Halloween Treats In Store
HALLOWEEN TREATS IN STORE
Many local children will be looking forward to Halloween at the end of this month. Historians have lots of ideas about why Halloween is associated with ghosts, ghouls and goblins. Some think Halloween’s origins stretch back to a Celtic festival called Samhain when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. Others suggest Halloween as the season of spectres and spooks because 31st October falls on the day before two very important Christian holy days. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated 1st November as a time to honour all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. Halloween means ‘All Hallows’ Eve’. That is because it is the day before All Saints’ Day on 1st November – a day to honour all ‘hallowed’, or holy, people. All Souls’ Day, which is a day to remember the souls of all those who have died, follows on November 2nd.
Preparations for Halloween in the past, involved carving ghastly faces into turnips, to make them resemble demons and devils. These shining turnips were called ‘Jack o’Lanterns’ and were named after ghostly lights rumoured to be seen in marshes and bogs that were believed to be the spirits of the dead. To ramp up the scare value burning candles were placed into the hollowed out turnips.
In recent years pumpkins have become part of the Halloween experience in the UK. It is often thought to be a tradition imported from America. However, it actually started here, before being taken, along with many other British traditions, to the United States by emigrants in the 19th century. Instead of carving hard turnips, they made their Halloween lanterns out of the softer and more common pumpkins they found there.
With up to date information available on the relevant websites there are several Halloween themed events in our area. The popular Cardiff Pumpkin Picking Patch, located on the A48 between Culverhouse Cross and St Nicholas, is open in the lead up to Halloween. As currently advertised, the site will be open 10-11, 17-18 and 24-31 October, from 9.30am until 4pm. There, you can pick your own pumpkins (from £1 each). In addition to finding and selecting your own pumpkins children (and adults of course), can check out the photo opportunities and famous pumpkin house. You can even make your own witch’s broom or craft your own magic wand.
Fonmon Castle has lined up an event called Halloween Daytime (10.00am-3.00pm) with fancy dress, games and scary fun. If are you brave enough to survive ghostly goings on adult tickets are available at £13.50 and those for children and concessions £9.50.
The real fun for many children will of course be trick or treating, which is still popular around the world. It has been around a long time. Interestingly Shakespeare mentions trick or treating in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona, which he wrote in 1593, when Speed accuses his master of ‘puling [whimpering or whining] like a beggar at Hallowmas.’
Trick or treating of course can be fun and scary at the same time. In Mexico this practice is called ‘calaverita’ or skulling. Children ask ‘Me da mi calaverita?’ They ask for a little skull made of sugar or chocolate. While for most children trick or treating is harmless fun, it is important that they understand and respect that some elderly or vulnerable adults can be alarmed and upset by it.
The practice of trick or treating is thought to have evolved from a tradition whereby people in some countries impersonated the spirits, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf. In Scotland and Ireland the tradition was called ‘guising’ and goes back to the 16th century. The term ‘trick or treat’ has only been used relatively recently. Prior to this, children in Ireland would commonly say “Help the Halloween Party” at the doors of homeowners.