A comprehensive examination of the rituals and philosophies of the Celtic holiday of Samhain, the inspiration for Halloween. • Presents the true meaning of this ancient holiday and shows how contemporary observances still faithfully reflect the rituals of pagan ancestors. • Explains why this holiday, largely confined to the English-speaking world since the advent of Christianity, has spread throughout the rest of Europe over the last two decades. One of humanity's most enduring myths is that the dead, on certain nights of the year, can leave the Other World and move freely about the land of the living. Every year on October 31, when the children of the world parade through the streets dressed as monsters, skeletons, and witches, they reenact a sacred ceremony whose roots extend to the dawn of time. By receiving gifts of sweets from strangers, the children establish, on a symbolic plane that exceeds their understanding, a fraternal exchange between the visible world and the invisible world. Author Jean Markale meticulously examines the rituals and ceremonies of ancient festivities on this holiday and shows how they still shape the customs of today's celebration. During the night of Samhain, the Celtic precursor of today's holiday, the borders between life and death were no longer regarded as insurmountable barriers. Two-way traffic was temporarily permitted between this world and the Other World, and the wealth and wisdom of the sidhe, or fairy folk, were available to the intrepid individuals who dared to enter their realm. Markale enriches our understanding of how the transition from the light to the dark half of the year was a moment in which time stopped and allowed the participants in the week-long festival to attain a level of consciousness not possible in everyday life, an experience we honor in our modern celebrations of Halloween.

A wide-ranging, illustrated look at the history of Halloween illuminates the holiday from ancient Celtic ritual to billion-dollar industry. 32 halftones & line illustrations.

John Ankerberg, John Weldon, and Dillon Burroughs team up to revise and update The Facts on Halloween, a significant book from the popular Facts On Series (more than 1.9 million copies of books from this series sold). Known for their extensive research and Bible knowledge, these authors offer readers the essential facts they need to evaluate and discuss today's issues regarding Halloween, a widely popular event in which children and progressively more adults participate. The concise, easy-to-follow information helps readers answer such questions as: When and where did Halloween originate? What customs come from pagan beliefs? What should Christians know if they choose to participate in this event? Parents trying to establish wholesome family traditions and people who are concerned about this growing holiday will find what they are looking for in The Facts on Halloween—easy-to-understand, factual, and relevant information.

The most obvious of the pagan holidays is Halloween, which was originally a festival of fire and the dead and the powers of darkness. More than a mere history lesson, this book also presents a warning: the practice of Halloween honors a force that is as real today as it was 2,000 years ago.

'An excellent and comprehensive exploration of this fascinating subject.' - Philip Carr-Gomm, author Druid Mysteries ' Samhain was the entry point into winter, a time of hardship, cold and hunger ... It was also a time of introspection, of communing with the dead and the otherworld – themes that have somehow survived, albeit distorted, into the modern era.' The modern celebration of Halloween is derived from the ancient festival of the dead known in Ireland as Samhain. It is from Ireland that we have inherited most of our Halloween traditions, mainly through the diaspora. Delving into the ancient past, this book uncovers the history of this festival in Britain, Ireland and Brittany, including the forgotten goddess Tlachtga and the sacred temple of the Druids in Co. Meath, where the first Halloween fires were lit.

This meticulously edited ebook collection is formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices: Detective Stories: The Purloined Letter (Edgar Allan Poe) A Scandal in Bohemia (A. Conan Doyle) The Biter Bit (Wilkie Collins) The Safety Match (Anton Chekhov) The Black Hand (Arthur B. Reeve) Missing: Page Thirteen (Anna Katherine Green) Some Scotland Yard Cases (Sir Robert Anderson) The Rope of Fear (Thomas W. Hanshew and Mary E. Hanshew) Suspense Stories: The Birth Mark (Nathaniel Hawthorne) The Oblong Box (Edgar Allan Poe) A Terribly Strange Bed (Wilkie Collins) The Torture by Hope (Villiers de l'Isle Adam) The Mysterious Card (Cleveland Moffett) The Box with the Iron Clamps (Florence Marryat) My Fascinating Friend (William Archer) The Lost Room (Fitz-James O'Brien) The Great Valdez Sapphire (Anonymous) Ghost Stories: Thrawn Janet (Robert Louis Stevenson) The Horla (Guy de Maupassant) To Sura: A Letter (Pliny the Younger) The Beast with Five Fingers (William F. Harvey) Number 13 (Montague Rhodes James) Joseph: A Story (Katherine Rickford) Sister Maddelena (Ralph Adams Cram) The Man Who Went Too Far (E.F. Benson) The Phantom Rickshaw (Rudyard Kipling) The Apparition of Mrs. Veal (Daniel Defoe) Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book (M. R. James) The Haunted and the Haunters (Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton) The Silent Woman (Leopold Kompert) The Rival Ghosts (Brander Matthews) The Damned Thing (Ambrose Bierce) The Interval (Vincent O'Sullivan) Dey Ain't No Ghosts (Ellis Parker Butler) The Banshees of Ireland Some Real American Ghosts The Deserted House (E. T. A. Hoffmann) The Withered Arm (Thomas Hardy) The House and the Brain (Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton) The Roll-Call of the Reef (A. T. Quiller-Couch) The Open Door (Mrs. Margaret Oliphant) The Mysterious Sketch (Erckmann-Chatrian) Green Branches (Fiona Macleod) The Were-Wolf (H. B. Marryatt) Clarimonde (Théophile Gautier) The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral (M. R. James) Paranormal Psychic Stories Humorous Mystery Stories…

Learn the secrets of the most frightening, fun-filled day of the year! The only day when the forces of darkness are openly celebrated, Halloween comes down to us from the strange, shrouded mists of antiquity, originating in the pagan world and the primitive ceremonies that honor, the dark, mysterious Samhain, Lord of the Dead, at a time when the veil between our world and theirs is at its thinnest. The strange and weird beliefs of our ancestors live again, every October 31st, on the only day of the year when it is considered okay to dress in frightening costumes, to go door to door begging, and to feast on fear! A true classic in the literature of pagan lore, you will find this book frightening, fascinating, and fun!