitch

Answer 2

I hate the typical 'witch with a war ton the nose' type of costume. Christianity has tried so hard to make witches look bad figuratively, that they couldn't help but also try doing it literally as well. It's very sad to see the small minds at work.

I think a great costume would be perhaps a dark ages priest carrying a torture device of some sort, would be scary and it would represent a real, historically accurate period of time that some people would rather everyone forget.

Or if there were two people working together they could dress up as a catholic priest and a little boy!

Answer 3

LOL - I use that expression all the time. No, I doubt my anatomy is any colder than anyone else's... I actually run hot so mine might be warmer than average. Of course I could get into the Wiccan/Witch distinction here..... As a crossword puzzle fanatic, I do get a little frowny sometimes that the clue for "hag" is always "witch". Sometimes I think about sending a picture of myself to whoever creates those crossword puzzles with a note attached that says "do I look like a hag???" Of course, the word hag has other meanings too. I get a lot more worked up about the modern day stereotypes and misconceptions about Wiccans. Things like green, large nosed, warty Halloween witch masks are not referring to people like me.

Answer 4

Well in Australian Halloween isn't an indoctrinated custon like it is in the U.S. but there are pockets that do dress up etc. I'm all for dressing up as a haggish witch; I'd then say I was a fictional witch (eg from Oz). But I'm also think its great to dress as a genuine Witch and state that is what some genuine Witches wear.

In one way it perpetrates the stereotype, in another way it's like a blonde person telling blonde jokes, or a "fat" person telling "fat" jokes etc.

Answer 5

Stereotypes don't really bother me.
As a Texan some people still think we all live in the desert, ride horses and carry six shooters. Back in the late seventies and early eighties when Northerners were comming down her to work they started carrying pistols in their glove box because they believed all Texans carried guns all the time.

I am a witch but the green skinned long pointy nosed warted pointed hat image of halloween does not bother me. To me that is just harmless fun, but what does bother me is that some people think we worship Satan and put us in the same catagory as the Church of Satan.

I don't usually have a reason to dress up on Halloween, but would love to if I had parties to attend or someplace to dress up I would have Superman , Batman, Zorro and other costumes.

I do get to dress up a lot as a Gypsy though since I am a performing hand drummer for Belly Dancers. Every Spring we have 8 weekends to perfrom at our local Rennassiance Faire and after that we get together and dress up and go to another Rennassiance faire as patrons for one weekend, in fact Halloween weekend we are going to the huge Ren Faire here in Texas. Just last Saturday we had a gig and we dressed in our Gypsy Garb and was part of the intertainment for a huge party with influencial people.

My garb consists of one Pirate shirt, Four poet shirts, thigh high period pirate boots, bells, bells, bells and more bells, we jingle as we walk, Round hats, Commoner's vest Leather belt, pouch knives, swords and two African shirts and two other African whatever they are called, with the Neru type collar shirts and baggy pants.

You can see a picture of my gold african costume with the little hat on my 360 page.

This year I am adding two robes to my garb and hopefully a cape or two. My wife and I started making two robes last March and we finally finished the first one three weeks ago, so hopefully we will finish the other one by next spring.
I may lay one aside for a ritual robe but have not decided just yet.

I am the Shaman of the tribe so I made a staff last year to go along with my garb.
BB

Answer 6

I agree with whillow95. I actually love expressing myself on Halloween. . . as a nice, respectable witch. It is a time when I can dress how I want. . . and dispell the stereotypes!

As for dressing up like witches on Halloween, please do not "paint" your faces--that just perpetuates a stereotype (a green face is offensive). No warts or long, crooked noses please. Some nice eye make-up is fine. Wear long dark robes (black, dark purple, dark blue or dark green). Belt the robes with leather or a white cord. Wear a pentagram and or crystal pendant. Carry a wooden staff (no swords or athames in public. . . unless it is a public ceremony/ritual) The pointed hat is OK, because, although I understand the stereotype, some real witches wear the hat to symbolize the cone of power--and I know many witches who do not find the pointed, conical hat offensive (but do not embellish the hat with spiders and/or cobwebs). Wear dark shoes or slipper-like shoes. If you want to accessorize, add crystal or pentagram earrings. A dark cloak--black, dark blue, dark green (hooded or non-hooded) is appropriate--but no vampire capes.

Answer 7

I don't really dress up any more, my kids are grown and I don't work where I have to. I usually wear my T-Shirt that says "This is my Halloween costume"

Halloween, like Christmas has been taken over by commercialism, all people really care about is having fun. All the stores care about is making money. It really isn't the day to educate the masses.

How Wiccan and Pagan celebrate the season is far beyond most peoples understanding anyway.

Do as you will, and have a Blessed day!

Answer 8

My Mother was a teacher 12 years ago. Every year she would dress, at school, like the stereotypical Witch, long crooked nose w/ wart, she painted, with eyeshadow, her face green, and she drew a spider web on her face. They, people who knew her from school, still talk about it.

I dress as Witch EVERY year. Not as above, I enjoy looking as nice as I can. I feel it is the ONE night/month of the year I can dress exactly how I want to. Then I like to go out on the town and run ALL my errands in full dress. I love it!

I do not like the stereotypes. When buying decorations, I will not but a Witch if it look like that. Yeah, it does pi$$ me off.

)o( Blessed Be! ~ Whillow

Answer 9

I doubt that "real" witches are so close-minded as to be offended. I've dressed as a sterotype witch many times for Halloween. It has more to do with fun than religion. I once went to fetch my nephew from the airport on Halloween. People asked why I hadn't used a broom. I just said it was hard to control with 2 riding! And nephew knew EXACTLY who I was from a distance!

Answer 10

This isn't any worse than any other stereotype that exists in our culture today. We are surrounded by them and always have been all of our lives. Of course it is perpetuating it but over time it will be dropped just as the black face that was used by people to depict people of African decent once was. It will be seen in the future as what it really is.

I have made up my mind yet but probably a gypsy as I have been invited by my old work mates at the Lounge where I use to work to do tarot readings for all of them on Samhain. They treat my religious beliefs with respect and always have. My choice of costume is due to what I already have in the closet rather than anything else.