Article archive / November 2022
Originally published: . Volume 13, No. 11. Source pages: 6.
Stress Solutions Are There Benefits to Masking? Margaret Mead on Halloween and the NOLA Mardi Gras Holidays
by Susan Andrews, PhD Few people, even most social scientists, would think of masking and playing dress-up as a stress reduction activity. On the other hand, most agree that children playing dress-up is akin to a rite of passage, a common and positive activity of young children that has developmental social and emotional benefits. Dress-up is also a form of imaginative play and building imagination in children results in increased problem-solving acumen and skills for self-regulation. An entire article could be written just listing all the benefits that dressing up and pretending to be someone else can serve in a young child’s development. Hopefully, readers will remember some of the fun they had playing dress-up or pretending to be a star ranger, like Buzz Lightyear or Buck Rogers (depending on your age). Still, few speak of dress-up play as stress reducing. Children, however, do have stress and maybe play of any type is stress reducing.
What about adults? No question that we all experience stress from many different things. One form of stress that is epidemic in our current world is that of living up to our responsibilities and to other people’s expectations. How do I connect the benefits of children playing dress-up with adults playing dress-up and the whole area of stress reduction?
Well, Halloween marks the end of October. Halloween is one of the most widely celebrated events of the year, usually celebrated on the 31st of October, All Hallows Eve. Children love Halloween and many identify it as their favorite holiday of the year. Of course, there is candy; however, they get to change roles and pretend to be the aggressor. More, they get to dress up and even play a slightly scary role.
In most parts of our country, Halloween is not as much for adults as it is for children. New Orleans is a little different. Many years ago (maybe 1971 or 72), I was fortunate to see Margaret Mead give an invited talk at Tulane Medical School. It was during the Mardi Gras season as I remember. Dr. Margaret Mead (1901-1978) was considered the foremost American Cultural Anthropologist. I remember that she sat on the stage and actually fell asleep while she was waiting to speak. When introduced, she awakened with the applause and walked to the podium with her cane. Her talk was related to the unique culture of New Orleans and the NOLA popular ritual of masking and attending costume balls.
The point of my story is that Dr. Mead spent part of her talk discussing the enormous value of the ability to put on a mask and let yourself take a break from role expectations and just have fun. She spoke of how she loved New Orleans for its unique cultural opportunity to take a break from traditional habits and society’s rules. Dr. Mead never used the words, stress reduction, but if you let yourself take a break from role expectations and just have fun, it should have that effect.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.