Book Review: Death Makes A Holiday

 

Death Makes A Holiday by David Skal is an abbreviated cultural and social history of Halloween, Hallow's Eve, Hallowmas, Samhain, Guy Fawke's Day, and the other many names that the Halloween we know today was once referred to as.  Skal's description of Halloween being the time of the year when the division between the visible world and the spirit world is at its thinnest cuts to the heart of the origination of Halloween, which dates back to the Celts and the Romans who celebrated harvest festivals and the once green vegetative life dying and returning to the earth as dust.

The book, like I said, is an abbreviated history of Halloween, and, for that, I say thank you, David Skal.  There needn't be a tome about Halloween.  Because it is a pithy, little book, it is an enchanting, engaging read that will get you excited about Halloween instead of nodding off into sleep wondering how Halloween could be so boring.  If you do want more details, there is the exhaustive list of references in the back of the book.

The introduction and five chapters in the book cover the first episode of tainted, tampered candy; the evolution of Halloween; the Salem Witch trials and Salem, Massachusetts's enterprising Halloween tourism; over-the-top Halloween decoration sites in America; and the importance of Halloween for gay communities as a doorway to stepping out and expressing their sexuality.  Each chapter is unique and interesting, but I do have my favorites.  My very favorite is "The Halloween Machine."  This is the chapter that discusses the evolution of Halloween from more of a spiritual harvest festival for Pagans to a time when children really did trick uncooperative adults who did not place candy in their beggar's hand to today with trademarked, licensed costumes and all treat no trick.

Although I do love this book and make a point to read it every Halloween as a historical refresher and as a way to up the excitement of fall and the time when the supposed veil between life and death is at its thinnest, I don't quite understand why Skal decided to write what he did in his introduction.  The introduction could have stood as a chapter unto its self.  It seems much more like a chapter and much less like an introduction.  The introduction concerns its self with the first piece of tainted, deadly candy, and how the media was mostly to blame for giving adults the idea to tamper with Halloween treats.  There was no recorded episode of a tainted piece of candy killing a child until the media had its first expose' on the dangers of tainted candy.  Then, after the media coverage, a father got the bright idea to kill his child to collect insurance money, and he put cyanide in a giant Pixy Stix for his son to enjoy right before bedtime after the long night of trick or treating.  I don't want to include spoilers, so I'll stop there. 

In the introduction there is no set-up for what to expect in his book or any explanation for how he arrived at the idea of writing his book or why he chose to write about the topics that he did.  I wish he would have allowed the introduction to stand alone as a sixth chapter and written a completely different introduction that clued us in as to why he wrote Death Makes A Holiday.  Because he did not, there are lingering questions at to what was his motivation, what makes him an authority on Halloween, and, just for human interest, why does he love Halloween.  But, then again, this is a very minor complaint.

If you love Halloween, you should definitely read this book, and, if you'd like another suggestion to get you in the mood for Halloween, read The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford published in or around 1963, and there are about three other Skal books to choose from.