Saturday, December 19, 2009

Halloween, 1796

From a survey of the Scottish church compiled in 1796:
A sort of secret society of Guisers made itself notorious in several of the neighboring villages, mean dressed as women, women dressed as men, dancing together in a very unseemly way.
We suspect that these clubs of single people and their costumed holiday frolics are very ancient, but there isn't much evidence before the 1700s. "Guisers" is of course related to "disguise."

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