Confessions of a costume addict

In 1984 the whole point of newspeak was that it shrinks. Ideas that could once be communicated now cannot. Everything is simplified as much as possible. You cannot explain complicated ideas of freedom or equality because the words no longer exist, or they don’t mean what they once did.

More specifically, there is canonically no word for “gay” in 1984. There are only two words for the entire spectrum of sexuality. “goodsex” and “sexcrime”. If you’re gay it’s the exact same as being a pedophile. And those are is the exact same as cheating on your wife, which is the exact same daring to fuck your wife just because you feel like it. Which is no different than literally any sex act that might offend big brother.

Do you see what’s happening? In 1984 can no longer ask your wife to peg you or something because the word for pegging is the exact same word for pedophile. And you can’t come out as gay because all you can say is that you did a criminal sex act, which means you cannot make a case for your rights either.

Now, there are several degrees of this. The conception above is the strictest example of it, which is generally not accepted among linguists. A looser definition might be something like "It's much, much harder to talk about concepts you don't have words for." (For example, people who speak a language with more color words distinguish colors more quickly/easily than those who speak words with fewer color words).

Newspeak is weaponized Sapir-Whorf. To purposely restrict vocabulary to eliminate any thoughts of rebellion.

Translation:

Fact.  Eleanor Audley (The original voice of Cinderella’s Stepmother and Maleficent) is the voice of Madame Leota during the Seance room.

Fact:  The original host of the haunted mansion was supposed to be an animatronic raven.  They decided to switch to the Ghost Host because the raven was hard to see.

Fact:  The raven (though now stationary) is still in the haunted mansion in at least four locations.]

So we have Maleficent’s voice doing a seance and a raven in at least four locations on the ride.

Faeries are mostly immortal.  In some lore they age slowly or only age if they choose to age, or only look old if they were mortals turned into faeries later in life. But in general they are usually immortal (save for vulnerability to iron).  If we assume Maleficent lived from her fantasy world’s middle ages to present day and kept Diaval with her (now counting as a sort of fae servant since she transforms him at will) they could have settled down as caretakers of an old spirit-inhabited house.    

Conclusion… Maleficent secretly runs the Haunted Mansion.

What you notice is Edith takes on the gothic qualities of the house. Another thing about working with working with Guillermo is he understands how important it is for his designers to be involved early on in the process; he values us. The house really dictated how to approach the costumes, from a sculptural point of view, to give them extra depth, to give them a painterly quality. I didn’t want to get myself caught up in detail that didn’t feel like it meant anything, like generic lace or decoration. So all the details we made and they all came from the symbolism of the characters or the house itself. The leaves on Lucille’s dress were constructed by hand, with a single piece of cording. And for Edith, the motifs of the flowers, she blooms. It was about trying to create an atmosphere.

Dziady / Zaduszki / Pominki - remnants of an ancient Slavic feast celebrated in Poland to commemorate the dead. Dziady are usually translated as “Forefathers’ Eve” in the English langauge.

The old customs have merged with the celebrations of the Christian All Souls’ Day (in Polish: Dzień Zaduszny or simply Zaduszki), held on the 2nd November, a day after the All Saints’ Day. During those two significant days the Polish people travel even to the other side of the country just to pray and light a znicz (grave candle) on the graves of their relatives and friends.

The custom dates back to the pre-Christian times and the old-Slavic traditions of the ancestor worship, the cult of the dead and of the afterlife. Even in the 19th century numerous Polish ethnographers were describing that the common people were “still believing” in the death being just a natural form of a transition into the outerworld, seen as interwoven with the world of the living. Souls were seen as eternal and never perishing, being able to move between the worlds freely in certain conditions. People were looking after and praying to their relatives’ souls above all, and believing in a certain form of a return that could be compared to reincarnation - souls being able to come back within their ród (a word meaning roughly a bloodline / kinship / tribe) - another sign of the strong connection of the worlds of the living and the dead in the Slavic spirituality. Many people would also pray to the “abandoned” souls, which were spirits of those people who didn’t have anyone living left on the earth to look after them. 

People were very particular about preparing the right form of the parting ceremonies, but also about the wellness of the souls - for example greeting them during the many forms of the Dziady feasts throughout the year, in hope for their supervision or guardianship. And in the very complex Slavic spiritual world and folklore there was a lot to guard from.

Sickness and unfortunate events were feared more than the death itself. Souls of those people who passed away in an “unnatural” death or too early (in a very young age), and also souls of the various criminals, all were considered restless spirits, unfullfilled or unclean ones. Slavic folklore is full of such mythological creatures - for example the well-known rusałka or topielec, who were the souls of the drowned; boginka, who was a soul of a woman died during the labour; wampir or strzyga, who were people that e.g. died by suicide or weren’t buried or burnt properly after the death.

Fear of the restless forces was constant and so strong that some smaller protective rites were common even in the everyday life. People believed that any kind of spirit / soul should be taken care of, and any good or bad one could be appeased by gifts but also enraged by the mistreatment or forgetfulness.

