UPDATED (again): A Halloween Round Up

As we draw closer to the annual celebration of Halloween, we are likely to see repeated claims that Halloween is, at its root, pagan and even Satanic. This, of course, is simply not true and the origins of the celebrations as they have down to us today are a bit convoluted.

To help you prepare for Halloween and maybe to learn a little something or two, here are a few links that may be of interest to you (some of which I've posted before):

• Truth About Halloween: The Real Story, by Father Augustine Thompson, O.P.

• The Drama of Hallowmas, by Sally Thomas

• Catholic Answers to Your Halloween Questions, by Christina Mead

• Halloween or Samhain? by Jon Sorensen

• Are Ouija boards harmless? 

• An Open Letter to My Sisters this Halloween, by AaronHostetter

• All Things Spooky, by Mark Shea

• It's Time for Catholics to Embrace Halloween, by Fr. Steve Grunow

• Halloween: Another secularization of a Catholic tradition, by Dave Luecking

• I'm So Done With Apologizing For Halloween, by Frank Weathers

• Why Christians Should Love Halloween, byRachel Lu

• Who's Afraid of All Hallows' Eve? by Megham McNally 

• Of Halloween Candy and Evangelization, by Jonathan Sullivan

• Halloween or Samhain, by Jon Sorenson 

• How Candy Conquered Halloween, by Virginia Postrel 

• Thou shalt not kill the undead? What the Catechism says about zombies, by Daniel Bearman 

• Think Halloween isn't Chatholic? Think again, by Emily Stimpson 

• The long, twisted history of All Hallows' Eve, by Mark Shea