The Halloween Handbook : 447 Costumes

The collaborative effort of Halloween costume experts and enthusiasts Bridie Clark and Ashley Dodd, The Halloween Handbook: Dress-Up For Grown-Ups showcases 447 imaginative, easy-to-make, do-it-yourself costume concepts. From traditional favorites such as Wonder Woman or Peter Pan, to more eyebrow-raising unique costumes like the One-Night Stand (the costumegoer appears as an actual stand with lampshade over the head, bra and pantyhouse dangling on the tablecloth) or the Green Card (wearing a large green sandwich board humorously displaying a parody what a real green card looks like). Black-and-white photographs illustrate fun, zany, sometimes edgy ideas with practical suggestions to efficiently and frugally make a Halloween guise to remember. Especially recommended not only for Halloween, but as a source of ideas for costume parties year round or even school and community theater apparel.

Halloween : A Grown-Up's Guide to Creative Costumes, Devilish Decor & Fabulous Festivities


Reviews

Finally, here's a Halloween book that's definitely for adults. It's brimming with practical and inventive ideas for parties, decorations, and costumes, and with an amazingly atmospheric design that's a luscious treat for grown-up eyes. Take the dread out of a costume party with creative and playful ways to dress for success on All Hallow's Eve; there are even actual costume elements to use, from wings and tails to masks and hats. You'll find ways to repurpose items right out of your own closet or benefit from a quick trip to the thrift shop. Unique make-up tips for a ghoulishly great appearance will complete the effect. An elegant "Pumpkin Primer" supplies projects to enhance the holiday spirit, including menacing hex dolls and simple, spooky candlescapes. Finally, a selection of theme party ideas, from Day o' the Dead to a Masked Ball, will make for a Happy Halloween. After all: why should kids have all the fun?


bug costumes actually looked pretty good, and so on. I especially loved the Monet costume, which was of watery blue cloth and bedecked in water-lilies, with a garden bridge on the hat. Many of the costumes and decorations are very artistic. Even some of the no-sew costumes made me say "Oooh, cool!"

I give it one star for the several infuriatingly innaccurate Asian-inspired costumes and decor. The "samurai" armor was just a joke and perhaps could be said to have its own peculiar charm, and the Yuki Ona costume (which is supposed to be spelled Yuki Onna, it's pronounced differently) was quirky and didn't look even remotely Japanese or even Asian (actually, it looked like the Snow Queen) and the bedsheet kimono was actually pretty good and began to look authentic in comparison to the other things, but when it had flat paper masks from the "Kabuki, or CHINESE opera"...! Ooh, that makes me SO MAD! Aargh! If they'd just stopped at one horribly innaccurate Japanese costume, I would have shrugged and skipped over it, but when they kept doing it, one after another... grr. It's not racist, just not researched enough.

Something similar happens when it talks about using a voodoo-doll motif for a Halloween party. It then tells you a bit about the religions of Vodoun and Santeria, from which the "voodoo dolls" come. This raises the question of why it's using very serious religious symbols as fun party decor.

The book has historical information about Halloween, monsters, and other cultural things. For example, after the instructions for the Green Man costume, it has two pages telling what is known (and not known) about the Green Man's history. With the fairy costume, it tells about different kinds of fairies, and how some kinds of fairies are more dangerous than cute.

However, after having seen how innaccurate this book was when it came to Japan, I'm highly suspicious of its educational value and authenticity in other areas of history and culture. It's clear the book *tried,* since it does at least include historical information for everything it can, but I'm not going to use it as history reference. Enjoy, but take with a grain of salt.

The section about the Mexican Day of the Dead seems considerably more accurate than the others, and fairly true to the spirit of that holiday and culture, but I still feel a bit suspicious about its authenticity.

Sorry if I seem grouchy about the book- I really did enjoy its originality of design. It's a relieving change of pace from the "country charm" Halloween craft books where you've seen everything before. None of those hokey books had scarecrows like the one in this book, which is a terrifying art statue with broken garden implements for claws, a faceless pumpkin head,and a metal wire body wrapped in dead vines! That's probably the scariest thing in the whole book, and genuinely scary at that. Not all of the things in it try to be adult or scary, mind you; there's plenty of light-hearted Halloween silliness too. I am going to have to try some of the things in here!

The book title caught my attention as the word "Grown Up" jumped out at me. I am big fan of everything Halloween so I had to have this book. I should have borrowed it at the library first! I read other reviews on Amazon.com about how wonderful this book was so I purchased it solely based on the reviews.
DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER:

The cover threw me off. It had pictures of a paper mache skull with horns, a pumpkin with star holes, floating candles in a bucket filled with flowers and mini pumpkins and a picture of hand-made crepe paper witch hats on the front door. I was thinking: all right! A cool book on how to decorate and cool crafts to make!

What they should have put on the front page was a picture of a man in spider costume, a picture of a woman in a poodle outfit, a picture of a man wearing a bird beak..you get the picture.

COSTUME 101

The first 107 pages out of 173 pages were all about costumes only. Here's a sampling: black spider, poodle, bees, really ugly paint spattered thing...

The good thing about this book - you can make most of the costumes listed here because they are items that are readily available.

The bad thing about this book - it really shows.