The meaningful Dziady feasts were dedicated solely for the souls of the relatives and the name Dziady itself could be translated as “Forefathers”. Originally, Dziady were held at least 4 times a year - during the new moon around the winter & summer solstices and the autumn & spring equinoxes. These four dates were seen as very powerful in the nature-oriented Slavic spirituality and the new moon was the best time for the souls to arrive, not to be troubled by the strong moonlight.

The fixed date of 2nd November, combined with the Christian feast of the All Faithful Departed, had begun to be established around the 14th century in Poland, but even in the 19th century or early 20th century many people were still performing the old rites. Naturally, over the centuries under Christianity the rites were slowly getting detached from their original meaning. Later the feast was called Zaduszki (translated as a feast for the souls - “dusze” or “duszki”) or in some regions of Poland: Pominki, Wspominki or Wypominki (derived from the word “pamiętać” = “to remember”). In some parts of Poland it was also believed that the strongest time for the incarnation of the visiting souls - the real night of Dziady - would be the the Eve before the All Saints Day, the night between the 31st October and 1st November.

During the Zaduszki, that special transitional time of the year, souls of the dead would return freely to the world of the living. They would often visit the places where they used to live, wander around their favourite locations or just around the cemetery, they would also visit various old places of cult (for example churches). People were getting prepared for the souls’ visit - cleaning up the houses, leaving small treats of food and drinks, also placing lit candles around in order to help them warm up. A way to a destination would be often lit with many candles arranged in a row along the path. Satisfying those basic needs of the souls was meant to comfort them but also to ensure their assistance or counsel in the future.

An interesting aspect of the souls’ visit was ther “materiality”. People believed that the souls could sometimes appear looking like the living humans. They could try to get inside the buildings as semi-material beings, for instance through the cracks in the walls. People would often leave the doors or windows slightly open during the Dziady rite in order to help the souls get inside. 

After Dziady the conductor (usually the oldest and wisest person) would often sweep the floor to “remove” the remaining souls who didn’t want to go back to the outerworld. Some souls would even “hide” in the furnitures though, preferably in the main dining table where the whole family gathered, and people would sometimes “keep” them if feeling that they are friendly. The most common remnant of that custom in Poland is the popular “odpukiwanie w drewno” (“knocking on wood”) - unwittingly, the Polish people would usually knock on the underside of the wooden tabletop. In the old days it was a way of “waking up” the soul hidden there, a protective spirit meant to help preventing the negative factors.

On pictures:

“Zaduszki” by Witold Pruszkowski, oil on canvas, 1888 [source]

Inscenization of Mickiewicz’s “Dziady” in Słupsk, Poland [source]

“Dziady” in Konin, Poland [source]

“Dziady” spectacle by Narodowy Teatr Edukacji based in Wrocław city [source]

Inscenization of “Dziady” in Słupsk, Poland [source]

Hey you know how I said I was going to make a workbook on the kind of bullshit you need to do when someone you love dies? I actually did that.

HERE IS THE VERSION WITH LOTS OF SWEARING AT THE USELESS, SHITTY SITUATION YOU’RE IN.

HERE IS THE VERSION WITH A FAIR AMOUNT OF BLACK HUMOR BUT NO CURSEWORDS.

Featuring Helpful Sections such as:

Death Certificates – What you need, why you need them, and how to get them

Prepare to spend a long and miserable time on the phone

What the Everloving Fuck is Probate

Some Simple Dos and Don’ts

Shitty Mad Libs – Templates for writing Obituaries and Memorials

How to plan a non-religious death party

So you suddenly have to become some sort of hacker or some shit

This is an eighteen page book that you can print out, download, share, and give away; it is meant to be used to collect information about funeral planning and account management after a death OR you can use it BEFORE you die and give people information so they’re not stuck playing Nancy Fucking Drew while trying to keep seventeen cousins who crawled out of the woodwork from gutting each other in front of the fucking casket as they argue about who’s inheriting grandma’s favorite dentures.

It’s not exactly cheerful and it’s full of things that are probably going to feel really fucking raw if you’re processing a fresh death.

I’m sorry! I love you! Death is shitty! I’m trying to laugh about it a little and I hope you can laugh a little too because otherwise we’re all just going to cry together.

Good luck!

Life is short, kindness is what we’ve got.

When my mom died it wasn’t exactly unexpected but it was still sooner than we all thought it would happen. It was a huge punch in the guts and the thought of making things and not being able to show her and share them with her still hurts but in that first month it was like drowning.

So I made this for her, and shared it with and showed it to other people who are hurting, because my momma didn’t raise a quitter but she sure did raise a softhearted fool who wants everyone to feel a little more loved and a little more worthy and a little less alone.

Dearest followers:

To express my love for you all, I made these ridiculously cheesy Haunted Mansion Valentines Day cards for your enjoyment  

(and yes, some of them turned out a little dirtier than I’d expected, but whatever, I’m cool with it)

Costume designed by Massimo Cantini Parrini for Salma Hayek in Tale of Tales (2015)