About Halloween
Halloween (“All Hallows Eve”) is celebrated on October 31, the evening before All Saints’ (“Hallows”) Day. In response to annual requests for information about the origin and celebration of the festival, we've compiled this resource page. The works cited range from scholarly folklore studies to popular commentaries on modern observances. Feel free to add your own links!
Links to book titles on this page will take you to the record in Emory's DiscoverE library catalog search engine (or if Emory does not own the book, to WorldCat). Clicking on a book cover will take you to Amazon. Links to articles take you to the full text access page, if available (usually only to Emory affiliates).
Halloween Books
Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night - Nicholas Rogers
Call Number: General Libraries STACKS GT4965 .R634 2002
Canadian cultural historian shows how the holiday is a hodgepodge of ancient European pagan traditions, 19th-century Irish and Scottish celebrations, Western Christian interpretations of All Souls' Day and thoroughly modern American consumer ideals.
Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween - David J. Skal
Foremost expert in scary culture explores Halloween's origins, then focuses on the commercial industry that has supplanted the holiday.
The Halloween Encyclopedia - Lisa Morton
Detailed entries cover history, folklore, symbols, rituals, artifacts, and activities of Halloween, including Wiccan lore, Celtic observances, and Christian mythology. Bibliography.- Halloween Through Twenty Centuries - Ralph Linton and Adelin Linton
Call Number: GT4965 .L658
Classic introduction to the observance of Halloween. - Halloween and Other Festivals of Life and Death - ed. Jack Santino
Call Number: General Libraries STACKS GT4965 .H32 1994
Scholarly, cultural, and historical essays about Halloween from Thirteen folklore and culture scholars. Covers the evolution of Halloween from its Celtic origins through its adaptation into modern culture. Sketches the origin and modern observance of Halloween but gives primary attention to the festival's Celtic origin. - Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History - Lesley Pratt Bannatyne
Historical examination of the holiday in America, from colonial times. - Hallowe'en: Its Origin, Rites and Ceremonies in the Scottish Tradition - F. Marian McNeill
- Gods and Heroes of the Celts - Marie-Louise Sjoestedt
Halloween as part of Celtic religion. - More books on Halloween ...
Halloween Articles
Primiano, Leonard. “Halloween.” In Encyclopedia of Religion, 6:3758-3759. Vol. 6. 2nd ed. REF BL31 .E46 1986
- Sketches the origin and modern observance of Halloween but gives primary attention to the festival's Celtic origin.
Simpson, Jacqueline, and Steve Roud, eds. “Halloween: Oxford Reference Online.” In Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. General REF GR141 .S573 2000
- Halloween in English folklore. Challenges theory that the holiday derives from the Irish and Scottish Samhain celebration.
Johnson, H S. “November Eve Beliefs and Customs in Irish Life and Literature.” Journal of American Folklore 81, no. 320 (1968): 133-142.
- Ethnographic approach to Halloween.
Posey, Lawton W. “Halloween's Changing Mask.” Christian Century 95, no. 34 (October 25, 1978): 1021-1022.
- Documents the shift from traditional trick-or-treating to evangelistic "scare houses."
Sinclair-Faulkner, Tom. “How the Pumpkin Lost Its Teeth: Christians Might Profitably Consider Reviving Some of the Ritual Practices of Their Celtic Forebears.” Christian Century 97, no. 34 (October 29, 1980): 1033-1035.
- Argues that in light of the connection of Halloween to both All Hallow's Eve and the Celtic feast of Samhain, Christians might properly reclaim the holiday as the antidote to the fear of death.
Santino, J. “Halloween in America: Contemporary Customs and Performances.” Western Folklore 42 (1983): 1-20.
- Modern observance of Halloween in the U.S. from the perspective of a folklorist.
Moellering, H Armin. “Long Live Halloween.” Concordia Journal 17, no. 4 (October 1991): 374-376.
- Defense of the Christian observance of Halloween.
Rearick III, Anderson M. “Hallowing Halloween.” Christianity Today 44, no. 11 (October 2, 2000): 79.
- Another defense of a Christian Halloween.
Howe, John W. “What Is Happy About Halloween.” Christianity Today 22, no. 2 (October 21, 1977): 82-83.
Myra, Harold L. “Is Halloween a Witches' Brew: Or Have Christians Been Spooked Out of Celebrating a Part of Their Rich Tradition?” Christianity Today 26, no. 17 (October 22, 1982): 32-34.
Submit Your Halloween Links
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