Halloween Greetings from Ohrstrom Library

Lisa Laughy – Archives Assistant

Librarian Action Figure is suited up for Halloween and ready to share her enthusiasm for the day at Ohrstrom Library.  A quick trip to the reference room provided her with this tidbit of information on the origins of Halloween celebrations in the U.S.:

“Halloween has its ultimate origins in the ancient Celtic harvest festival, Samhain, a time when people believed that the spirits of the dead roamed the earth.  Irish settlers brought their Halloween customs – which included bobbing for apples and lighting jack-o’-lanterns – to America in the 1840s.”

From: Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary, pg. 223. Ref. 394 H38 2005.

She also noticed the following fiction titles on the New Book Display in the Baker Reading Room, which she thought might make for some good scary reading over the weekend:

  • Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke, Fiction F96
  • Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin, Fiction F85
  • Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, Fiction L23
  • The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean, Fiction M12

She would like to remind you to be sure to stop by the library on your trick-or-treat route, and to wish you all a fun, scary, and sugar-filled Halloween!

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