All Hallows Eve

By Stephen Dunn

"Hallowe'en will come, will come. Witchcraft will be set agoing.

Goblins will be at full speed, running in every pass.

Avoid the road, children, children."

~Old Scottish Proverb

Halloween is not just a day, it is a season to be savored and cherished. Our entire year revolves around the Eve of All Hallows. Football is in full swing,  sweaters are the rule of dress, the kids are back in school, and the crisp air reverberates with anticipation and the honks of geese. There is no way that the spirit of Halloween can be contained in a single day or all the fun packed into a single afternoon and evening.

Before the birth of Christ, the Celtic peoples of France and the British Isles celebrated the Festival of Samhain (SAH-win), the Lord of the Dead, on the last day of October. The Festival of Samhain also marked the Celtic New Year. The day of October 31st was spent honoring the Sun God, Baal, and rejoicing in the Harvest. 

The Celtic people ate nuts and apples to signify the bounty. But once evening closed in, the celebrating took a decidedly serious turn. Now the Celtic priests, the Druids, built great bonfires under the eaves of the oak trees that they worshiped. There, criminals and prisoners-of-war were used as human sacrifices and burned alive. The Druids believed that on this night the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead were most permeable. Thus the day was spent acknowledging the natural while the night was spent acknowledging the supernatural.

It was during the 7th Century that the Christian Church placed its mark on the pagan festival. Since the ancient beliefs could not be abolished, the Church overlaid a new set of beliefs by establishing November 1st as All Saints Day or All Hallows Day, and the night of October 31st became known as All Hallows Evening which was later shortened to Halloween.

Even with this new focus, the old traditions persevered, and many of the symbols we associate most closely with Halloween today have their roots in these customs. The colors of Halloween, orange and black, symbolize the Harvest festival and the Festival of the Dead respectively. In Scotland and Ireland the tradition survived of hollowing out beets and turnips and placing candles within for lanterns. This sprang from the ritual of ancient times when the Celtic people each took an ember from the sacrificial bonfire to light their way home. When the Scots and Irish came to America they brought this tradition with them but quickly seized upon the large, orange American pumpkin.

The Celts prepared lavish banquets to accompany the festivals of Baal and Samhain, but also set aside tables laden with food specifically for the Dead who might hunger in their journeys from one world to the next. The custom of setting aside food for wandering spirits persisted until it became the Trick or Treat of today. Lastly, the Celts believed that if a ghost recognized you, they could steal your soul. Therefore the Celts wore masks to disguise themselves and to blend in with the wandering spirits.

In this country, the Victorians seized upon Halloween as an excuse for decorating and entertaining as they did all else. Elaborate costume balls were given, parlor games were played and extravagant dinners served. Until the 1920s, Halloween was the province of adults, but about this time, younger people, not about to be left out of the fun, took to the playing of pranks and practical jokes. My father-in-law tells stories from his youth in the 1930s about outhouse tipping and reassembling one neighbor's car inside the house of another neighbor. The post-war years and the onset of the baby boom brought about the heyday of Halloween in America. American industry quickly got on the bandwagon and stores were filled with Halloween decorations and accessories. Today more money is spent on Halloween decorating and entertaining than any other holiday except Christmas. To coin a phrase, Halloween is to die for.

"Hail, old October, bright and chill,

First freed man from the summer sun.

Spice high the bowl, and drink your fill,

Thank Heaven at last, the summer's done."

~Thomas Constable

There are more things to do in October than you can shake a broomstick at. There is no way to do it all, but plan on doing as much as you can. We love watching football on Sundays, but Saturdays will invariably find us out of doors. Here briefly are some of the things we look forward to all season long.

Shop at farmers' markets for fresh, locally grown produce, beeswax candles, honey, preserves, flower arrangements and baked goods. In conjunction with farmers' markets, we have the luxury of being within an afternoon's driving distance of a working apple orchard. In addition to a variety of organically grown apples, the orchard store features melt-in-your-mouth cider doughnuts, taffy apples, gallon jugs of apple cider (you can watch the apple press in action, powered by an antique tractor), apple blossom honey from their own apiaries, and jars of apple pie filling ready to bake.

We have been attending Fall Festivals for over 30 years. Virtually all of our fall and Halloween collection has come from these local festivals. These events have afforded us the opportunity to explore our area's back roads and rural communities. The festivals often include craft shows, antique farm equipment, carnival attractions, parades, sports, and face painting. You are likely to find chili cook-offs, corn boils, pie eating contests, petting zoos, tractor pulls, and demonstrations of traditional crafts. Main Street businesses decorate their stores with scarecrows, corn stalks, pumpkins and other fall icons.

One of the ways we add to the festive Halloween spirit is with "Mr. Foot." Mr. Foot is a life-like human limb made out of molded rubber with a stuffed pant leg. We, of course, hang Mr. Foot out of the trunk of our car, much to the delight of all those who see us driving down the highway. We sometimes forget that Mr. Foot is there until we see other motorists honking, laughing, and pointing. And no, as of yet, we have never been stopped by the police.

