Reference

Halloween

Jack-o-lantern

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Halloween includes cookery, decorations, and children's fiction.

For fiction search for horror tales and ghost stories.

Halloween is celebrated on 31 October. The name is a abbreviated version of "All Hallows' Even", the evening before All Hallows' Day (All Saints' Day) on 1 November. "Hallow" is an Old English word for "holy person".

In the northern hemisphere it is autumn/fall and so despite its being spring in New Zealand, traditional symbols include pumpkins and other late harvest produce.

In the United States, a traditional Halloween activity is Trick-or-treating. Costumed children proceed from house to house, asking for treats such as sweets with the question, "Trick or treat?" Trick-or-treating is becoming more common in New Zealand.

About Halloween

Halloween: Facts and Misinformation
From the Religious Tolerance website - find out more about the intersecting religious elements of this period which including Samhain, All Saints Day, All Souls Day (the day of the Dead), Halloween itself and Reformation day.
Halloween - How Stuff Works
Informative history and explanation of various Halloween traditions.
The History of Halloween - The History Channel
Find out more about the origins of Halloween, spooky recipes, and watch some creepy video clips.
Halloween on the Net - holidays.net
Fun Halloween things including dancing skeletons, Halloween stories, pictures for kids to print and colour, and some Halloween recipes.
Halloween - Wikipedia
Halloween around the world, symbols and religious viewpoints.

Scary Stuff

Mister B Gone by Clive BarkerHalloween indulgences can include scary movies such as John Carpenter's Halloween (1978). The Internet Movie Database has a section on Horror movies including a list of the luminaries of the genre such as Christopher Lee, Bela Lugosi, and Alfred Hitchcock.

Scary movies in our DVD collection include Frankenstein, Black Sheep, Corpse Bride, Sleepy Hollow, The Others, House of Wax, and The Amityville Horror.

If you like scary reading, see our list of horror writers. The Bram Stoker Awards are a good source of hot horrors, and you can see the newest horror titles every month on our New Titles page.

Halloween Resources

If you are dressing up for Halloween, see our guide to costumes and wearable art.

Halloween celebrations in New Zealand

Search the Papers database for articles about Halloween.

Read historical Halloween celebrations recorded in the newspapers available on Papers Past.