by Happy Halloween
(photo – EKR)
Tonight is Halloween and all the little boys and girls will be out trick-or-treating. Our granddaughter is coming over to visit a few houses, then help answer the door in her “ghost princess” costume and scare the callers! Little children with their excitement in role play make Halloween special for me, not the whole commercialization of an ancient custom (as I complained a year ago).
Leslee of Third House Party wrote a lovely post, along with fabulous photos, about pumpkins and the annual Pumpkin Festival in the town of Keene, New Hampshire, USA which currently holds the world record for the most lit pumpkins in one location. And Amy of “ever so humble”, also in New Hampshire, defines lanterns.
Finnish readers will enjoy reading Anna Amnell’s posts on the tradition of Halloween and adult Americans’ super early Halloween craze as a form of escapism from the stresses created by a media mix of murders and trivia (“Horrible-Beautiful Breakfast Mix”). She finishes with a link to James Joyce’s The Dead which reveals that for Irish and Anglo Americans Halloween is really about the acceptance of death.
This sounds to me rather like the Day of the Dead in Mexico.
More interesting seasonal links can be found at Samhain, Halloween & Day of the Dead. Have a happy and safe Halloween!
UPDATE Nov.3.05. An interesting article in National Geographic on how Mexicans celebrate Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
October 31, 2005 in Culture, Folk Legends & Myths by Marja-Leena
Thanks for the link, Marja-Leena. Happy Halloween! I’ve been writing down the types of little visitors we’ve had here – many pirates this year, I’ve noticed, and dragons for the very little ones. I may post the tally. Have fun with your granddaughter – I loved her costume!
Rediscovered the carving of Rutabaga, in the original tradition from Ireland, in memory of Stingy Jack. Once you’ve hollowed out the core and have a half inch shell to work with, the carving comes alive with more solid texture and depth than the americanized version of pumpkins. When lit, you get some interesting subtleties due to the purple and yellow colours of this root vegetable. I carried mine throughout the day, and had so many comments and questions about it. Lots of room to experiment!
Thanks leslee – yes, it was fun to see her excitement in getting the costume and makeup on and the role play! We didn’t get huge numbers of trick or treaters this year, so much of the candy will be passed around school/work etc.
Linda, I’d read about the use of rutabagas! How neat that you tried it out. It’s a favourite vegetable here so I know how hard it is, but can’t imagine how you’d ever carve out the inside!!!!
Happy belated halloween! I especially like the pumpkin with the toothy grin.
Hi Amy! Those teeth are chunks of pumpkin attached with toothpicks – cool, eh?!