Pumpkin Lanterns!

onight is Hallowe'en when, as the old ballad says, the fairy forces ride... It's the Eve of All Hallows (or All Saints) Day, when ghosts, spirits and witches can walk abroad, along with all kinds of ghoulies and beasties (three-legged or otherwise) and things that go bump in the night... But, according to legend, you can keep the dark at bay by ensuring a fire burns through the night... 

All Saints Day was one of the great festivals of the Medieval Christian church, but Hallowe'en and its traditions seems much more pagan. It's the Eve of Samhain, the last night of the Celtic Year, before the start of winter, when crops had already been gathered in, cleansing fires were lit, and animals slaughtered and their meat preserved for the months ahead. At this time people looked to the past and future, and considered ageing and death, and the circle of life.

Shine a light! Jack-o'-Lantern candles.

The Romans also had a festival at the end of October to celebrate Pomonoa, goddess of fruit trees, especially apples. Nuts and apples were roasted on bonfires, to symbolise the food stored up for winter and, presumably, because they tasted good! It's an interesting link with the past I think, because apple bobbing is a traditional Hallowe'en game, and sticky toffee apples are always popular at this time of year.

These days fancy dress, parties, and trick or treating seem to be the order of the day, but but there are all kinds of customs associated with Hallowe'en, many of them connected with foretelling the name of one's future wife or husband. Church bells were rung to keep away evil spirits, and in days gone by lanterns lit for a similar reasons were carved from turnips, rather than the pumpkins used today.

I knitted a Hallowe'en tea cosy!

According to one tradition, if a maiden threw unbroken apple peel over her shoulder it would fall to the ground and form the initials of the man she would marry. And there were similar superstitions involving mirrors, candles, nuts and even cabbages!

I would suggest you mark the occasion by lighting a candle an reflecting on the summer that has gone, and the winter that lies ahead, and thinking about the good things in life, and the people you have known. You could enjoy a warm and spicy celebratory meal of course – pumpkin soup perhaps, and baked apples (with sultanas and golden syrup), cook up some pumpkin soup, or carrots .. something orange and spice would be suitable... and a glass of wine. And you could listen to Fairport' Convention singing Tam Lin here (and the rest of the Leige and Leaf album). And if your nerves are up to it you could curl up with a spine-chilling ghost story, but I'm afraid I can't recommend anything, because spooky tales aren't my thing!

More Jack-o'-Lanterns -sadly, I can't eat chocolate, but I
bought these last year because they looked so sweet, and
the family ate them.

All Saints Day

The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs by Fra Angelico can ben seen in the National Gallery

It always seems to take a few days to get back into routine after a break, so I thought I'd post a short piece to mark All Saints' Day, and then, later in the week, I'll write about my holiday in the Isle of Man.  Today is All Saints' Day, which is also known as All Hallows’ Day or Hallowmas. It is a feast day in the Anglican and Catholic Churches when believers remember all the saints and martyrs, known and unknown.

It’s a tradition which dates back to the 4th century AD, but it was in 609 AD that Pope Boniface IV established a special day (originally May 13) to honour Christian, and more than 200 years later, in 837, Pope Gregory IV broadened the festival, renamed it as the Feast of All Saints, and moved it to November 1.

In the Catholic Church the festival is known as the Solemnity of All Saints, which I think sound s very dignified, and it is a Day of Obligation when the faithful should attend mass and, according to Canon Law, refrain from ‘those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body’.

In many European countries people lay flowers on the graves of their loved ones, and light candles in their memory, and once upon a time an overnight vigil (on the eve of All Hallows) was part of the ritual – but today the Hallowe’en customs seem to have taken over, and few people remember that All Saints Day is one of the great church festivals.

However, November 1 also marks the Celtic festival of Samhain, the end of summer when animals were killed ready for winter food, or ‘cleansed’ in fires, and when people looked to the past and future and considered ageing and death. It was believed that at Samhain ancestors returned, and that fairies and spirits were abroad in the world, released from normal restraints while the Goddess left the world for three days.

You could celebrate by cooking a favourite dish... or give flowers to someone you love... or simply light a candle...