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Last minute Halloween Ideas: the Slavic Costumes You Might Like

Please don’t be Harley Quinn, just don’t

brenkee (CC0), Pixabay

Quick,  quick! It’s almost Halloween!  Do you have your costume ready? No? Me neither, but let’s see if we can put something together, drawing inspiration from the rich and varied ways they used to scare us as kids! Nothing says I got over my childhood horrors like dressing up in one of them, and of course, Halloween IS the time of the year where all the ghouls and monsters are out, so why don’t we join them, and bring some of our own monsters to the party?

Baba Yaga

A powerful and ancient witch, it would be a bit too much to build a house on chicken legs or to build yourself a giant mortar and pestle, but what’s to stop you from dressing in rags and putting on some horrific makeup and sprinkling glitter (aka magic) on people?

Rusalka

Now, we don’t suggest you walk around soaking wet, but a long flowing gown and blue and green tinted makeup (especially lipstick) will give you that proper water nymph look. If you’re long haired, all the better!

Vampire

Hey, they were originally ours! But forget the theatrics of a long cape and for the love of Perun, keep away from anything that sparkles! Our vampires were revenants, risen from their graves, deathly pale and bloody-mouthed, so make sure you’re dressed in your Sunday best, knock on a lot of windows, and stick to red-coloured drinks!

Vukodlak

Either a man who wears a special, enchanted wolf-pelt belt or was cursed to turn into a werewolf, you can’t go wrong with the ever popular wolf-man. A lumberjack attire with a fuzzy belt, and a few days’ worth of beard growth should set you on the right path!

The Devil

Oh, that right there is a proper goldmine! It seems that the devil usually draws the shorter end of the stick in Slavic mythology as tricking him seems to have been the favorite past time of our ancestors, but he was always more or less a good sport about it. And the devil looks just like you and me- sharply dressed and with an impish grin, just add little horns and a faint smell of sulphur!

Domovoi – the house spirits

Now that is a spirit that fits right into today’s trend of men growing full, long beards. Streak yours with grey, add outdated clothing (little black horns if you can find them), and streak yourself with some soot.  A fuzzy jacket or pelt vest is a bonus, as they are said to be very hairy! If you’re a benevolent Domovye, you can stash nuts and apples in your pockets and offer them to people!

Morana

The goddess of Harvest, witchcraft, winter and death, is there anything more fitting for this time of the year? Put on a long priestess style robe (black is a bonus, though I made mine out of a sheet one year), add a sickle if you can find it, and add a vaguely skull-like makeup to one half of your face, to symbolize her death aspect. That is, if you dare…

Have you decided what you will dress up as this Halloween?

What do you think?

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