Many of the costumes just require you to take your old dress/shirt/gown and throw paint all over it or sew a few things on it here and there. There was even an outfit called "Dancing Queen" and can you guess what you are supposed to do? Slap used CD's all over yourself. You are supposed to look like a dancing queen...isn't that what being covered in CD's is all about?

The Queen bee outfit looks...anemic. I thought bees were supposed to be fat. In this case the Queen bee stands in skin tight clothing with what looks like black chicken wire around her waist (I think its supposed to be black netting).

The "Mother Nature and Green Man" costume I find hilarious. Just looking at the picture you'd think they were hippies covered in vegetation and/or mossy stuff. On the next page there is an entire page on "Who is The Green Man?" I figure if you have to go around explaining who the heck you are it takes the fun out of it after the 500th time. "No...I'm NOT the moss man or the hippy man covered in vegetation...I am the Green Man (insert expletives and other cuss words here)...!"

I must admit there are a few neat outfits: the shimmery mermaid outfit, the gladiator and the bedsheet geisha, but not much else going for it. For every one male costume there are about 3 or 4 women's costumes (mainly old dresses with things sewn onto them).

The second part of the costumes section take you step-by-step on how to make things like birds beaks, hairy legs (I am not making this up), thundering hooves, walrus tusks (WALRUS? where's the matching costume for this tusk?). There's one page on how to make an outfit for your dog.

The third part of the costume section teaches you how to paint your face (3 pages of really boring stuff), how to make a hat, how to make paper bags LOOK like a face. Are you sleeping yet? The only thing remotely fresh that I saw in this section was the medusa wig. You get a bunch of plastic snakes and pin it to your swim cap covered in black tulle.

FINALLY...THE DECOR SECTION:

The first ten pages in this section covers pumpking carving basics, how to add a "nose" to a pumpkin simply by turning it over so the stem acts like a nose, how to make a pumpkin look like a "bushy head" by sticking twigs and leaves out of its head, how to carve squares into a pumpkin to make it look geometric, how to....urgh.

The next five pages are all about making dolls. Voodoo dolls, corn "dollys" and hex dolls which are nothing more than twigs hanging eerily off some dead branches. Phhhhfft.

Then..get this...another craft article on how to make a GIANT 6 FOOT SPIDER! That's right...in your very own back yard! How did the craft section go from tying together twigs and corn to make faceless dolls to a gigantic, humongous, insanely huge spider? I take that back, the spider is 6 feet in diameter, which means its actually bigger.

FOOD SECTION:

There are differently themed parties throught this book: the New Orleans voodoo cocktail party, the Day of the Dead dinner party and the Masked Ball party. Not many recipes. Just a lot of nice pretty pictures, I do give this book some credit!

Review: I am a fan of adult Halloween books - nothing cutesy or for the kiddies. I bought this book thinking it would have equal amounts of decor and costumes as I am the type of person that likes Martha Stewart's Halloween decorating ideas. While this book is very good, it is primarily costumes and masks. I would have liked to see more decor. The first 108 pages out of 175 pages are costumes. The remaining pages covers jack-o-lanterns, decorating with candles, a few recipes, etc. Nothing new or spectacular. Great if you like to craft your own costumes...mediochre if you want new decor ideas and crafting your own Halloween items.

Maybe it's because I'm not a seamstress, or even a casual sewer, but I don't understand the objections of an earlier review. It's hard to believe we're talking about the same book! Yes, there is a costume using duct tape, but throughout the book I found many new, very original and creative ideas that I will be able to use for my annual Halloween extravaganza. I have read dozens and dozens of books on Halloween costumes, crafts, and decorating, and never been quite so inspired. As a Halloween afficionado, I recommend it highly!

So many times you see these books on line and wonder if they have enough good ideas to make it worth the purchase price. In my humble opinion this book at 172 pages, is worth the purchase price. Great costume ideas including making wonderful fairy wings using a laminator machine. Horns, hooves, and other accessories you don't often see are described with nice pictures. One section is devoted to hats, wigs, and make-up and includes a Medusa Wig! Pet costumes are also included in this book! The decor section has some truly original ideas along with the traditional hex dolls, corn dolly's, and a giant spider. The table top Victorian graveyard was my favorite! The last section is devoted to theme parties with a Day of the Dead dinner party and Voodoo cocktail party. Handy copyright free images are also provided to make decorations.

Block Parties & Poker Nights : Recipes and Ideas for Getting and Staying Connected with Your Neighbors (Paperback)

From Library Journal
Although there are other titles on potluck dinners, backyard barbecues, and similar themes, Allen's clever book is likely to strike a chord with many readers seeking "connection" in these often anxious times. She does include the block parties and poker nights of the title, but she goes beyond such occasions, starting with a section on "Breaking the Ice," which includes suggestions on how to welcome a new neighbor or how to meet the neighbors if you're new (or not so new), and finishing with "Good Times and Bad," which includes ideas and comfort food for "the tough times," ways to resolve a conflict with a neighbor or deal with other such crises, and more. The recipes are fairly standard-there are many old favorites here-but they are usually simple and many of them are easy to make for a crowd. Recommended for most collections.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
Across the country, folks are rediscovering potluck parties, progressive dinners, and other neighborhood gatherings as a way to forge bonds that endure long after the last dish is cleared away. From small, adults-only get-togethers to neighborhood extravaganzas, Block Parties and Poker Nights has dozens of creative ideas, for fun, fulfilling community events and the tried-and-true dishes that make them so memorable.

