Customer Reviews

The Halloween Encyclopedia

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Lisa Morton's The Halloween Encyclopedia is no light reading, but intended for the serious scholar of world holiday legends and culture, and provides major entries about the origins and myths surrounding Halloween. The first book devoted solely to Halloween was published a little over a century ago, and most since have revolved around fairy tales and legends. Lisa Morton's A-Z encyclopedic reference is intended for the scholar seeking serious references on the topic, and will fit the bill for any college-level academic collection and many a public library refrence shelf.

I enjoyed this book very much. It is a sound scholarly work and even though it has all the meticulous research to appeal to serious folklorists, it will also be of interest to the general reader. Apart from the main dictionary entries, there are also two appendices (appendix 1 contains a chronology of Halloween and appendix 2 discusses how Halloween has been portrayed in literature and the arts - the cinema is included). In addition, the author provides us with a rich bibliography of mainly academic works as well as a useful index.
Halloween has long been a popular festival in Western christendom. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the equivalent remembrances for the souls of the dead occur on the 'psychosavvata' or 'soul Saturday'; yet these take place in spring (like the ancient Greek 'Antheseria', the entry for which is to be found on p.13). It is not surprising therefore that this book contains details about customs from mainly Catholic countries. Many of these ethnic customs and traditions relate to certain countries such as Mexico ( e.g. 'El Dia do los Muertes' or the Day of the Dead)and the Celtic cultures, especially the Irish , Scottish and Welsh. Indeed there are many entries that pertain to terms from these aforementioned cultures. However, in some of the longer entries, traditions from some other countries are also recorded. For instance, in the fascinating entry on All Souls Day we are informed about distinct celebrations from various European countries such as Poland, Italy, Portugal and Germany etc.
There are, however, just a few constuctive observations that could be made about certain very minor errors(which in no way detract from the exceptional quality of this book). For instance, in a few of the foreign language terms, especially those taken from Celtic languages, there could perhaps have been slightly more thorough editing. For instance, the Welsh 'hwch du gwta' mentioned on p. 166 as the 'black sow' is in fact the black tailless sow and the middle word should be 'ddu'(pronounced as the archaic English word 'thee') and not 'du' (even though the Welsh word 'du' does indeed mean 'black', the word in this context should undergo a mutation and thus be 'ddu'). On the subject of the Welsh black tailless sow, the equally important Halloween ghost from Wales called the 'ladi wen' (white lady) was not mentioned. Moreover, the reference to the 'tylweth teg' should read 'tylwyth teg' (i.e. 'fair people' - one of several Welsh names for the fairies). The Irish word for fairy is 'si' (with an accent called a 'fada' on the 'i') whereas the author uses the outmoded spelling of 'sidhe'.
From the fellow-Celtic land of Cornwall, there is an interesting but too concise entry on 'Allantide'. Here the reference to the 'Allan apples' does not connect these particular apples to the ritual of (Cornish) girls placing them under their pillows to inspire a dream of their future spouses (alluded to on p.16). This detail could easily have been cross-referenced to both the excellent entry on 'bobbing for apples' and perhaps to the equally interesting entry on 'fortune telling'.
Something else that is of interest in this book is the frequent conflation that is apparent between Halloween and Christmas. Prof. Jack Santino (for whom there is actually an entry) referred to Halloween as the 'Irish Christmas'. Indeed, there is much in common between the two festivals in several cultures, not only in Ireland. This is why we can notice common traditons such as the Christmas game of 'snapdragon' also being played at Halloween. Other common customs can be seen in the entries on 'belsnickling', 'mumming', 'hogmanay', 'mistletoe' and 'strawboys' (the strawboys also feature in Irish weddings). Another noteworthy feature is the wise inclusion of Guy Fawkes Night/Bonfire Night (Nobvember 5th). Even though the 'Guy (effigy) was not burnt in the original fires after the 1605 Gunpowder Plot (this custom was introduced a couple of centuries later), the bonfire on November 5th gradually replaced the earlier bonfires that had formerly been lit at Halloween. This book provides a wealth of fascinating information and opens up so many interesting questions about Halloween - both old and new. It is my favourite title about this celebration and I thoroughly recommend it!

I stumbled upon this book because I really love Halloween and was looking for something a little more than the standard kid's fare. I enjoyed how it was divided by the alphabet, which made digesting things a lot more fun. There's a lot in this book, not only that, but there were things I learned that I never thought of before, like where Scarecrows came from.

Of course, it's a bit on the expensive side, but I bit the bullet. I can pass it down to my son when he starts trick or treating and hopefully it will inspire him to dig deeper and we can celebrate Halloween for more than candy and masks.

Lisa Morton's THE HALLOWEEN ENCYCLOPEDIA is a stunning piece of non-fiction. I purchased the book as a means to educate myself toward the purpose of writing accurate fiction. Previous attempts to glean facts from 'scholarly' tomes and Internet sources either made my head swim or left me wanting more. I found the book to be written with a self-assured and knowledgeable hand in neither dry or elitist manner. Accessible and fascinating, it included lore that I'd not seen elsewhere and sparked my imagination in ways I hadn't expected. Reading a research book for fun has never been my idea of entertainment, but this book got me browsing not just for enlightenment, but for the pure joy of it!

