Cloze: The Enchantment of Halloween

Masks were originally worn on Halloween ___________________________(1) copy the images of evil spirits, or placate them. ___________________________(2) old as the festival is, dating ___________________________(3) to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, the costume aspect did not really become popular ___________________________(4) the 1930s, when the first mass-produced costumes went on ___________________________(5) in American shops. Nowadays people spend masses on their fancy dress outfits, with $4.96 billion being ___________________________(6) on outfits in the United States alone in 2006. For many years these costumes ___________________________(7) all based around the traditional theme of evil spirits, with people generally dressing up as witches, skeletons, ghosts and vampires.

These traditional costumes are starting to become less and less popular – something rather strange ___________________________(8) so many years of enduring popularity. It shows a natural progression and a slight change in the values of Halloween. Far from being the preserve of little children looking to dress up as beasts and their favourite cartoon characters, it has now become equally popular among adults, with many women (and indeed men) ___________________________(9) the opportunity to flash ___________________________(10) flesh and dress up in revealing outfits. Naturally, it is very difficult to ___________________________(11) a witch or a ghost costume look sexy, so it is understandable why these outfits aren't so popular now.

Vampire costumes, however, are probably one of the most popular choices for Halloween costumes these days, in no small part ___________________________(12) to the rabid devotion of hundreds of thousands of fans of the Twilight books and films. Of ___________________________(13) , these vampire outfits are totally different from the cape-and-eveningwear get-up of Dracula. Vampire costumes nowadays mainly consist of flash designer gear and a haughty attitude.

Aside ___________________________(14) these Halloween costumes, the most popular outfits these days ___________________________(15) to be characters from television shows and films because they are iconic and instantly recognisable.

So these days Halloween ___________________________(16) grown from being the domain of children and trick-or-treaters ___________________________(17) an annual event that people of ___________________________(18) ages enjoy. There may have been something of a deviation from the innocent days of dressing up as witches, ghosts and monsters, with costumes maturing into skimpy catwoman costumes and Jack Sparrow get-ups. However, this is just indicative of the enduring appeal of the event and ___________________________(19) importance to our culture. It is an eagerly-anticipated opportunity for everyone to ___________________________(20) their hair down, dress up and have a great time.

Adapted from an article by sheilabest10
www.mycostume.co.uk