* Recipes for soup buffets, salad bars, and backyard barbecues *
* Welcome baskets for new neighbors and homemade treats to share *
* Tips on foods that travel well *
* Ways to support families in times of need with reheatable comfort food *
* Celebrations for all seasons, from Fourth of July bashes to Kentucky Derby parties*
* Suggestions for starting treasured holiday traditions like caroling parties and cookie exchanges *
* And, everything you need to know to throw a blow-out block party with all the trimmings *






Review

From School Library Journal

-An artful arrangement of ingredients aided by imaginative titles transforms ordinary food into disgusting treats such as, "Pus Pockets" (pita stuffed with cheese, baked, slit, and squeezed) and "Worms au Gratin" (spaghetti and noodles). While some children will only browse through the book to exclaim at the yucky fare, those who try the recipes will find that they contain sensible advice, beginning with safety tips, cooking terms, measurements, and clean-up hints. Instructions are clearly written and list needed tools. The advice, "with an adult's help" is given whenever cooking, baking, or the use of a sharp knife is required. Burke's pen-and-ink cartoons are essential for their humorous portrayal of monsters and ugly characters and because arrangement of food is so critical for gruesome effect. Even so, some imagination may be needed to see the werewolf in the Waldorf Salad or Brussels sprouts as gorilla tonsils. The food itself is mostly healthful, with fruits and vegetables featured as prominent ingredients. Food coloring is used in some recipes and stuffed olives (eyeballs) appear more than once. Some titles may be over readers' heads, but the serving suggestions (e.g., crumpled facial tissues with the "Phlegm Brulee) will help them understand. Filled with clever ideas, this is an excellent choice for those who are looking for something creepy but fun.

"Filled with clever ideas, this is an excellent choice for those who are lookin for something creepy but fun."--School Library Journal.

was disappointed with this book.Its a wonderful idea to make a book like this but most of the recipes are not something that my family & i would use.The titles of the recipes are great,gnarled witch fingers,tongues on toast,brains on the half skull,etc.This book just needs some better recipes.

I used this book for an adult business halloween party. they all acted like kids grossing out at each item (yet eating them ALL and asking for more). I only made a few items last year to see their reaction and couldn't believe how they devoured them and started searching my refrigerator for more! this year i'll be adding many more of these recipes to my menu.

If you can get past the names of the dishes (and your imagination doesn't go into overdrive), you will love this book! The instructions are simple, and there are plenty of opportunities to teach kids about good kitchen technique. This book belongs in every parent's collection.

Fall and Halloween Activity Book for Families

Book Description

The "Fall and Halloween Activity Book for Families" contains over 600 ideas for family fall celebrations. Activities are designed for children and are very family oriented, not macabre or overly frightening. If you are planning a Halloween party, this book will walk you through everything from invitations and decorations to table settings, foods to serve and games to play. There is a completely illustrated section with Halloween crafts and activities for children; pages of designs and interesting adaptations for carving and decorating pumpkins; and an area filled with ideas for Halloween costumes, masks and more. Complete recipes are included for snacks, dinners, desserts and beverages with flavors or themes that fit in with fall or Halloween. This book has a section on other autumn celebrations including some from different countries and cultures.

Things-to-do in the "Fall and Halloween Activity Book for Families" use simple and inexpensive materials and most take small or reasonable amounts of time to accomplish. Many things are easy enough for toddlers and some require the skills of older children. Adapt your choices to the abilities of children who will be participating.

From the Publisher
You'll never run out of autumn or Halloween ideas for kids with this book. It has over 600 ideas in a completely illustrated format with easy-to-follow directions and recipes. Kids and adults can have plenty of fun together with these activities.

In contrast to recent trends toward frightening Halloween activities, the suggestions in this book are very family related. The few slightly scary things included are the types of things that create giggles instead of nightmares. Mostly, you can use the ideas to make memories of good times together and to help children develop skills in various crafts and to allow their imaginations to get a work-out.

Halloween Parties : How to Throw Spook-Tacular Soirees and Frighteningly Festive Entertainments (Paperback)

From Publishers Weekly
Photo stylist Hellander’s book of Halloween-themed entertainment ideas shares recipes, decorating tips and invitation ideas for six different spooky parties. The Tricks & Treats party is pretty run of the mill, with its jack-o’-lantern goody bags, suggestions for pumpkin carving and recipes for Cupcakes with Candy Surprise Centers and Hot Red Wine with Cloves and Almonds. The rest of the parties—Witches’ Brew; It’s a Mod, Mod World!; Hocus Pocus; Haunted House; and That Old Devil Moon—basically offer variations on the theme, with vaguely original ideas for party favors, place settings and snacks. Many of the suggestions seem flimsy (e.g., covering a room’s walls with wrapping paper to create a festive atmosphere) and don’t specifically apply to Halloween (e.g., party favors like styrofoam balls wrapped in crepe paper with tiny charms and fortunes stored inside; or recipes such as Breadsticks with Prosciutto and Robiola). But first-time hosts who haven’t a clue where to begin might glean something from this enthusiastic book. 96 photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description
A boring Halloween party? The horror! Millions of Americans live to be scared silly, and for them October 31 marks the beginning of the holiday season: a reason to dress and act outrageously. This hip, photograph-filled paperback, packed with recipes and crafts, makes entertaining on Allhallows' Eve terrifyingly easy. From a frightful dinner for four to a full-out, monster-mashing Haunted Mansion, Lori Hellander concocts six parties guaranteed to make guests scream in delight. The Hocus Pocus Potion Party highlights eerie elegance, while Tricks and Treats taps into Halloween nostalgia.