Lisa Morton's Halloween Encyclopedia is an eye opening experience for the novice or the holiday scholar. So many previous books cited information merely copied from earlier resources that were at best overused and at worst completely wrong but repeated endlessly as if to make them true. Everything from the dieties involved in the early ceremonies to the modern day take on a completely evolved celebration in this book is carefully researched and chronicled. It may upset fans who believe many of the previous untruths concerning the holiday or wanted more of their particular bent to be included in the book(as seems to have happened to another reviewer here) but there is a reason and rhyme to all entries in this tome and it belongs on any serious revelers bookshelf. It also belongs in all reference libraries.

Like a bag filled with delicious treats on a full moon Hallow's Eve, The Halloween Encyclopedia is a cornucopia of delights. Open this book to any page and you will discover fascinating, intriguing, and downright fun facts, legends, stories, anecdotes, and frights.

Granted, this book is not a doctoral thesis that tries to reconcile and define the vast myriad of human Halloween culture. It is, rather, a fun romp through history and lore that serves to entertain and educate. I highly recommend this book as a resource for educators, parents, researchers, writers, and just plain people who want to enjoy their Halloween spirits... so to speak.

I collect books on Halloween - photography, encyclopedias, histories, etc., and so when I saw this halloween encyclopedia I was anxious to purchase it. The price was a bit staggering, especially considering how slender the book is (a mere 255 pages - including the index), but I thought there might be new insight, interesting articles, and color photographs. No, to all of those. The book is a paperback printed on rather cheap paper and the articles are boring. All illustrations are in black and white. I am extremely disappointed, both in the book and in myself. I should have paid more attention to the specifics - paperback, number of pages, but what I fail to understand is the extremely inflated price. This book should be no more than $19.95, and it's being sold for a whopping $72! Not worth it by any means. Unless you can find it at a reasonable price, save your money!

Like Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud's A Dictionary of English Folklore ((2000), Lisa Morton's The Halloween Encyclopedia (2003) represents a factually sound but poetically reductive examination of its subject. Both books sacrifice an inherent sense of wonder in the name of scholarly and/or academic respectability, with fairly sterile results, unlike, for instance, comparable works by British historian Ronald Hutton. The tone of Morton's text would be equally suitable to a handbook on carpentry or automobile repair.

Morton's approach is doubly underscored by the unenthusiastic, almost parsimonious, design of the book: with very few exceptions, the illustrations, all of which are in black and white, are disappointing, uninviting, and undefinitive representations of their subjects. Considering the thousands of illuminating and visionary Halloween graphics available, those included suggest that Morton has little visual imagination whatsoever, and thus a probable weakness for interpreting the holiday's symbology.

Importantly, Morton's visual failing crosses over to the book's text: for example, in several entries, Morton expresses perplexity about the meaning and relevance of scarecrows at Halloween: "The popularity of scarecrows as a Halloween symbol is something of an anomaly, since scarecrows are not practical in late October, when crops have already been harvested." One might as well ask why images of snow and snowmen play such a large part in traditional Christmas iconography.

Morton clearly understands--at least intellectually--that Halloween has undeniable agrarian roots and is partially a celebration of harvest; thus she should perceive that the scarecrow, on one level, represents the "autumn other" who, by proxy, presides like a vigilant demi-god over the stages of the agricultural cycle, which, of course, have traditionally culminated with Halloween. On the most basic level, scarecrows and snowmen are simply personifications of the seasons and holiday each represents. But, as human doppelgangers composed largely of vegetable matter, scarecrows are also 'betwixt and between' liminal figures of the highest order.

Throughout the book, Morton's commentary often suggests that she is and always has been an urban dweller with little or no first-hand experience of country life. A leisurely road trip through the Midwest, New York State, and New England during August, September, and October might provide Morton with the broad insight she seems to lack.

Elsewhere, many of Morton's entries seem sadly imbalanced. The entry for 'Guy Fawkes Night' is over six pages in length and 'Pranking' over four, while 'Devil' receives three meager paragraphs, and 'Ghosts,' only six paragraphs. Likewise, Latin America's 'Days Of The Dead' receives over four full pages of text, but 'Harvest' only two paragraphs. Some entries are padded with questionable material, such as the extraneous paragraph on Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Black Cat' which supplements the entry on 'Cats.'

Morton has an easy appreciation for late twentieth century cultural products like John Carpenter's 'Halloween' (1979), but no apparent insight whatsoever into what the 'Jack-O'-Lantern' might have meant to twentieth century audiences, or might mean to celebrants of the present era. Is the American jack-o'-lantern of today merely a meaningless colored shell mechanically and thoughtlessly carved and placed on porches and in windows? Or does the yearly ritual mean something, however obscure, to many who participate?

Anthropomorphic vegetable figures were a prominent Halloween symbol during the early twentieth century, when most Americans were still living agrarian lives, and yet there is no entry considering them, which may leave readers with the impression that the numinous aspects of many powerful Halloween symbols are simply beyond Morton's range of understanding or expression.

The Halloween Encyclopedia should have been a feast for the mind, imagination, and senses, but is unlikely to inspire enthusiasm in either those new to the study of the subject or those with considerable interest in it. Morton's reference to "the gays in American," as if such a label, which many with preferences for their own sex reject, could identify millions of diverse individuals, is unintentionally hilarious, and readers may wonder what Morton's unqualified aside that Reagan Administration oppressed "gays and gay rights" is doing in a book on Halloween.

I'm not much of a Hallowe'en fan as it is celebrated today, but I enjoyed this book because it primarily talked about the more interesting celebrations at the turn of the century. I wish, however, that some or all of the wonderful vintage Halloween postcards had been in color.