Halloween, you'd not be surprised to know, is my favourite holiday. - J. K. Rowling. This startling book reveals the secret history of Halloween. Its findings are unexpected and occasionally controversial. Halloween was not the ""Celtic Festival of the Dead"" - far from the claims of druid sacrifice and blood rites, the feis of Samain was in fact marked by notorious revels of drinking and feasting. The dead were actually brought to 31st October by the later Christian festivals of All Saints and All Souls. Ancient monuments including British standing stone circles and pyramids in Egypt and South America were aligned to the rising of the star constellation of the Pleiades - at October's end. The most famous of the Scottish witch trials centered on an alleged plot to assassinate King James VI, hatched at a Halloween night witches sabbat. Irish and Scottish customs and superstitions travelled with emigration to America. Halloween rites described in an 18th century poem by Robert Burns survived into 20th century America and today's trick or treating is an evolution of Scots guising. Halloween has its origins in Scotland. The huge success of the Harry Potter novels has coincided with the unprecedented rise in Halloween's popularity and the mainstream acceptance of modern witchcraft. All three have been attacked by the Fundamentalist Religious Right, which seeks to have them banned from American schools and communities.
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not exactly what I was hoping for when I bought this,
This review is from: Halloween: Pagan Festival to Trick or Treat (Paperback)
"...I finished this book last night, and I have to say, I was kind of glad to be done with it. Not that it was a terrible book, because it wasn't. Not exactly. It was extremely informative, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting. Oxbrow really does take us WAY back, and one goal of his in writing this book was to help dispel some of the myths surrounding the origin of Halloween. I think he presents enough information to convince someone that they've been misinformed of the beginnings of this holiday, but the bulk of the text is mainly quotes and excerpts from the sources he used; there is comparatively little of the author's own narrative. I would have liked to read more about what he had to say, rather than reading his sources and then his opinion on the passage quoted. ..."For full review, please visit me (Les Livres) on Blogger! jaimeliredeslivres (dot) blogspot (dot) com
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