Like a skilled carver attacking a pumpkin, Hellander chops up each themed party into manageable chunks: invitations; shopping and scheduling; decor and costumes; food and drink; games for all ages. But aspiring fete-ishists need not have tons of time or an armory of glue guns to get the parties going: there are plenty of quick and simple-to-execute ideas, plus useful tips for impromptu entertaining. AUTHOR BIO: LORI HELLANDER lives in New York City, but her work as a photo stylist takes her to many places on the map. She is a regular contributor to Country Living, Bon Appétit, and Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, among other national publications, and has made several guest appearances on HGTV's Country Style and the Discovery Channel's Surprise by Design.

BILL MILNE is a photographer and image-maker who has contributed to Gourmet, Wine Spectator, Time, People, and many other publications.




Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night (Hardcover)

From Publishers Weekly
If America is a melting pot, then Halloween is the stew that simmers in our national cauldron. In this fascinating study, Rogers 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. At its heart, he says, Halloween is a celebration of the inversion of social codes-children have power over adults, marauders can make demands of established homeowners and anyone may assume a temporary disguise. Canadian professor Rogers is a fine cultural historian, who carefully sifts through complex social and religious data to tease out meanings and trajectories. One excellent chapter illuminates Halloween and Hollywood, while a chapter entitled Border Crossings discusses Halloween observance among non-Anglo populations in North America, including Mexico's "Dia de los Muertos." Rogers's is the best study to date of the history and growing significance of Halloween.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
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 colorful 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.

Review: A serious cultural history of Halloween
Single-subject histories on the likes of salt, codfish and even the color red have become a fashionable lately, and this book is a fine specimen of the genre. It traces the history of the celebration of October 31 from Samhain, the year cycle rite observed by the pagan Celts in Britain, to the many ways it is marked in North America at the time of the new millennium. His central thesis, supported by myriad examples and illustrations, is that Halloween has always been a liminal time, a boundary between autumn and winter, this world and the other world, life and death. Drawing from the theory of anthropologist Victor Turner, he argues that liminal times are also periods of ritual inversion in which the obverse of cultural values, however they are construed, are temporarily allowed to emerge into public consciousness and celebrated before being relegated once again to the cultural closet. Whether these oppositional symbols are spiritual otherworlds, as they were for the ancient Celts, or consist instead of what is disavowed by the dominant cultural paradigm, Halloween provides a framework during which they can be publicly explored and performed. This central feature of Halloween, more than any individual rite or symbol, constitutes the core of the holiday that has endured for over a thousand years.

Rogers begins by examining the practices of the ancient Celts, for whom Samhain was a year cycle rite that marked the passage from autumn into winter, a time out of time when the boundaries between the world of humans and that of otherworldly creatures - be they ancestors, deities or other kinds of spirits - were thought to be thin, and the "reverse world" was allowed to briefly overlap with the everyday world. Carrying this metaphor forward into history, Rogers shows how Halloween's supernatural connotations continued in medieval and early modern festivities associated with All Saints' and All Souls' Days, from which we get many of the rituals still associated with the holiday today, including jack-o'-lanterns, pranking behavior and petty vandalism. He traces the migration of these customs to the New World with two groups of immigrants: English Catholics and liberal Protestants (the Puritans disdained the observance as too popish), and the Irish.

Rogers really shines in describing the growth of Halloween in New World soil. He addresses the development of trick-or-treating in the 20th century not only as a form of social inversion in which children demand candy from strangers, in a reversal of the usual cautions, but as a rite that prepared children to become consumers of sweets and other paraphernalia associated with the holiday, such as costumes and decorations. But the dangers of the otherworld could not be tamed by conspicuous consumption; they re-emerged in the 1960s and 70s as fear of contaminated treats - the infamous razor blade in the apple. The very symbol of harvest home, the fruit of the Celtic otherworld, the Isle of Apples, was transformed into an instrument of danger - not, this time, from otherworldly beings, but from other human beings. Human beings similarly were the source of other Halloween dangers, such as the arson and vandalism of "Devil's Night" in Detroit and other North American cities. Meantime, Hollywood horror films picked up Halloween's association with the supernatural, darkness, death and decay, often weaving in themes associated with contemporary legends and rumor panics. The resulting mix blurred the lines between reality and the imaginary in a way that was new in the history of Halloween, emphasizing gory hyperrealism over the spiritual or supernatural frights that predominated in earlier centuries. At the same time that parents began to be afraid of allowing children to trick-or-treat on Halloween for fear of candy contamination and crime, Halloween emerged as a party night for adults, when those who had enjoyed costuming and rites of reversal as children wanted to experience them in a new, grown-up context. It reached its apotheosis in street parades of large North American cities such as Toronto, New York and Los Angeles, where it has become an occasion for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities to publicly celebrate identities usually relegated to the margins of society by the dominant culture. As in much of Halloween behavior, this is done through play, humor and parody, hallmarks of symbolic inversion at the core of Halloween. Rogers also treats the holiday's globalization: both the spread throughout North America of the analogous Mexican holiday El Día de los Muertos on the heels of Latino immigration, and the global diffusion of the commercialized Halloween to Europe and other markets. He provocatively asks whether the transformation of the holiday into a mass-marketed occasion for conspicuous consumption will eventually trump its subversive qualities, or whether individuals' creativity and sense of play will ultimately reclaim Halloween as a site of contestation.

