Posted by:
messygoop
(
)
Date: October 25, 2019 12:22PM
Since the fun of Halloween is approaching, I remembered how the church and its leaders tried to suck all the joy of dressing up as a character for the holiday. I am recalling many of my costume choices and the church leaders' reactions. A lot of my favorite costumes focused on characters from Star Wars.
I dressed up as the lovable wookie, Chewbacca. Mom painted my face and helped sew on yards of fake fur to make a the costume. I really looked like Barf from the parody Spaceballs, but this was years before that movie debuted. One of the brethren complained that I left the ward building a mess from the shedding of fur.
Another time I dressed up as Boba Fett (the rocket pack bounty hunter). I actually won runner up for my costume at my elementary's school's costume contest. My Mom made the whole costume from scratch, including a retractable yellow tinted shield within a helmet. I had a homemade rocket pack on my back as well.
The ward's scoutmaster took one look at my costume and made all kinds of faces. He said the rocket on my back was a weapon and it promoted violence. He also said that my helmet was really a mask and against church rules. He made me leave my costume items in the car in order to enter the building. My costume looked silly without the helmet and rocket pack.
My last dabble with a Star Wars character involved Darth Vader. I knew that I couldn't wear the Vader mask. I rigged an old tape recorder with a blinking red and yellow led light. I wore some tall riding boots from a surplus store. What caught me off-guard was my black cape. I got ambushed by the deacon's quorum adviser. I got a good lecture about why black clothing was the trademark of Stan and his power. Then he went on that when choosing a character to emulate for Halloween, mormons should only choose good people and not villains. He wrecked the evening.