No matter how you’re celebrating All Hallows Eve this year, we here at Airdrie Public Library (APL) would like to expand your understanding of the origins of this spooky holiday.
Celebrated primarily in the Western world, Halloween can seem like a bizarre mashup of juvenile frivolity with spine-tingling creepiness.
History tells us the celebration originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.
In the eight century, Pope Gregory III appointed Nov. 1 as a time to honour all saints. Out of this, All Saints Day somehow merged with Samhain traditions. Eventually, All Saints became known as All Hallows Eve, and eventually what we now know as Halloween.
The horror side of this eerie festivity, however, dates to at least ancient Greece.
In Greek mythology, Prometheus, a Titan who defied Zeus by stealing fire and giving it to mankind and was consequently eternally punished for his supposed lack of judgement, is credited in part as the inspiration for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein monster. Shelley’s subtitle for her gothic novel is The Modern Prometheus.
Since the publication of her novel in 1818, Frankenstein’s monster and his howling-at-the moon buddies have appeared in hundreds of movies, plays, novels, comics and television programs.
Which brings us back to APL and our generous collection of in-house and online horror.
We’ve got stories about vampires, werewolves, monsters, the paranormal and much more by authors like Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Darren Shan, R.L Stine and H.P. Lovecraft..
Books like Tales of Horror, The Shining, Goosebumps, and, of course, Frankenstein, show that while humanity has moved away from the magical thinking of ancient times to a more scientific and rational mindset, we still hold onto a weird desire to have the heebie-jeebies frightened out of us.
If you’re feeling the need to have your skin crawl stop by APL.
For more information visit airdriepubliclibrary.ca, call 403-948-0600 or drop by the library.