Regardless of the cultural changes this holiday undergoes, Halloween seems to attract to it the oppositional and the carnivalesque. No wonder, then, that is has become a popular target for the invectives of conservative Christian ministers and their congregations, who label it "Satanic" and call for its suppression. But the suppression of culturally contested symbols never successfully eliminates the ideas behind them. In fact, as Turner and French cultural historian Michel Foucault argue, these oppositional images are fertile ground for cultural renewal, and provide alternative ways of envisioning reality: they are cultural countersites where social mores and pretensions can be mocked, parodied, and lampooned with impunity, and an alternative universe can temporarily be imagined.
Rogers does not address at any length the reclamation of Halloween by Neopagan groups in Europe and North America - a pity, because this trend fits well with his overarching theoretical approach. And he seems ignorant of the considerable work done on the holiday by American folklorists. Still, this excellent book will appeal to a wide range of readers. It reads fluidly and easily, is theoretically well-informed without being jargon-ridden or using theory as a bludgeon, and could easily be adopted for use in large undergraduate courses on cultural history, folkloristics and anthropology.

Review: Oops, wrong kind of book
I can honestly say that I have almost always finished reading a book that I start. This is the exception.

It's my fault, really. I was looking for a book that would discuss the origins and development of Halloween. I had in mind the sort that would discuss Charlie Brown and The Great Pumpkin and other Americana. You know, a nostalgic trip down Memory Lane in rural/suburban America.

Oops.

This is actually an academic treatise where the author wants to discuss social inversion, gender identity, and queer politics. No offense to the author, but most people don't regularly use the term "social inversion", let alone bring it up constantly in conversation. If you are a cultural transgressor looking to be affirmed in your okayness, this is perhaps a good book for you. I was looking to be affirmed in my nostalgia, so I am out of luck.

(Normally I don't review books down because I disagree with the author; however, I feel that this is marketed deceptively. Normal people don't talk like this guy writes, so I can only imagine that he is one of those people that must rework every concept to fit his sociological theories. Or maybe I'm just a jerk - you decide).

Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History (Paperback)

Review:

This is an awesome book if you are looking for the whole history behind halloween and how it became an american holiday.This book is not for someone who is looking for a holiday read,but rather for someone who really wants to know the history behind this greatest of all holidays.I learned things about halloween that i never knew before,and being a real halloween nut, I thought i knew alot.You will learn the whole history behind halloween with this book,I enjoyed it greatly.

Bannatyne's book on Halloween is the best. Well-researched, absolutely packed with information and nuggets of fascinating lore on every page, yet the author eschews dry academic prose - it's like listening to an erudite friend explain his/her area of expertise. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about such an interesting holiday. You really couldn't find a better, more comprehensive Halloween resource.

Although Bannatyne's history of Halloween contains useful material, especially covering the recent past, her work is marred by serious errors, mostly the result, I suspect, of an uncritical reading of her sources. She suggests, for example, that there was an actual cult of witches in the middle ages, a cult somehow linked to the druids, which is simply not true. A glance through her inadequate notes reveals good modern sources for folklore set side by side with works now hopelessly out of date. Bannatyne also consistently makes connections between Halloween and other folk traditions that are in no way supported by the evidence she presents. This may be, as a spokesman for the history channel suggests, "the best book on the history of halloween available today," but readers should be warned not to put too much stock in this endorsement.

This is a great book to get if you want to know more about Halloween. Not just the typical stuff, although that's there too, but where it came from and how poeple have been celebrating it for years. It's fun to read and has great information in it. I'm going to use it with my class so they know more about why we celebrate Halloween.

I was extremely pleased with this book. Not only does it chronologically relate the history of Halloween, but it also describes the cultural contexts of its evolution. This book is not only well researched, but offers a very readable and entertaining look at the folklore associated with Halloween. My only criticism is the poor editing by the publisher or reviewers. Unfortunately, this book is replete with "typos," and I found one entire paragraph repeated on consecutive pages. This becomes annoying after awhile. However, the content and writing style are so good, don't let the editing stop you from buying it. Actually, I wish it were available hardcopy.

As someone who has always loved Halloween, this book is a must have. After seeing, "The Haunted History of Halloween" on the History Channel, I went out and bought this book. It is by far the best book I have found that tells the whole history behind the holiday that we celebrate every October 31. From the ancient festivities of Samhain to the parties thrown by Victorians to parades in the 30's and 40's, this book explores the significance behind this holiday. Why do we trick or treat and dress up? Why are ghosts, witches, black cats, and devils associated with this holiday. This book answers these questions and a lot more.

