Sunday 30 October 2011

From ghoulies and ghosties and long leggetty beasties...

All Hallows Eve
As a supernatural thriller writer, I could not let Halloween pass without making some kind of blog post so here goes.
For those not aware of the fact, Halloween is short for All Hallows Eve or 'All Saints' Eve, meaning it is the day preceding the 1st November which is celebrated in the Catholic church as the day when the Saints in heaven are remembered and prayed for. The following day, 2nd November is 'All Souls' day when the Catholic church prays for all souls, even those in purgatory. Halloween is also linked to the Celtic feast of Samhain, which was celebrated at that time. back in the annals of time, Samhain was originally a festive gathering and the setting for supernatural encounters.  
No one is quite sure of the origins of the custom of Halloween itself but it is inextricably linked with ghosts, spirits, monsters and the like and is enshrined in folklore as the one night of the year when supernatural entities thrive.
As a horror/thriller writer I cannot imagine a better night to read a supernatural novel with all the suspense and scary stereotyping it may bring. Great fodder for the imagination, even if it is all hokum! Of course, it also helps that it keeps the notions of good and evil, ghosts, monsters and things that go bump in the night truly alive in readers’ imaginations… And it doesn’t hurt to know the next generation of horror readers are keeping the tradition alive with their scary costumes and trick or treating on that one fright night of the year.

So Happy Halloween everyone!
Do you enjoy the customs and traditions of Halloween?

4 comments:

  1. Oh the fact my husband and I go to the Goth Festival in Whitby, North Yorkshire. It's great fun and we get to dress up too.

    I'm have to post this Anonymously as Blogger won't let be myself. I'm Jarmara
    http://darkfantasy13writer.blogspot.com

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  2. My first book was horror...LOve that genre. Halloween now for me is watching my grandkids have fun in their costumes.

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  3. I enjoyed the traditions of Halloween more so as a child. Not that I dislike it now, but I don't dress up and, being on the 3rd floor of a condo unit, I haven't had a trick or treaters for years.

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  4. Not really, to be honest! I'm too much for a wuss. Here in the UK, it's not as popular, and tends to focus mainly on sweets and commercialism.

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