From baristas preparing pumpkin spiced lattes to grocery store aisles lined with bags of candy, the season has arrived for all things sweet-toothed and scary. Still, centuries after the holiday known as “Halloween” became cultural phenomenon, little is known to popular culture about its religious, artistic, and linguistic dimensions. For instance, who were the first trick or treaters? What are the origins of zombies? What makes creepy music…well, creepy?
In this month’s episode, we sat down with Katherine Connor Martin, Head of US Dictionaries for Oxford University Press, Greg Garrett, author of Entertaining Judgment: The Afterlife in Popular Imagination, Jason Bivins, author of Religion of Fear: The Politics of Horror in Conservative Evangelicalism, and Jim Buhler, co-author of Hearing the Movies: Music and Sound in Film History to broaden our understanding.
Image Credit: “Reaching for Halloween” by Will Montague. CC BY NC 2.0 via Flickr.
The post Trick or treat – Episode 27 – The Oxford Comment appeared first on OUPblog.
Check out the latest addition to Imagination-Cafe -
The Celtic Roots of Halloween by Donna Marie WestThis article is interesting and loaded with fun facts to get the kiddies all set for the big night. In addition, you'll also find a yummy recipe for
'Easy Soul Cakes' an ole time favorite.
Here's a preview;
THE CELTIC ROOTS OF HALLOWEEN
by Donna Marie West
If you celebrate Halloween the way many American children do, chances are you dress up as a monster, a princess, or your favorite super hero to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood. Maybe you go to a costume party with friends. But do you have any idea where those traditions began?
Dressing UpTwo thousand years ago, the Celtic people of France and Great Britain celebrated a holiday called Samhain every October 31. Samhain, which means ‘end of summer,’ marked the last harvest and the storage of food for the winter. The Celts believed the change of season was a magical time when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead was very thin. They imagined all sorts of spirits, goblins and fairies walking among the people. The ghosts of the dead rose to play tricks on the living, causing sickness and other trouble in people’s homes, and even destroying crops in the field. People came up with a great idea in order not to be recognized by these spirits or ghosts: They wore masks or straw hats, painted their faces black, or dressed in disguises.
Women put on men’s clothes, and men dressed as women – something they would never do at any other time of year!
Read the rest of the article here;
http://imagination-cafe.com/weekly/history/celtic_halloween.asp
