Before the Pumpkin
The Older World of HalloweenBy ARO FEN
Length5h 57m
About this audiobook
Before the pumpkin, Halloween wore many faces.
Its history lies not in one ancient festival, but in centuries of shifting customs: sacred vigils and prayers for the dead, guisers at the door, matchmaking games, bonfires, turnip lanterns, stolen gates and enough seasonal mischief to test the patience of any village.
Following Halloween from the darker turn of the medieval year through Britain and Ireland and across the Atlantic, ARO FEN uncovers how scattered traditions gradually became the celebration we recognise today. Along the way, familiar stories about Samhain, trick-or-treating and the jack-o’-lantern are carefully separated from the evidence beneath them.
Atmospheric, wry and richly researched, *Before the Pumpkin* reveals a Halloween shaped by faith, fear, migration, commerce and human inventiveness. There was never one pure Halloween waiting in the past. There were pieces. People kept some, changed others and, without ever planning to, built the night we know.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★★ 5.0 (1)
GenreHistory, Spirituality and Religion
Length5 hrs 57 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateAug 15, 2023
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Opening — Before Orange
2Chapter 1 — When the Year Turned Dark
3Chapter 2 — Hallowing the Dead
4Chapter 3 — At the Door
5Chapter 4 — Someone Else’s Face
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter 5 — Apples, Nuts and Matrimony
7Chapter 6 — A Night for Trouble
8Chapter 7 — Fire in the Dark
9Chapter 8 — The Face in the Turnip
10Chapter 9 — Jack Was a Light Before He Was a Face
11Chapter 10 — Halloween Crosses the Atlantic
12Chapter 11 — The Pumpkin Takes the Face
13Chapter 12 — Give Us Something or Else
14Chapter 13 — Halloween Becomes Orange
15Closing — What Was There Before
More from ARO FEN
A Brief History of IntelligenceMax S. Bennett12h 18m4.6 (6.6K)$29 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m4.6 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
Days of Love and Rage: A Story of RevolutionAnand Gopal22h 36m4.7 (584)$34 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m4.6 (809)$28 · $0.00
Jubal Stone: U.S. Marshal: Blood Trail To Hell: A Western Adventure NovelCasey Nash3h 42m4.6 (3.2K)$18 · $0.00
Fall and RiseMitchell Zuckoff17h 23m4.6 (9.8K)$40 · $0.00
The SurvivorJosef Lewkowicz, Michael Calvin9h 22m4.6 (2.5K)$29 · $0.00
Always FaithfulThomas Schueman, Zainullah Zaki12h 12m4.6 (977)$29 · $0.00
The State of Society in France Before the Revolution of 1789 (Annotated)Alexis de Tocqueville17h 25m4.6 (1.2K)$2 · $0.00
All the Gallant MenDonald Stratton, Ken Gire5h 55m4.6 (11.8K)$24 · $0.00
Prayers from the Throne RoomBrian Simmons8h 55m4.9 (256)$10 · $0.00
31 Decrees of Blessing for Your LifePatricia King2h 38m4.8 (1.4K)$10 · $0.00
Loved BabySarah Philpott4h 51m4.8 (1.4K)$10 · $0.00
The QuranAllah23h 7m4.7 (136.1K)$1 · $0.00
The Secret of the RosaryLouis de Montfort6h 1m4.7 (16K)$2 · $0.00
The Holy Qur-an: Text, Translation and CommentaryAbdullah Yusuf Ali22h 16m4.7 (133K)$1 · $0.00
All of Grace (Annotated)Charles Spurgeon5h 1m4.7 (1.3K)$1.99 · $0.00
Steps to ChristEllen G. White3h 12m4.7 (13.8K)$2 · $0.00
The Doctrine and Selected CovenantsJoseph Smith13h 53m4.7 (10.4K)$0.99 · $0.00
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God & Other Sermons (Annotated)Jonathan Edwards7h 51m4.7 (1.5K)$2 · $0.00
Swayam Ki AwaazPrem Rawat8h 34m4.7 (1.1K)$26 · $0.00
Behind the BadgeAdam Davis10h 18m4.7 (2.7K)$10 · $0.00
The New Human Revolution, vol. 1Daisaku Ikeda7h 46m4.7 (669)$12 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m4.7 (4.8K)$29 · $0.00
Praying GraceDavid A. Holland3h 2m4.7 (658)$10 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
The Christ KeyChad Bird, Chad Bird7h 33m4.7 (592)$17.40 · $0.00
He and IGabrielle Bossis10h 12m4.7 (554)$17 · $0.00
Your Body Already KnowsNidhi Pandya Bhanshali9h 7m4.7 (360)$16 · $0.00
The Complete WorksFlorence Scovel Shinn7h 59m4.6 (6.6K)$2 · $0.00
You may also like
The Celtic TwilightW. B. Yeats3h 55m3.9 (3.6K)$1 · $0.00
The Fairy LegendsThomas Keightley22h 41m4.0 (429)$0.99 · $0.00
Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish PeasantryVarious12h 58m4.2 (8.1K)$2 · $0.00
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (Volumes 1 and 2) (Annotated)Songling Pu23h 51m4.2 (2.7K)$2 · $0.00
Christmas in Ritual and TraditionClement A. Miles13h 21m4.1 (286)$1 · $0.00
The Book of Hallowe'en – Origin, Practices & Beliefs (Illustrated Edition) (Annotated)Ruth Edna Kelley3h 37m4.0 (1.8K)$2 · $0.00
Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan: First Series (Annotated)Lafcadio Hearn9h 36m4.2 (643)$0.99 · $0.00
The Celtic TwilightW. B. Yeats3h 55m3.9 (3.7K)$2.30
The Legend of Sleepy HollowWashington Irving1h 23m4.0 (292.9K)$9 · $0.00
The Fairy MythologyThomas Keightley21h 35m4.1 (956)$2 · $0.00
Little Goblins TenPamela Jane4m4.3 (1K)$4 · $0.00
Chu's Day at the BeachNeil Gaiman6m4.0 (1.7K)$4 · $0.00
The Romance of the Milky Way, and Other Studies & StoriesLafcadio Hearn3h 53m3.9 (66)$2 · $0.00
Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (Annotated)Thomas Crofton Croker9h 13m3.8 (189)$2 · $0.00
The Fairy MythologyThomas Keightley23h 1m$2 · $0.00
Folk-Lore and Legends: EnglishVarious4h 46m4.0 (27)$2 · $0.00
British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions (Annotated)Wirt Sikes11h 53m4.0 (543)$2 · $0.00
Legend Land (Vol. 1-4)Various Authors4h 17m3.6 (51)$2 · $0.00
Myth, Ritual and Religion (Vol. 1&2) (Annotated)Andrew Lang24h 2m$2 · $0.00
Folk LoreJames Napier5h 55m3.8 (46)$2 · $0.00