The Halloween Encyclopedia

Halloween, as with many of our holidays, has been shaped by rich folk traditions from around the world. In recent years this has become combined with popular culture elements. Currently, Halloween seems to mark a time for children and adults to take on the persona of favourite fictional characters or character types and haunt their neighbourhoods, looking for treats or going to parties.

Only recently has Halloween as a holiday been a topic for scholarly study. Author Lisa Morton has written the first encyclopedia to cover both the folk traditions and popular culture influences of Halloween. Topics include mashed potatoes...