31 Days of Horror-- Day 25: History of Halloween

So the Halloween celebrations have kicked in full throttle now.

My middle school kid attended an all school,  Halloween costume party last night, a few of my friends had to cancel afternoon plans to make last minute Halloween costume exchanges and/or accessory purchases, and someone told me that last night she had a trick or treater show up on her doorstep.  Okay, that last one was odd, but true.

Halloween is a big deal here in America; it is the second most commercial holiday behind Christmas.  In fact, when I was hosting two Norwegian libraries on Thursday, they asked me to drive around a bit more so they could admire all of the decorations.  They were especially tickled to see so many Halloween decorations in the libraries we visited.

I told them about Halloween in America and how it is a really big deal.  We talked about school parties and costume planning and treats.  They loved it all.  They said Norway is trying to get more into Halloween, but it is not taking off as well as some were hoping.  For sure, they do not have any decorations in their libraries, not because it isn’t allowed, but people would think it was a bit odd.

This got me thinking to how we got to where we are in America when it comes to Halloween.  Then I remembered, that last year Lisa Morton released a fantastic Nonfiction book entitled, Trick or Treat: The History of Halloween.  I had her write me a guest post about it here.

But you may not have time to buy that book and read it in the next 6 days [although it is worth a purchase for next year].  But we are all librarians and, as a group, we want to know WHY we do what we do, especially if candy is involved.

So I would highly suggest clicking here and checking out the video and article by History.com all about the history of Halloween.  From that page you can also find videos about what happens to our brain when we are afraid, history of witches, and even a video on candy corn.

I know many of you have Halloween plans this last weekend before the 31st.  Have a hauntingly great time.