Cat girl

Growing up, most of us had a pet of some kind. Whether it was a dog, cat, rabbit, hamster, fish, snake, lizard or rat; you loved the thing, and you know it. This is probably why most of us are animal lovers at heart. If it wasn’t because of a pet, then it was because of all those cute storybook/disney/pixar characters that found their way into our conversations and games when we were younger. To this day we still can’t help but go “aww” when a kitten does something cute or laugh when we hear about a snake that has eaten something ridiculously too big and tried to pretend like it was just going about it’s normal business afterwards. Or maybe you hate all animals? You’d still agree that the playboy bunnies are good, right? Well there you go, your favorite animal is a bunny.

So for this Halloween, when you’re thinking about what you want to dress up as; why not pick an animal?

For women this usually goes in the same direction; put on something cute and skimpy, and add the appropriate ears attached to a headband to denote what animal you are. Bunnies, cats, mice, or perhaps antenna and wings for a ‘sexy bee costume’. There are plenty out there to purchase, but like I said, not many of them will be very covering. If you’re a more modest individual, it might be best to put together an outfit yourself, and only purchase the accessories you need. It might be cheaper that was as well.

For men it’s a little more complicated. Of course you could always go in a full out mascot costume and get lots of hugs from the party goers (it’s like hugging a big teddy bear!), or you could try something a little more creative. For example, a ‘bad dog’ with a spiked collar, floppy dog ears and a metal band t-shirt. Or just wear the ears and a leash and see how many people will take you for a walk.

Regardless of what you do, being an animal this Halloween might be a lot of fun! Give it a shot.

Sirens in Mermaid costumes were possibly the most dangerous women that sailors could ever face while out at sea. They were similar in that they were both said to use song to draw sailors to them, but while sirens would generally have them crash their boats against rocks near shore, mermaids would take them from their ships. In some cultures though, the word for fish and bird are the same. So a mermaid (half fish, half woman) and a siren (half bird, half woman) could have originated from the same creature in folklore. In Greek mythology, sirens are sometimes completely water-dwelling creatures and have mermaid-like qualities. Though many insist they are two completely different things. Regardless, they are two sets of partial-women that you really did not want to mess with.

mermaid

Sirens were known for their song. They were beautiful, yes, but it was not their beauty that attracted the sailors; it was only the song. A song which called out to their very souls and was practically impossible to resist. Though if you did not resist it, you would either end up on a sinking ship or -possibly worse- on land with them. Their main dwelling was a field of flowers, and according to Circe they would lay around in that field with the corpses of all the men that followed them there and could not bring themselves to leave.

Mermaids also sang and distracted sailors so that they might accidentally run their ships aground. They would also sometimes take the men into the sea to visit their kingdom, sometimes purposefully killing them, and other times simply forgetting that men could not breathe underwater. The first mermaid stories date back as early as 1000 BC. When they were spotted it was generally a bad omen that either something bad was going to happen, or they were going to make something bad happen. Though in Japan it was said that if you could catch a mermaid and eat her flesh, it would grant you immortality. In Finnish myths they are able to reverse illnesses, and grant wishes. They are said to be vain, but innocent in that they will often fall in love with men and attempt to prove this love by any means.

Overall though, the risks of interacting with mermaids, or sirens greatly outweigh the benefits. Remember this the next time you’re out at sea. Oh, and bring earplugs.

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow

Little women in Geisha costumes are beautiful entertainers, trained for years to walk, speak, dress, and play in specific traditional ways. If a woman wishes to be a geisha and she is over the age of twenty-one she can not participate in the Maiko stage where she would apprentice to an older geisha, follow her around, and learn from her example. She must be invited to the geisha community and go through a training stage.

geisha

Once a woman becomes a geisha, whether she began as a Maiko or not, she will have the same duties and way of dressing. Geisha in current times are more scarce then they were before the 1930’s. A loss of interest in traditional things, and the price for the services of a geisha in a different economy have caused the number of working geisha to dwindle from 80,000+ to an estimated one or two thousand. Many women finish school on some level (middle/jr high/high or even college) before they begin their career as a geisha, whereas in the past this was not the case. Currently the majority of geisha reside in specific districts in Kyoto and are known as Geiko.

All geisha are single women, and should they choose to marry they must retire immediately from the profession. As flirting with the people they are entertaining is sometimes part of the job (though prostitution is not) it would be unwise for a married woman to continue her career as a geisha.

These women are easy to spot, dressed in elaborate and beautiful layers of silk kimono, with perfect traditional hairstyles and carefully done makeup. The entire face and neck is painted white, while a “w” shaped patch of skin is left unpainted at the nape of the neck for sex appeal, mainly. The lips are painted red, as well as some of the area around the eye. Some Maiko even paint their teeth black so that the white of the makeup will not in contrast make their teeth look yellow and unpleasant. Instead the black is supposed to make the teeth seem invisible and blend into the dark of the inside of their mouths.

Their elaborate clothing must be worn just-so, and there are specific rules on how to stand, sit, move and act while dressed that way. Imagine if your salary depended entirely on your ability to portray yourself as the perfect woman. They are not just entertainers in Japan, they are artists.

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow