Kindergarten students in 1952 race out of school in Los Angeles, eager to celebrate Halloween.
Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis via Getty Images
From its origins as a Celtic pagan ceremony to its celebration of all things gruesome and ghoulish today, Halloween has been reinvented over the centuries.
While some conservative Christians view Halloween as “devil worship”, finding a way to honour the dead is an important tradition in our generally death-denying society.
Confucius sculpture, Nanjing, China.
Kevinsmithnyc, via Wikimedia Commons
Although ‘Game of Thrones’ -style funeral pyres are still out of bounds, Americans are increasingly turning to cheaper, greener and more meaningful ways to dispose of their loved ones’ bodies.
Halloween parade in New York.
AP Photo/Andres Kudacki