Halloween, celebrated on 31 October, is a time for parties and pranking. As a festival of autumn, the fruits, vegetables, and foods associated with it are those of the harvest. Games were and are still played with apples, and the primary symbol of Halloween is the jack-o'-lantern, the great carved pumpkin. Likewise, both apple pie and pumpkin pie are commonly served.
By carving a face on a turnip or a pumpkin, one transforms the organic item into a cultural one. The jacko'-lantern is the wandering spirit of a man who was refused entry into either heaven or hell in the afterlife. He is condemned to wander this earth, carrying a lantern to guide his way. He is a trickster; he will lead hapless souls who follow his light to no good. The turnip lantern is said to represent the spirits of the dead—ghosts. The organic items are made to reference the supernatural. Also, they are turned into another kind of cultural item: food. Pumpkin pies and mashed turnips are foods of the season, and they represent domestic aspects of Halloween. The wild, unpredictable outside and the safe, nuturing inside are two poles of this festival. Halloween combines danger and safety, as when trick-or-treaters in the United States are invited in for cider and doughnuts.
Works Cited:
Santino, J. (2004). Halloween. In G. S. Cross (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America (Vol. 1, pp. 423-425). Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3434800121/GVRL?u=berea&sid=GVRL&xid=dec26d34
Check out some of these titles for more info on Halloween:
Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life by
Call Number: 394.264 H193 - Hutchins Library - Circulating (3rd Floor)
Publication Date: 1994-05-25
Why do we celebrate Halloween? No one gets the day off, and unlike all other major holidays it has no religious or governmental affiliation. A survivor of our pre-Christian, agrarian roots, it has become one of the most popular and widely celebrated festivals on the contemporary American calendar. Jack Santino has put together the first collection of essays to examine the evolution of Halloween from its Celtic origins through its adaptation into modern culture. Using a wide variety of perspectives and approaches, the thirteen essayists examine customs, communities, and material culture to reveal how Halloween has manifested itself throughout all aspects of our society to become not just a marginal survivor of a dying tradition but a thriving, contemporary, post-industrial festival. Its steadily increasing popularity, despite overcommercialization and criticism, is attributed to its powerful symbolism that employs both pre-Christian images and concepts from popular culture to appeal to groups of all ages, orientations, and backgrounds. However, the essays in this volume also suggest that there is something ironic and unsettling about the immense popularity of a holiday whose main images are of death, evil, and the grotesque. Halloween and other Festivals of Death and Life is a unique contribution that questions our concepts of religiosity and spirituality while contributing to our understanding of Halloween as a rich and diverse reflection of our society's past, present, and future identity. The Editor: Jack Santino is an associate professor in the department of popular culture at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.
Halloween Day by
Call Number: R684h - Hutchins Library - Children's Picture Books (3rd Floor)
Publication Date: 1997-08-22
It's Halloween and there's a party at school. This diverse group of preschoolers wears an equally varied set of costumes'from pirates to clowns to firefighters. Everyone's ready for their tricks and treats'they could start the party if only their missing teacher would return. Where could Mrs. Madoff have gone, and who is the mysterious fairy godmother who keeps following them around? Anne Rockwell's simple text and Lizzy Rockwell's bright illustrations make this book a Halloween treat that is not to be missed! "Full of smiles and good cheer."-- Kirkus Reviews "Children will find much to talk about and relate to their own holiday fun." -- ALA Booklist Mrs. Madoff's class is back for Halloween Day! Jessica is a superhero. Pablo is a pumpkin. And Evan is an astronaut. the ten students are just learning how to express themselves, and their Halloween costumes say a lot about who they are. Mother-and-daughter team Anne and Lizzy Rockwell capture a holiday every child loves in this early picture-book companion to Show & Tell Day. And be sure to look out in upcoming seasons for another exciting book about Mrs. Madoff's class: Visitors' Day.
Halloween by
Call Number: E-Book (Berea College only)
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Boasting a rich, complex history rooted in Celtic and Christian ritual, Halloween has evolved from ethnic celebration to a blend of street festival, fright night, and vast commercial enterprise. In this colourful history, Nicholas Rogers takes a lively, entertaining look at the cultural origins and development of one of the most popular holidays of the year. Drawing on a fascinating array of sources, from classical history to Hollywood films, Rogers traces Halloween as it emerged from the Celtic festival of Samhain (summer's end), picked up elements of the Christian Hallowtide (All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day), arrived in North America as an Irish and Scottish festival, and evolved into an unofficial but large-scale holiday by the early 20th century. He examines the 1970s and '80s phenomena of Halloween sadism (razor blades in apples) and inner-city violence (arson in Detroit), as well as the immense influence of the horror film genre on the reinvention of Halloween as a terror-fest. Throughout his vivid account, Rogers shows how Halloween remains, at its core, a night of inversion, when social norms are turned upside down, and a temporary freedom of expression reigns supreme.; He examines how this very license has prompted censure by the religious Right, occasional outrage from law enforcement officials, and appropriation by Left-leaning political groups. Engagingly written and based on extensive research, Halloween is the definitive history of the most bewitching day of the year, illuminating the intricate history and shifting cultural forces behind this enduring trick-or-treat holiday.
What Will You Be for Halloween? by
Call Number: T6345w 2001 - Hutchins Library - Children's Picture Books (3rd Floor)
Publication Date: 2001-08-27
What will you be for Halloween? Mark Todd answers that perennial question with eleven clever poems and illustrations. A mysterious mummy, groaning and moaning, bandaged from head to toe. What he looks like, only his mummy knows. A witch? A werewolf? A pirate? A mummy? The perfect book for any child who’s trying to figure out what to dress up as for Halloween night.
Halloween by
Call Number: E-Book (Berea College only)
Publication Date: 2015-02-17
The 1970s represented an unusually productive and innovative period for the horror film, and John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) is the film that capped that golden age - and some say ruined it, by ushering in the era of the slasher film. Considered a paradigm of low-budget ingenuity, its story of a seemingly unremarkable middle-American town becoming the site of violence on October 31 struck a chord within audiences. The film became a surprise hit that gave rise to a lucrative franchise, and it remains a perennial favourite. Much of its success stems from the simple but strong constructions of its three central characters: brainy, introverted teenager Laurie Strode, a late bloomer compared to her more outgoing friends, Dr. Loomis, the driven, obsessive psychiatrist, and Michael Myers, the inexplicable, ghostlike masked killer. Film scholar Murray Leeder offers a bold and provocative study of Carpenter's film, which hopes to expose qualities that are sometime effaced by its sequels and remakes. It explores Halloween as an unexpected ghost film, and examines such subjects as its construction of the teenager, and the relationship of Halloween the film to Halloween the holiday, and Michael Myers's brand of "pure evil." It is a fascinating read for scholars and fans alike.
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