On Halloween itself, my wife takes a vacation day so we can prepare for the afternoon and evening's festivities. Once school lets out, over two-hundred impossibly cute whirling dervishes appear on our doorstep. We arrange our stereo speakers so they can be heard outside. I play my own Halloween party mix, or put on one of the Universal monster movies and pipe it through the speakers. Our tradition is to give out cans of flavored pop, and we are officially known as the "Pop House." The next morning, it's hilarious to see the trail of empty cans up and down the block.

More often than not, we wind up inviting the children with their parents in to look at the decorations which they glimpse wide-eyed through the open doorway. I keep a pot of coffee brewing and bake a tray of pumpkin spice cookies, so that the aroma of fresh baked pumpkin permeates the air. With all these sights, sounds and smells of Halloween, our home is a popular stop on the neighborhood route.

"Gruesome ghouls and grisly ghosts, wretched souls and cursed hosts,

vampires bite and villains creep, demons scream and shadows sleep.

Blood runs cold in every man, fog rolls in and coffins slam,

mortals quake and full moon rise, creatures haunt and terrorize."

~Creature Features, WGN-TV Chicago

Those of us in the Chicago area, old enough to remember these chilling words, spoken over Henry Mancini's theme from Experiment in Terror, can still relish the anticipation they caused. Sitting in a darkened room, we knew we were about to be treated to one of the great Universal monster classics. For those of different ages and different locales, you have your own memories of local TV Friday and Saturday night horror fests. 

For us, those classic Frankenstein, Dracula and Wolfman movies still entertain, if not scare as they once did. The style and atmosphere hold up, and we eagerly look forward to seeing them again every Halloween. 

No Halloween would be complete without It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. This cartoon was Halloween in my childhood. In those days it was shown once a year and if you missed it, you and Linus had to wait until next year for the coming of the Great Pumpkin. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown also gave rise to one of the great mysteries of our time. Exactly how many times does Charlie Brown get a rock tossed into his trick or treat bag? My recollections were that this certainly occurred more than once. When I questioned family and friends about their recalling of the cartoon I received answers ranging from once or twice up to seven times. In truth, the correct answer is three times. 

Saving what we consider to be the best for last, we name John Carpenter's 1978 release, Halloween as the quintessential movie of the season. This granddaddy of slasher flicks gave rise to all the Freddies, Jasons and Michaels to come. We reserve our annual viewing of this Halloween treat for the evening of Halloween itself. After the trick or treaters have all gone home, the Halloween candles have burned low and the kids sit on the living room floor dividing their booty into piles of chocolate (for immediate consumption) and non-chocolate (to last through Christmas), this movie serves as our denouement to a season and an evening of magic and whimsy.

This recipe has been handed down in my family for hundreds of years. Some of the ingredients are difficult to find now. If you can't get fresh, frozen may be substituted.

"Fillet of a fenny snake, in the cauldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog,

Adders fork, and blind-worm's sting, lizard's leg and howlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble, like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble."

Salt and pepper to taste.

Pumpkins are Halloween's most recognizable symbol. They are a truly American food product given us by the native inhabitants who welcomed us on these shores. The North American Indians sliced pumpkins into long pieces and roasted them over an open fire. Pumpkin, a member of the squash family, was a staple of the Colonists. New Englanders boiled or roasted pumpkins, cut them in chunks and ate them salted and buttered. Pumpkin was mashed and made into soup. The first pumpkin pie was, in fact, a custard baked in a pumpkin shell in hot ashes. Pumpkin was kneaded into bread dough, puddings and cakes, and finally the pumpkin pie we know today was created. The Colonists also brewed a pumpkin beer and today nouveau cuisine includes pumpkin filled ravioli, pumpkin-blackbean soup, pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin bisque.

The onslaught of trick or treaters and other Halloween evening activities precludes the cooking of full course meals. We suggest a craft beer and cheese party. Ye Olde Beverage Shoppe (aka your local liquor store) will offer at this time of year a wide variety of craft beers. Bock beers, wheat beers, honey beers, red beers, hop beers, and pumpkin beers fill the shelves. Accompany these with a selection of crackers. robust cheeses, and salamis. Snack throughout the evening.

We have developed a cookbook's worth of not-to-be-missed autumn recipes; everything from Hungarian Ghoul-ash to Cranapple Chutney. Some of our favorites include: Pumpkin Seeds, Pumpkin Soup, Pumpkin Pancakes, Pumpkin Milk Shakes, Colonial Pumpkin Custard, and Steve's Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake. We entreat you to share these recipes during this fleeting season of haunts and harvests with family and friends.

These recipes, along with more artwork, quotes, stories, projects, decorating tips, music suggestions and movie reviews can be found on the full Halloween blog at:

sjdgoingonrecord.blogspot.com/2013/10/halloween

It has been my pleasure to act as your guide through this heartfelt tour of Halloween at my home, and I leave you with this invocation of an old Cornish litany:

"From Ghoulies and Ghosties, And long-leggity Beasties,

And all things that go bump in the night,

Good Lord deliver us."