Here in America, it can be safely said that the average child grows up with a minimal understanding of Halloween. Even though it is one of the top-grossing holidays in this country, just behind Christmas in revenue and one night which kids, young and old, look forward to with a mischievous, fanatical glee, the actual origins and meaning behind the rituals we perform each year (now greatly bastardized from the original rituals, but great fun nonetheless) are lost upon the masses. There are no stories (with perhaps the exception of THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN) that are passed down from one generation to the next, no moral or spiritual instruction and no sense of purpose or place. If you ask your neighbor's kid...or even their parents...what Halloween is about, I guarantee you that the response will be something about dressing up as the most recent superhero (this year I'm sure we're to see quite a few Iron Man and Joker costumes) and getting candy. Lots and lots of candy. End of story. If you ask them about the origin of pumpkin carving or the Celtic myths of Samhain I'm sure the eager hunger for corn syrup glazing their eyes would quickly dissolve into an innocent befuddlement and a mild annoyance, only children are truly capable of when regarding adults. That, I'm afraid, is the work of decades of this great capitalistic nation leeching the life out of tradition and siphoning it back into a plastic mold somewhere over in China in order to create cute little plastic pumpkins to hang in one's windows (again, tragic, yet great fun).

Halloween isn't the only holiday that has fallen victim to monetary enslavement and zombification: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July. Even Easter, a truly inherently religious holiday, has been reduced to painted eggs and candy. Of course, if you lived in my house, growing up, it would have been the all about the "celebration of rabbits for they are a beautiful creature that deserves their own holiday"...but that is another story for another time (thanks, Dad, you crazy hippie). Americans have become quite lazy about passing on the myths, legends and traditions that accompany the holidays they willingly give over a fourth of their income each year to decorate their houses in honor of. It is truly sad for Halloween has such a rich and interesting history riddled with legends and lore as fascinating as the best Grimm Brothers' Tale. Lucky for us, many talented authors have utilized their talents to deliver books, such as Lisa Morton's 2008 collection A HALLOWE'EN ANTHOLOGY, that allow the curious Halloween enthusiast a deeper insight into the holiday they have come to fervently adore.

Morton's new anthology is a comprehensive examination of the Halloween holiday through collected literary and historical writings dating back several centuries. Beginning with three Celtic myths on Samhain, the earliest from around 800 B.C., and ending with an essay on pageantry practices entitled "Present-Day Mumming at Brooklyn" by the 1920's author Robert Withington, Morton takes us on a fantastic journey through the evolution of Halloween. The book's twenty-seven entries are an exquisite, thoughtfully selected arrangement testifying to Morton's love affair with the spooky holiday. Accompanying these literary pieces is an array of vintage photographs and grayscale Halloween illustrations which Morton has collected over the years including old postcards and eerie turn of the century photos of morning-after pranks performed by youth on Halloween night. These images help to emphasize the cultural development of the holiday up until the early twentieth century and serve as a reminder of the great joy people have taken in the celebration of All Hallows Eve, despite their fears or superstitions. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this anthology, delighting in both the spooky ancient myths, as well as the interesting non-fiction period essays. A HALLOWE'EN ANTHOLOGY is not simply for adults, but could easily be shared with children of any age, reigniting the tradition of storytelling so lacking in today's modern home. Why, there is even a 19th century list of Halloween games, though you might want to skip the one about melting lead and pouring it through a wedding ring. For anyone who enjoys Halloween, I highly recommend selecting this book as part of your holiday reading, infusing a much-desired element of mystical lore and tradition into an already enthusiastically celebrated night of ghosts, gore and, yes, plastic pumpkins filled with candy.