Friday, October 26, 2012

Ask Elnora--About Masquerades? Lenora Worth

So yesterday, we asked to see some costume pictures. I'll get back to that in a minute. But all this talk of dressing up got Elnora to thinking. What is it about masquerades that bring out the strangeness in people. Here we have a big party each Halloween called artscare (with no caps). Artscare is put on by the local Arts Council and Elnora used to be a social reporter for a local magazine and artscare was actually one of my first assignments. I know you won't believe this, but I'm rather shy and entering a dark room full of people wearing masks and heavy make-up almost had me running away in fear. I didn't masquerade. Elnora wore a black tuxedo suit with a jack-o-lantern scarf slung around my neck. That's about as costumey as I get. Kind of James Bond meets Ichabod Crane. Wearing pumps. Anyway, it was fun to take pictures of people dressed as zombies, gypsies, rock stars, mad scientists and fairy princesses. Just another day in high society. And given the fact that I live in the land of Mardi Gras, I see a lot of strange costumes all year long. It's alway fun to see what people will come up with. So that begs the question--Why do we like to masquerade as someone else? Why is it fun to change our appearance into something else just for laughs? Or for scares?? Here is a picture of my group of friends and me at Mardi Gras a few years ago, celebrating The Wizard of Oz theme. We were "Good Witches', of course!
Let's talk about dressing up in costumes. And in the meantime, let's celebrate our costume winner--Beth N--who was brave enough to send me this picture of her dressed as a Centurion. Beth writes that this is her favorite costume. She wore it at a kids program she helped lead at her church. She told the story of the Centurion from Luke 7 wearing this amazing costume. Congratulations, Beth. I will get your mailing address and send you the promised prizes! If anyone else is brave enough to share a picture, we'd love to see it!
Thank you, Beth, for sharing. Now, everyone, how can we apply this masquerade theme to our stories? Readers, do you like this type of theme? Let's discuss!

7 comments:

  1. Beth, I love your costume! I think dressing up is fun, a form of play that goes back to childhood when we wore mama's heels or daddy's big boots and played pretend. Play is good for the soul. Who doesn't like being silly and feeling like a kid again? Now where are my hillbilly teeth???

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  2. I think kids love Halloween because they love to do make believe. I think that this is vitally important for children. Encouraging creativity has lifelong benefits!

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  3. Thank you, Lenora.
    I'll send you an email with my address.

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  4. Thanks, Beth, for sharing! Love the costume!

    You know, when my kids were little, I loved making them costumes. But as an adult, I'm not one to dress up. I guess I'm an old fuddy-duddy now. :)

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  5. Missy, that would be a cute costume!! Lyn and Linda, I agree that dressing up is good for children!! I used to play dress up a lot. Of course, I had a pair of pink Barbie shoes with fuzzy vamps!!

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  6. Love, love, love Beth's costume. And, um, did I see a remark about Barbie shoes? Where can I get a pair???

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  7. Hi Elnora:

    You asked:

    “Why do we like to masquerade as someone else?”

    Because it gives us a blessed rest from masquerading as ourselves.

    Vince

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