All about Halloween:

Halloween
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31, usually by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting candy. It is celebrated in much of the Western world, though most commonly in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Canada and sometimes in Australia and New Zealand. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought older versions of the tradition to North America in the 19th century. Most other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late 20th century.

The form "Halloween" derives from Hallowe'en, an old contraction, still retained in Scotland, of "All Hallow's Eve," so called as it is the day before the Catholic All Saints holy day, which used to be called "All Hallows," derived from All Hallowed Souls. In Ireland, the name was Hallow Eve and this name is still used by some older people. Halloween was formerly also sometimes called All Saints' Eve. The holiday was a day of religious festivities in various northern European pagan traditions, until it was appropriated by Christian missionaries (along with Christmas and Easter, two other traditional northern European pagan holidays) and given a Christian reinterpretation. Halloween is also known as the Day of the Dead, and it is a day of celebration for Wiccans and other modern pagan traditions, though the holiday has lost its religious connotations among the populace at large.

Halloween is also called Pooky Night in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the pookah, a mischievous spirit.

In the United Kingdom in particular, the pagan Celts celebrated the Day of the Dead on Halloween. The spirits supposedly rose from the dead and, in order to attract them, food was left on the doors. To scare off the evil spirits, the Celts wore masks. When the Romans invaded Britain, they embellished the tradition with their own, which is the celebration of the harvest and honoring the dead. These traditions were then passed on to the United States.

Halloween is sometimes associated with the occult. Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the "liminal" times of the year when the spirit world can make contact with the natural world and when magic is most potent (see, for example, Catalan mythology about witches).

Anoka, Minnesota, USA, the self-proclaimed "Halloween Capital of the World," celebrates with a large civic parade.

Contents [hide]
1 Symbols
2 Trick-or-treating
3 Games
4 Foods
5 Cultural history
5.1 Celtic observation of Samhain
5.2 Norse Elven Blót
5.3 Halloween customs
5.4 "Punkie Night"
5.5 "Mischief Night"
6 Religious viewpoints
7 See also
8 External links
9 Further reading

Symbols

Jack-o'-lanterns may be carved with a funny face.Halloween's theme is spooky or scary things particularly involving death, black magic, or mythical monsters. Commonly-associated Halloween characters include ghosts, witches, bats, black cats, owls, goblins, zombies and demons, as well as certain fictional figures like Dracula and Frankenstein's monster. Homes are often decorated with these symbols around Halloween.

Black and orange are the traditional colors of Halloween. There are also elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins and scarecrows, reflected in symbols of Halloween.

The jack-o'-lantern, a carved vegetable lit by a candle inside, is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols. In Britain and Ireland, a turnip was and sometimes still is used, but immigrants to America quickly adopted the pumpkin because it is much larger and easier to carve. Many families that celebrate Halloween will carve a pumpkin into a scary or comical face and place it on the home's doorstep on Halloween night for fun. Traditionally, something like this was done in order to scare evil spirits away.

Trick-or-treating
The main event of Halloween is trick-or-treating, also known as guising in Scotland, in which children dress up in costume disguises and go door-to-door in their neighborhood, ringing the bell and yelling "trick or treat!" The occupants of the house (who might themselves dress in a scary costume) will then hand out small candies, miniature chocolate bars or other treats. Homes sometimes use sound effects and fog machines to help set a spooky mood. Other house decoration themes (that are less scary) are used to entertain younger visitors. Children can often accumulate many treats on Halloween night, filling up entire pillow cases or shopping bags.

In Scotland, children or guisers are likely to recite "The sky is blue, the grass is green, may we have our Halloween" instead of "trick or treat!", they will then have to impress the members of the houses they visit with a song, trick, joke or dance in order to earn their treats.

Tricks play less of a role in modern Halloween, though the night before Halloween is often marked by pranks such as soaping windows, egging houses or stringing toilet paper through trees. Before indoor plumbing was so widespread, tipping over or displacing outhouses was a popular form of trick.

Typical Halloween costumes have traditionally been monsters such as vampires, ghosts, witches, and devils. The stereotypical Halloween costume is a sheet with eyeholes cut in it as a ghost costume. In 19th-century Scotland and Ireland the reason for wearing such fearsome (and non-fearsome) costumes was the belief that since the spirits that were abroad that night were essentially intent on doing harm, the best way to avoid this was to fool the spirits into believing that you were one of them. In recent years, it has become common for costumes to be based on themes other than traditional horror, such as dressing up as a character from a TV show or movie. In 2001, after the September 11 attacks, for example, costumes of firefighters, police officers, and United States military personnel became popular among children. In 2004, an estimated 2.15 million children in the United States were expected to dress up as Spider Man, the year's most popular costume. [1]

A program started by UNICEF involves the distribution of small boxes by schools to trick-or-treaters, in which they can collect small change from the houses they visit for donation to the charity.

A child usually "grows out of" trick-or-treating by his or her teenage years. Teenagers and adults instead often celebrate Halloween with costume parties or other social get-togethers.

