Halloween in America: Contemporary Customs and Performances
1983; Western States Folklore Society; Volume: 42; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/1499461
ISSN2325-811X
Autores Tópico(s)Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
ResumoHalloween in America is a very popular holiday marked by a great deal of expressive culture which calls attention to itself and the day to which it belongs. Traditional Halloween activities include the making of decorations for the home, such as jack-o'-lanterns, displays of fruits and vegetables, harvest figures, and paper witches and skeletons. Another major Halloween activity is the making and wearing of costumes and masquerading in the streets of urban America. Also, the belief in and rumors about people who put razor blades in apples or drugs in candy is a very strong component of contemporary Halloween verbal lore, given credence and corroboration by the 1982 Tylenol scare. Despite the obvious wealth of symbolic and traditional activity attendant to the day and, indeed, the entire season of the year in which it occurs, Halloween has been studied by folklorists only sporadically. Most books on Halloween seem to be children's books; the best of these, such as Edna Barth's Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts, tells us something of the history of the holiday.' More often, good information on Halloween is found either in books on related subjects, such as Katherine Briggs's works on fairy lore,2 or in ethnographic studies of Celtic peoples, such as that of the Welsh by
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