Happy Halloween

On Monday night while we were carving our pumpkins we looked up a little Halloween History and what we found was really quite interesting!

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced "sah-win").  The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. Samhain was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and prepare for winter. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops.
The festival would frequently involve bonfires. It is believed that the fires attracted insects to the area which attracted bats to the area. These are additional attributes of the history of Halloween.

Masks and costumes were worn in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or appease them.
Trick-or-treating, is an activity for children on or around Halloween in which they proceed from house to house in costumes, asking for treats such as confectionery with the question, "Trick or treat?" The "trick" part of "trick or treat" is a threat to play a trick on the homeowner or his property if no treat is given. Trick-or-treating is one of the main traditions of Halloween. It has become socially expected that if one lives in a neighborhood with children one should purchase treats in preparation for trick-or-treaters.

Part of the history of Halloween  is Halloween costumes. The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays goes back to the Middle Ages, and includes Christmas wassailing. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of "souling," when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2). It originated in Ireland and Britain, although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as Italy. Shakespeare mentions the practice in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593), when Speed accuses his master of "puling [whimpering, whining], like a beggar at Hallowmas."

In folklore, an old Irish folk tale tells of Jack, a lazy yet shrewd farmer who uses a cross to trap the Devil. One story says that Jack tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree, and once he was up there Jack quickly placed crosses around the trunk or carved a cross into the bark, so that the Devil couldn't get down. Another myth says that Jack put a key in the Devil's pocket while he was suspended upside-down.

Another version of the myth says that Jack was getting chased by some villagers from whom he had stolen, when he met the Devil, who claimed it was time for him to die. However, the thief stalled his death by tempting the Devil with a chance to bedevil the church-going villagers chasing him. Jack told the Devil to turn into a coin with which he would pay for the stolen goods (the Devil could take on any shape he wanted); later, when the coin/Devil disappeared, the Christian villagers would fight over who had stolen it. The Devil agreed to this plan. He turned himself into a silver coin and jumped into Jack's wallet, only to find himself next to a cross Jack had also picked up in the village. Jack had closed the wallet tight, and the cross stripped the Devil of his powers; and so he was trapped. 

In both myths, Jack only lets the Devil go when he agrees never to take his soul. After a while the thief died, as all living things do. Of course, his life had been too sinful for Jack to go to heaven; however, the Devil had promised not to take his soul, and so he was barred from Hell as well. Jack now had nowhere to go. He asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and the Devil mockingly tossed him an ember that would never burn out from the flames of hell. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which was his favorite food), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern", or Jack-o'-Lantern.

Sensei Wu

The Cutest Bat Ever!!

The kids had so much fun trick or treating last night, Calum especially got right into it!  Every house we went to he would say really quite loud, "Trick or Treat!" and once the door was answered he would ask what their name was, he would tell them his, "I'm Caum, I'm dressed as Sensei Wu for Halloween.  Emry is a owl...I mean a bat, hee, hee! Armin is a pumkin and my mom is nothing!"  It was quite entertaining and I think the people found it that way too!  At some houses the people were not as chatty and as we left Calum would say they didn't talk good!  From the steps of each house Calum would yell to Jared, who was driving the van and keeping it nice and toasty warm for us, "Dad, I got more candy!"  It was so much fun taking them around!  Armin did so well too!  Never one complaint...I had the kids all bundled up quite well, and with Armin's pumpkin costume there was no chance of him getting cold.  The puffiness made it a little difficult for him to walk, as well as the skating rink roads, so I carried him and man did he start to get heavy!  After doing a few streets in town we drove down Alston Road to some friends and then to Papa John's and Grandma Roxanne's and finishing at Grandma Debbie's!  The kids got a ton of candy...too much in fact!  We put Calum and Armin's in a big bowl that is sitting on the kitchen counter and is a free for all when ever we pass it.  Emry put all her candy in her own big bowl and stashed it in her room, probably a good idea!!  It may last a little longer that way!

It was a great night and I think their costumes turned out really good!  Armin was a pumpkin, the same costume Myrna and I made for Emry when she was a year old!  It has gone through all our kids which made all the work totally worth it!  Emry wanted to be a bat, and since Lily also wanted to be a bat, Arren helped me make her costume, and turned out to be really quite simple!  And Calum wanted to be Sensei Wu from Lego Ninjago!  Out of all the Ninja's he wanted to be the old man who trained the ninjas!  It was actually a simple costume to put together once we put our minds to it and he made a great Sensei Wu!!  I am thankful Halloween is done, mostly because the Christmas hype can officially begin!  Until next year.....

Our pumpkins out on our step!!  Super Spooky!

Some versions include a "wise and good man", or even God helping Jack to prevail over the Devil.
There are different versions of Jack's bargain with the Devil. Some variations say the deal was only temporary but the Devil, embarrassed and vengeful, refuses Jack entry to hell after Jack dies.
Jack is considered a greedy man and is not allowed into either heaven or hell, without any mention of the Devil.

Despite the colorful legends, the term jack-o'-lantern originally meant a night watchman, or man with a lantern, with the earliest known use in the mid-17th century; and later, meaning an ignis fatuus or will-o'-the-wisp. In Labrador and Newfoundland, both names "Jacky Lantern" and "Jack the Lantern" refer to the will-o'-the-wisp concept rather than the pumpkin carving aspect.