Games
There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween parties. The most common is bobbing for apples, in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water; the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity which inevitably leads to a very sticky face.

Some games traditionally played at Halloween are forms of divination. In Púicíní (pronounced "pook-eeny"), a game played in Ireland, a blindfolded person is seated in front of a table on which are placed several saucers. The saucers are shuffled and the seated person then chooses one by touch. The contents of the saucer determine the person's life for the following year. A saucer containing earth means someone known to the player will die during the next year, a saucer containing water foretells travel, a coin means new wealth, a bean means poverty, etc. In 19th-century Ireland, young women placed slugs in saucers sprinkled with flour. The wriggling of the slugs and the patterns subsequently left behind on the saucers were believed to portray the faces of the women's future spouses.

In North America, unmarried women were frequently told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror. However, if they were destined to die before they married, a skull would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards from the late nineteenth century.

Foods

Because the holiday comes in the wake of the annual apple harvest, candy apples (also known as toffee apples) are a common treat at Halloween. They are made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, and sometimes then rolling them in nuts. At one time candy apples were a common treat given to children, but this practice rapidly waned after widespread rumors that some individuals were embedding items like pins and razor blades in the apples that they would pass out to children. The vast majority of the reported cases turned out to be hoaxes, and the few that were real caused only minor injuries, but many parents were under the assumption that the practice was common. At the peak of this hysteria, some hospitals were offering to x-ray children's Halloween haul at no cost in order to look for such items.

A Halloween custom which has survived unchanged to this day in Ireland is the baking (or more often nowadays the purchase) of a barmbrack (Irish "báirín breac"). This is a light fruit cake into which a plain ring is placed before baking. It is said that whoever finds this ring will find his or her true love during the following year.

Other foods associated with the holiday:

candy corn
hot apple cider
roasted pumpkin seeds


Cultural history

Celtic observation of Samhain
In the Druidic religion of the ancient Celts, the new year began with the winter season of Samhain on November 1. Just as shorter days signified the start of the new year, sundown also meant the start of a new day; therefore the harvest festival began every year on the night of October 31. Druids in the British Isles would light fires and offer sacrifices of crops, animals and sometimes humans, and as they danced around the fires, the season of the sun would pass and the season of darkness would begin.

When the morning of November 1 arrived, the Druids would give an ember from their fires to each family who would then take it home to start a new cooking fire. These fires were intended to keep the homes warm and free from evil spirits such as "Sidhe" (pronounced "shee," most notable of which are the beán sidhe or banshees), because at this time of year it was believed that the invisible "gates" between this world and the spirit world were opened and free movement between both worlds was possible.

Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. Villagers cast the bones of the slaughtered cattle upon the flames; the word "bonfire" is thought to derive from these "bone fires." With the bonfire ablaze, the villagers extinguished all other fires. Each family then solemnly lit their hearth from the common flame, thus bonding the families of the village together. Hundreds of fires are still lit each year in Ireland on Halloween night.

Neopagans still celebrate the sabbat of Samhain on Halloween, as well as also taking part in secular Halloween activities.

Norse Elven Blót
In the old Norse religion and its modern revival, Ásatrú, the day now known as Halloween was a blót which involved sacrifices to the elves and the blessing of food.

A poem from around 1020, the Austrfaravísur ('Eastern-journey verses') of Sigvatr Þorðarson, mentions that, as a Christian, he was refused board in a heathen household, in Sweden, because an álfablót ("elves' sacrifice") being conducted there. However, we have no further reliable information as to what an álfablót involved, but like other blóts it probably included the offering of foods, and later Scandinavian folklore retained a tradition of sacrificing treats to the elves. From the time of year (close to the autumnal equinox) and the elves' association with fertility and the ancestors, we might assume that it had to do with the ancestor cult and the life force of the family.

Halloween customs
Observance of Halloween faded in the South of England from the 17th century onwards, being replaced by the commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot on November 5. However it remained popular in Scotland, Ireland and the North of England. It is only in the last decade that it has become popular in the South of England again, although in an entirely Americanized version.

The custom survives most accurately in Ireland, where the last Monday of October is a public holiday. All schools close for the following week for mid-term, commonly called the Halloween Break. As a result Ireland is the only country where children never have school on Halloween and are therefore free to celebrate it in the ancient and time-honored fashion.

The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have evolved from the European custom called souling, similar to the wassailing customs associated with Yule. On November 2, All Souls' Day, beggars would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes" - square pieces of bread with currants. Christians would promise to say prayers on behalf of dead relatives helping the soul's passage to heaven. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits at the Samhain. See Puck (mythology).

In Celtic parts of western Brittany. Samhain is still heralded by the baking of kornigou. Kornigou are cakes baked in the shape of antlers to commemorate the god of winter shedding his "cuckold" horns as he returns to his kingdom in the Otherworld.

"Punkie Night"
"Punkie Night" is observed on the last Thursday in October in the village of Hinton St. George in the county of Somerset in England. On this night, children carry lanterns made from hollowed-out mangel-wurzels (a kind of beet; in modern days, pumpkins are used) with faces carved into them. They bring these around the village, collecting money and singing the punkie song. Punkie is derived from pumpkin or punk, meaning tinder.

