Author: Lisa Morton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 248
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Book Description
The concept of Halloween as a holiday and cultural phenomenon worthy of serious study is only a few decades old, and only since the mid-1980s have scholars started to accept that Halloween's place in modern society (especially in American society) merits attention beyond horror fiction and children's books. The first book devoted solely to Halloween was published just over a century ago, and now, Halloween has its own encyclopedia. Major entries include Samhain, the Celtic ancestor of Halloween; witches, a major Christian addition to the mythology of Halloween and one that still generates interest and controversy; skeletons, a universally recognized symbol of death; the Day of the Dead, the Mexican holiday that is often compared to Halloween; the jack-o'-lantern, which has its roots in folktales starring the rascally Jack who always manages somehow to beat the Devil; and trick-or-treating, the most loved and misunderstood American Halloween ritual. Hundreds of small entries cover Halloween history and mythology, fortune-telling lore, harvest legends, and 20th century additions to the holiday's rituals.
Author: Lisa Morton
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786460748
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
A first edition of The Halloween Encyclopedia was published by McFarland in 2003 (Booklist: "a worthy addition to public and school libraries as well as the reference shelves of journalists and leaders of community events"); it was the first encyclopedic reference book on the cultural phenomenon (which also deals with such related holidays as Britain's Guy Fawkes Day, Mexico's Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, and the Celtic celebration Samhain). Now updated to 2010, this second edition includes more than 50 new entries, covering subjects ranging from Folk Art to African American legends. Many existing entries have been expanded and revised, with new entries ("Chronology of Halloween" and "Halloween in Literature and the Arts") in both appendices. Also featured are more than a dozen new illustrations, and an expanded bibliography.
Author: Lisa Morton
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780230559
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 231
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Book Description
Halloween has spread around the world, yet its associations with death and the supernatural as well as its inevitable commercialization have made it one of our most puzzling holidays. How did it become what it is today? Trick or Treat is the first book both to examine the origins and history of Halloween and to explore in depth its current global popularity. Festivals like the Celtic Samhain and Catholic All Souls’ Day have blended to produce the modern Halloween, which has been reborn with new customs in America—but there are also related but independent holidays, especially Mexico’s Day of the Dead. Lisa Morton lifts the cobwebs off everything from the explosion in popularity of haunted attractions to the impact of events like the global economic recession, as well as the effect Halloween has had on popular culture through literary works, films, and television series. Taking us on a journey from the spectacular to the macabre, this book is a treat for anyone who wants to peep behind the mask to see the real past and present of this ever more popular holiday.
Author: Ray Bradbury
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0553512722
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 148
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Book Description
Make storytime a little spookier with fantasy master Ray Bradbury as he takes readers on a riveting trip though space and time to discover the true origins of Halloween. Join the shadowy Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud as he takes eight trick-or-treaters on an unforgettable journey to find their missing friend, Pip. Travel through space and time, from the tombs of ancient Egypt to the gargoyles of Notre-Dame Cathedral, all the way to the cemeteries of Mexico on el Día de Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. Is Pip still alive? And if so, can his friends save him from a ghastly fate before it’s too late? "If you want to know what Halloween is, or if you simply want an eerie adventure, take this mystery history trip. You couldn't ask for better than master fantasizer Ray Bradbury." --The Boston Globe
Author: Lisa Morton
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN:
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 220
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Book Description
"Works on the history of Halloween, from pre-Christian Celtic myths to early 20th century articles, entries include poems, short stories, sections from 19th and 20th century folklore books, a one-act play, Irish and Scottish folk tales, and the first book on Halloween ever published. Annotations make the original source materials more palatable for modern readers"--Provided by publisher.
Author: Linda Glovach
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9780135381168
Category : Halloween cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 32
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Book Description
Step-by-step instructions for a variety of Halloween activities, foods, costumes, and festivities.
Author: David J. Skal
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
ISBN: 0486805212
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 275
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Book Description
Original, entertaining mix of personal anecdotes and social analysis examines America's perplexingly popular holiday, tracing the tradition's evolution from its dark Celtic history to its emergence as a mammoth marketing event.
Author: Lesley Pratt Bannatyne
Publisher: Pelican Publishing
ISBN: 9781589801769
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
"Those who follow this book carefully are sure to win every Halloween contest they enter." --Booklist The literature of Halloween began in a time when poets, playwrights, and storytellers told tales inspired by fear of fate, the unknown, and the inexplicable--stories about dead souls and otherworldly creatures who drifted through the dark only on Halloween, when the spirit world seemed close enough to touch.This sourcebook of Halloween lore spans British, Irish, Scottish, French, Canadian, and American literature from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, from Robert Burns, W. B. Yeats, and James Joyce to Edgar Allan Poe, Edith Wharton, and H. P. Lovecraft. Each of the poems, stories, and plays in this anthology provides a link to Halloween celebrations of the past. Treasures abound, such as a rare Halloween mention in a colonial American play and a French journalist's retelling of a night spent amongst the bones of a Breton charnel house. The "Hallowoddities" section includes witch-trial testimony, journal entries, and other spooky pieces related to Halloween.
Author: Stuart Schneider
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780764314100
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 160
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Book Description
This book chronicles the history of Halloween in the 20th century through the evolution of related costumes, Jack Olanterns, decorations, candy containers and other treats. The costumes reflect fads, television, space exploration, movies, comics, and personalities that shaped popular culture of the past hundred years. Current values are assessed for each item.
Author: Lisa Morton
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780235372
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 210
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Book Description
From that cheerful puff of smoke known as Casper to the hunkiest potter living or dead, Sam Wheat, there is probably no more iconic entity in supernatural history than the ghost. And these are just recent examples. From the earliest writings such as the Epic of Gilgamesh to today’s ghost-hunting reality TV shows, ghosts have chilled the air of nearly every era and every culture in human history. In this book, Lisa Morton uses her scholarly prowess—more powerful than any proton pack—to wrangle together history’s most enduring ghosts into an entertaining and comprehensive look at what otherwise seems to always evade our eyes. Tracing the ghost’s constantly shifting contours, Morton asks the most direct question—What exactly is a ghost?—and examines related entities such as poltergeists, wraiths, and revenants. She asks how a ghost is related to a soul, and she outlines all the different kinds of ghosts there are. To do so, she visits the spirits of the classical world, including the five-part Egyptian soul and the first haunted-house, conceived in the Roman playwright Plautus’s comedy, Mostellaria. She confronts us with the frightening phantoms of the Middle Ages—who could incinerate priests and devour children—and reminds us of the nineteenth-century rise of Spiritualism, a religion essentially devoted to ghosts. She visits with the Indian bhuta and goes to the Hungry Ghost Festival in China, and of course she spends time in Mexico, where ghosts have a particularly strong grip on belief and culture. Along the way she gathers the ectoplasmic residues seeping from books and film reels, from the Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto to the 2007 blockbuster Paranormal Activity, from the stories of Ann Radcliffe to those of Stephen King. Wide-ranging, informative, and slicked with over fifty unearthly images, Ghosts is an entertaining read of a cultural phenomenon that will delight anyone, whether they believe in ghosts or not.
