The Nerd's Guide to Halloween History
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Hey Reader, Do you celebrate Halloween? If so, what are your usual practices? This week, I’ve heard a variety of far-reaching traditions, from visiting seasonal haunted houses to real haunted houses to egging neighbours houses to costume parties and trick-or-treating with kids. When I was a kid, we’d layer our snowsuits under our costumes and trick-or-treat through the neighbourhood until our toes were numb. We’d have pillowcases full of treats from chips to candy to chocolate. I stopped trick-or-treating at age 10. But I still loved to dress up. It wasn’t until high school that I started celebrating again just with friends at parties—no door-to-door shenanigans. Now that I have my own child, I get to go trick-or-treating again. But times seem to have changed. My child is happy to call it a night after ten houses. And I’m okay with that. But I wonder if that is a new normal widespread or just our own family preference. What I love about this time of year is learning new things about different parts of the holiday through podcasts. For example, after a funny spoof of Spirit Halloween aired on SNL recently, the Stuff You Should Know podcast did a brief history of Spirit Halloween and the mega chain’s retail origin story (it’s fascinating!). So, if learning about the history of the holiday intrigues you, check out my new “Nerdy Halloween Podcast Playlist” And if you’re looking for a haunted Sci-Fi or Fantasy read this week, you can browse the titles in this Indie Author Giveaway—including my retelling of the spooky Icelandic legend, The Deacon of Dark River. But it's only active until Oct. 31. >Browse the books here< Happy Halloween! Until next week, Natalie Guttormsson Read My Other Stories: |