Though the custom is only attested over the last century, and the mangel-wurzel itself was introduced into English agriculture in the late 18th century, "Punkie Night" appears to be much older even than the fable that now accounts for it. The story goes that the wives of Hinton St. George went looking for their wayward husbands at the fair held nearby at Chiselborough, the last Thursday in October, but first hollowed out mangel wurzels in order to make lanterns to light their way. The drunken husbands saw the eerie lights, thought they were "goolies" (the restless spirits of children who had died before they were baptized), and fled in terror. Children carry the punkies now. The event has spread since about 1960 to the neighboring village of Chiselborough.

Sources: on-line report from the Western Gazette and a National Geographic radio segment. Chiselborough Fair is memorialized by Fair Place in the village. The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) reported that there was "a fair for horses and cattle on the last Thursday in October."

"Mischief Night"
The night before Halloween, known in some areas as "Mischief Night" or "Devil's Night," is often associated with destructive activities performed by adolescents. Some of the acts range from minor vandalism to theft, or even violence. Many youths involved in mischief night would be considered too old for traditional trick-or-treating. The most common wrong-doing is trashing people's houses, lawns, and trees within property with tons of toilet paper.

A dialect survey begun in 1999 by Harvard University indicates that there are a number of terms for this particular day of the year, but that the vast majority (70.38%) have no special word for it.

Religious viewpoints
The majority of Christians ascribe no doctrinal significance to Halloween, treating it as a purely secular entity devoted to celebrating imaginary spooks and handing out candy. The secular celebration of Halloween may loom larger in contemporary imagination than does All Saints' Day.

The mingling of Christian and pagan traditions in the early centuries following the founding of the Christian Church have left many modern Christians uncertain of how they should react towards this holiday. Some fundamentalist Christian groups consider Halloween a Pagan holiday and may refer to it as "the most evil day of the year," refusing to allow their children to participate. Among these groups it is believed to have developed Satanic influences. In some areas, complaints from these fundamentalist Christians that the schools were endorsing a Pagan religion have led the schools to stop distributing UNICEF boxes.

Other Christians, however, continue to connect this holiday with All Saints Day. Some modern Christian churches commonly offer a "fall festival" or harvest-themed alternative to Halloween celebrations. Still other Christians hold the view that the holiday is not Satanic in origin or practice and that it holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children - being taught about death and mortality actually being a valuable life lesson.

Costume
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. It can also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances represented or described, or to a particular style of clothing worn to portray the wearer as a character or type of character other than their regular persona at a social event such as a fancy dress party or in an artistic theatrical performance.

Theatrical costumes, in combination with other aspects, serve to portray performers' age, gender role, profession, social class, personality, and suchlike. Sometimes theatrical costumes literally mimic what the costume designer thinks the character would wear if the character actually existed. On the other hand, often stylized theatrical costumes can exaggerate some aspect of a character.

National costume or regional costume can express local (or exiled) identity and emphasise uniqueness.

The wearing of costumes has become an important part of Mardi Gras and Halloween celebrations, and (to a lesser extent) people may also wear costumes in conjunction with other holiday celebrations, such as Christmas and Easter. Mardi Gras costumes are usually jesters and other fantasy characters, while Halloween costumes traditionally take the form of supernatural creatures such as ghosts, vampires, and angels. Christmas and Easter costumes typically portray mythical holiday characters, such as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, and costumes may serve to portray various other character themes during secular holidays, such as an Uncle Sam costume worn on the 4th of July for example.

Some people wear costumes for erotic purposes. Most people consider this harmless fun, but some regard this behavior as a form of fetishism. Some say it is both.

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Halloween Traditions - Where did it all start?
Why do we dress up in Halloween costumes, bob for apples, carve pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns, and tell ghost stories on this night?

Our traditions of Halloween can generally be traced to the time of the Celtic civilization and their annual celebration following harvest time. The Celts were a group of people that lived in the area near the British Isles around 400 B.C.

Each year the Celts would hold a celebration at the end of harvest. The festival was held near the end of October which they called “Samhain” which literally means “summer’s end”. Samhain marks one of the two major “doorways” of the Celtic year. October 31, lies exactly between the Autumn equinox and the winter solstice. It is theorized that these ancient people with their reliance on astrology thought this was a very potent time for magic and communion with spirits. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living. In later years it is thought that the tradition of wearing costumes, evolved as people would disguise themselves from the spirits in order to keep from being possessed.

Why do we trick-or-treat?
Trick or treating actually is an American tradition, but it may have had it's origins also with the ancient Irish. During their annual harvest festival they would leave food at altars and doorsteps as a way of saying thank you to the Gods and to appease spirits. Candles were lit and left in windows to help guide ancestors and loved ones home. Apples were buried along roadsides for spirits who had no descendants to provide for them. There are other theories as well, but nevertheless this does provide some insight as to why we trick-or-treat today.

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Adults take over Halloween
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Monster Costume
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Hobitt Costume
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Angel Costume
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Costume
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Ghost Costume
Sponge Bob Square Pants Costume
Sexy Cheerleader Costume
Hilarious costumes
Barbie Costume
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French Maid Costume
Big Kahuna Costume
Go Go Costume
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Hippie Costumes
Thanksgiving Costume
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