Commonplace Folklore: Day XXX

Alan Dundes

“Perhaps the most striking examples of folklore’s providing an outlet for temporary identity change are furnished by festival or holiday customs. For instance, American Halloween is a time when children dress up in outlandish costumes and wear masks. Often, boys will dress up as girls and girls will dress up as boys. This time of ritual reversals permits a disguise of identity, including sex change through dress. Part of the fun of this holiday is precisely the temporary alteration of one’s day-to-day identity. Identity loss in this case is not unpleasurable.”

Alan Dundes, Folklore Matters, published in 1989.