All Hallow's History
Orange. Black. Candy Corn. Pumpkins. Vampire Fangs. Halloween conjures up a cauldron of terrifyingly tantalizing tastes, sinister sights, and spooky smells. A wicked witches brew of bubbling fun! But, how often do we question our reason for celebrating the most macabre of American rituals and its true meaning?
Why not find out, or clear your cobwebbed memory, considering that its your creepy cash that helps fuel this 3 billion dollar a year business. Researching Halloween may be one of the most meaningful and inexpensive ways to celebrate this occasion of the occult. And it’s simple: Click on Alibris.com, and discover what’s soon to be your favorite online bookstore.
Perfect for the intellectually curious, fiscally clever, and hopelessly haunted, Alibris.com is a website that tracks down almost any book, on any subject, at the lowest possible cost. Looking for spine-tingling scary stories? They’ve got ‘em. They are an agent between those who love books (as well as music and movies), and thousands of independent sellers around the world. Alibris.com carries over 60 million used, new, and out-of-print spook-tacular books, many of which are a scream at less than $3.00. Don’t make the grave mistake of missing out on their wide selection of Halloween related books. Here are a few of our favorites.
The Halloween Encyclopedia
The Halloween Encyclopedia by Lisa Morton is a veritable Halloween A to Z. Entries include information on witches, skeletons, the Day of the Dead, the jack-o’-lantern, and trick-or-treating, the most popular and misunderstood American Halloween ritual. Also included, Halloween history and mythology, fortune-telling lore, harvest legends, and 20th century additions to the holiday’s rituals.
The Pagan Mysteries of Halloween
Curious about the Pagan origins of Halloween? Celtic scholar Jean Markale’s The Pagan Mysteries of Halloween explores "the shadowy zones" of All Hallows' Eve. Though the name comes from the Christians' All Saints' Eve, Halloween can be traced back thousands of years to Samhain--the beginning of the "dark half" of the Celtic yearly calendar. As a feasting and celebratory festival, Samhain lasted about three days, blurring the borders between the living and dead with the help of the fairy people!
Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night
For a historical and sociological view on the subject, we have Nicholas Roger’s Halloween, From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. Here, the author takes a lively, entertaining look at the cultural origins and development of Halloween. Drawing from a fascinating array of sources, including classical history and Hollywood films, Rogers traces Halloween as it emerged from the Celtic festival of Samhain (summer's end), all the way to Halloween’s evolution 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 as terror-fest. 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.
These boo-tiful books can be purchased through Alibris.com’s network of sellers for as little as $2.95. Choose a book, click on their Quick Buy feature, and select the lowest price for your product in Very Good or Better condition. They also offer free shipping on select items. Halloween. It’s not just candy and costumes. Go ahead and find out why!
-Jennie D.
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