Pirate Halloween Costume Ideas
Pirate Halloween costumes like their name suggest are worn during Halloween celebrations. Halloween is a holiday that arises from a fusion of two remarkable days. It accords part of its origin from an Irish festival called Samhain and the other part of its origin is from the All Saints’ Day, which is a holy day in the Christian calendar. It is a celebration that is widely characterized by the colors black and orange so that most of the costumes, toys, and homes are usually made or colored in the two colors. Further, the holiday is characterized by activities such as bonfire lighting, ghost tours, costume parties, pranks and watching horror stories.
Authentic Pirate Costumes for Halloween
Authentic pirate costumes aren’t that hard to put together if you do a little research. Pirates have well known tropes that I’ll list for you here.
First, you need the correct hat. This is typically going to be a tricorne, or three-cornered, black hat. The traditional hats of pirates in the movies, it is the first piece for authentic pirate costumes of all types. On that hat itself should be an image of a skull and crossbones, or “The Jolly Roger” as it’s known. Wikipedia gives the history of The Jolly Roger here:
The name “Jolly Roger” goes back at least to Charles Johnson’s A General History of the Pyrates, published in 1724.
Wannabe a Pirate for Halloween? Tips for boys and girls on creating an authentic pirate costume
When the pirates of Bluebeard’s time weren’t gathering booty from His or Her Majesty’s ships, plundering riches from every nation’s fleet, they were flaunting their riches and making merry in Caribbean seaports where other nations dared not intrude. The pirates dressed in a manner reflecting their disdain for the ordinary law-abiding people, making law as they went along, frequently stealing from one another as possible and getting into sword fights, sometimes losing eyes and even legs in these battles. When piracy was finally – for the most part – brought to an ignominious end, over a couple of centuries, the less admirable qualities of pirates faded in memory, to be replaced with a sort of romanticism of colorful, adventurous individuals which still lives on today. Halloween is the perfect occasion on which kids can dress up in an authentic pirate costume.