Thread: Horror and Halloween

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I read a book recently .."Halloween: From Pagan Rituals to Party Night." and within those pages it stated that Horror did not have much to do with Halloween until sometime in the '70's...being that I was born in the late '60's and grew up during the '70's and knowing halloween as all things spooky...I was curious as to how true this is.....

So come on old timers..clue us in!

I was born in the late 60s as well (1968) to be exact. Maybe all those horror movies (both good and bad) that came out in the 70s had something to do with it?

I was born in 1971 and Halloween was always spooky in my eyes.......still is. I guess it was the horror flicks from the 40's and 50's that instilled that in me personally.

They might be right. I was born Jan 1964 and have been TOTing since '69. Back then, it was all about the costumes, and most of them were cartoon characters & animals. Homemade costumes, at least for the boys, were usually bums or old women or maybe a superhero. Decorations consisted of Jack o'Lanterns & witch's brooms. Also, it was just for kids. The grownups might tag along if you were too young to roam the streets by yourself knocking on strangers' doors asking for treats. Gee, I wonder how we all survived!

I haven't read all of this book, but I believe that is true. Halloween was originally a very solemn Christian holiday with church services, prayer and souling. All Souls Day contributed the idea that the dead return, and Samhain contributed divination, partying, and fairies. And Christian beliefs instilled a fear of witches that had to be staved off at Halloween. These beliefs resulted in a certain amount of macabre associations, but these ideas had turned into quaint folk customs by the time Halloween became popular in the US, in the nineteenth century (and early Jesuit celebrations of All Saints Day/All Souls Day in America had been almost completely forgotten). Halloween in America was ghost stories, parties, pranking (replaced - mostly - by trick or treat), and divination in the area of love and marriage. Images of blood and horror had practically no association with Halloween until the 1970's slasher film explosion.

In the Irish sagas, Samhain had a lot of monsters, bloody battles and beheadings. Their stories make the slasher films look tame.

This begs an interesting question: What is everybody's favorite 'style' of Halloween? I enjoy all of it, but favor old-fashioned Halloween over modern Halloween, and Gaelic Samhain over modern Samhain.

I was born in 1952 and Hallowe'en back inna day always had an "Anything Goes" aspect to it. Scary? Well, I think it depends on what your neighborhood was like. Ghosts and Goblins and Vampires were very prevalent then.

Where was that book published, BTW? Other parts of the Civilized World tend to see things differently than in the Excited States.

The book, "Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night", was Published by Oxford University Press in New York City . The Author is Nicholas Rogers, who I believe is actually from the U.K., but everything is written about Halloween here in the U.S. or Canada.

Unlike the book, "Halloween, An American Holiday, An American History" by Lesley Pratt Bannatyne....Nicholas spends very little time on the History of Samhain....but for a long time, Halloween was more of a Guy Fawks celebration where pranks were more in the offering.
These pranks started out harmless, but became more devious and destructive as time went on and community leaders started having parties to occupy these youths and divert them from destructive pranks instead.

But what I have read from these two books....the Catholic Church had more to do with what we consider old time Halloween celebrations than what we can draw from old Pagan rituals!

Hey Jack, I've read both those books as well! I really liked Pagan Ritual to Party Night, it seemed to fill in on many things I've wondered about my favorite holiday.

I'm a 70's baby so I don't know what Halloween was like before then, but the impression I have is that before the 1950's it was for MAJOR MISCHIEF MAKING! We're quite a bit more controlled and reserved nowadays.

I recommend this book to anyone here, it's a pretty enjoyable read.

I found these two at the library...

The lines between Paganism and Catolicism have been very well defined by mighter pens then my own. Bottom line: Constantine knew that bringing in a monotheistic idea of religion (and one centered on the male, NOT the female) could wreak havoc, to say the least. Therefore, he incorporated some of the Pagan into some of the "new" religion and...the rest, as they say, is history.

I was raised Catholic and have always been fascinated by the Pagan aspect of the religion. I also realized that this is the reason some "born again" Christians that I have run into (as well as some Jehovah's Witnesses) have blatantly told me that I was not a true Christian and that I was going to hell. Somehow, I think they missed that whole "merciful God" idea and went straight to the fire and brimstone version that I am not fond of. I wear a silver ring with a black onyx ankh on it and this has been a source of endless issues with the undereducated/overindoctrinated that see the ankh as a sort of satanic symbol. I have repeatedly stated that the ankh (1) predates Christianity; (2) is a symbol of life; and (3) the Egyptians did not have a satan.

All that said, I would love to see a traditional Samhain celebration.