"This is a forum for soft yard haunters to contribute their thoughts on haunting and trick or treating, reviews of books about Halloween, films with scenes of trick or treating, television programs with Halloween themes as well as newspaper and magazine Halloween articles and descriptions of events in your city.-
"The culture of Halloween".
Essay by Larry Schmidt ~ February 10, 2008
"On the c d of music from Tim Burton's movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas", a narrator begins with the following introduction: "Was a long time ago, longer now than it seems, in a place that perhaps you've seen in your dreams, for the story that you're about to be told began in the holiday worlds of old. Now you've probably wondered where holidays come from. If you haven't, I'd say it's time you've begun. For the holidays are the result of much fuss and hard work for the worlds that create them for us. Well, you see now, quite simply, that's all that they do, making one unique holiday especially for you."
This introduction isn't in the movie, but refers to a circle of trees deep in a forest, where the trunks of trees forming a ring have doorways carved with emblems of Christmas, Halloween, Easter and other holidays. Open a door and one enters the world that is and that creates that particular holiday - in this case the main character goes back and forth between the worlds of Halloween and Christmas. As a haunter, this rings true. It describes who we are and what we do. Most of us don't have Halloween as all that we do. I also do Christmas and Eater and other holidays in a big way as well as other hobbies and interests. But these holidays all have their own worlds and their own doors that we enter when we create for them. For many haunters, the creative process is "much fuss and hard work", that occupies us all year long. This kind of involvement is very different from someone who only enjoys Halloween during October by lying back and letting the observance wash over them. We are denizens of the magical Halloween world.
Many of these holidays are closely linked to the season in which they occur, and are very ancient. I find the cultural history of holidays fascinating. Regardless of what fashions may come and go, we can remember the origins and reasons for our seasonal customs, if we take the time to learn about their backgrounds. History informs us about the present. Two books written in recent years that discuss Halloween history are "Halloween, An American Holiday, an American History" by Leslie Pratt Bannatyne, and "Halloween, and Other Festivals of Death and Life'" edited by jack Santino. But any public library will have book on the history of holidays. continued >>