Live in another country and you’ll start to experience serious cultural differences. This is particularly true as I discovered with Halloween in Siberia.

Russian Holidays

I loved living in Russia and the primary reason was people. Russians love to celebrate and they are big into holidays. In Chita, Siberia, practically everyday was a holiday. During communism, Russia celebrated the worker with holidays such as bus driver day, teacher day and so on. When the fun loving Russians dropped communism from the menu, they decided to keep the holidays and add new ones for the new political bent. While Oligarchs’ Day isn’t yet a holiday, practically everything else is. With the approach of Halloween, I was ready to go nuts and show them a little of the American spirit.

At the time, I was teaching roughly 12 classes a week on law and business at Chita State Technical University. This gave me the opportunity to put together a wing dinger of a Halloween party since the students would generally follow directions without question. Accordingly, I announced to each class that we would be building a haunted house at my place and with roughly 150 students, it was going to be the haunted house of all houses. No student had any questions, but I should have noticed the blank stares.

The morning after making my announcements, the Dean of the University approached me. She had some rather pointed questions about Halloween. Nobody had ever heard of Halloween and no, children didn’t trick or treat. After all, what kind of person would trick a child? Americans do this? Every year? And they try to scare the children? Why?

The more we went back and forth, the more I started to wonder about Halloween. When I made the fatal mistake of bringing up the headless horseman, the gig was up. The Dean gave me that furrowed brow perfected by all administrators. There would be no haunted house on October 31st.

After all, October 31st was the guy who makes duplicate keys day!

With the current popularity of Renaissance fairs, it's no wonder that traditional Renaissance costumes are equally popular. Not only reserved for the fair workers and those who attend them, Renaissance costumes also make charming additions to Halloween and costume parties.

So, what are the basics that encompass the Renaissance period? Well, it all depends. The era spanned over a long period of time and the costumes largely depended on the specific year, social standing, and the country.

So it is one thing to decide that you want to dress in traditional Renaissance costumes and another to understand exactly which type of costume you would like. In addition, you have a few options in obtaining a costume.

If your main purpose is to attend a Renaissance fair, you may want to contact the fair itself to see where they suggest you get the costumes. Some have a booth where they sell the costumes or if you want to rent, you may be able to do it at the fair or they can suggest a shop nearby that will accommodate. If you are a frequent attendee of the fair, you may want to consider obtaining your own Renaissance costumes.

If you want to wear your Renaissance costumes to a costume party or for Halloween, you may not need to worry so much about authenticity. At the fairs, more people will probably scrutinize your outfit. At a costume party, you are probably just looking for something that is fun and will look great. In this case, you can take dressing up in a Renaissance costume as far as you want it.

You can find Renaissance costumes at Renaissance fairs, and at costume shops. You can also find them at online auction sites or at online costume stores. Of course, there is also the possibility of making your own from a pattern you design or purchase.

Keep in mind that if you do decide to purchase your own costume they can get expensive. Some people specialize in making authentic, home sewn Renaissance costumes. If you choose to purchase one of these, you will certainly end up with a striking outfit. The only drawback is that it may cost a lot more than you were expecting to pay.