There are many questions surrounding the origins of pretty much everything.  How did this holiday get started?  How did that ritual become a tradition?  Who invented that sandwich and why is it called a Reuben?  :-)

Well, I’ll save the answers to those questions for another time.  But for now, today, let’s concentrate on Halloween.

Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition.  Superstitious?  Who, me?  No way.  Just because I always put my left leg in my pants and my left shoe on first?

Here is a link to some great information on the history of Halloween.  

Be safe, and have a SPOOK-tacularly fun time tonight!

Happy Halloween!

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• Video: Haunted History of Halloween (englishblog.com)

Here’s an interesting story, and pretty much perfect timing, Halloween just around the corner.

A Swedish real estate company has listed a truly “unique property” for sale.  The house has 5 bedrooms, a medieval tomb, and comes complete with a skeleton in the cellar.  Is that better than having skeletons in the closet?  :-)

The asking price, skeleton included, might surprise you.  Do you think it’s a good deal?

You can take a look HERE.

BOO!

1. Make your home safe for trick-or-treaters. Make sure your front yard, walkway, and steps are swept and free of debris. Remove flowerpots or hoses, which can cause trick-or-treaters to trip in the dark.
2. Use Christmas lights to illuminate the path to the door. Finally those Christmas lights have another use besides adorning the tree!
3. Make sure scary gags are harmless. Having lots of decorations that pop up and scare trick-or-treaters is great… just make sure they’re safe. Instead of shovels or pitchforks, opt for faux alternatives.
4. Keep pets locked up. Even friendly pets can become a handful when costumed kids show up at the door. Keep them locked up to protect them from cars or inadvertently biting trick-or-treaters.
5. Make sure your Jack o’ Lantern isn’t a fire hazard. Opt for a battery operated jack o’ lantern instead. If you do decide to use candles, place the candle inside a small dish to prevent it from becoming a hazard if it tips over inside the pumpkin. Make sure paper or cloth yard decorations won’t be blown into the flaming candle. And be sure to place the pumpkin well away from where trick-or-treaters will be walking or standing!

Have a great week! And a safe and happy Halloween!

Randy

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Pumpkin carving is a popular part of modern America’s Halloween celebration. Every October, pumpkins can be found everywhere in the country from doorsteps to dinner tables. Visiting the local pumpkin patch is a tradition for many families today, whether rural or urban. Despite the widespread carving that goes on in this country every autumn, few Americans really know why or when the jack o’lantern tradition began. Or, for that matter, whether the pumpkin is a fruit or a vegetable. In our quest to provide interesting information each month of a different sort, we offer this explanation for you.

People have been making jack o’lanterns at Halloween for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.” According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.

Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack O’Lantern.”

In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Jack’s lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. In England, large beets are used. Immigrants from these countries brought the jack o’lantern tradition with them when they came to the United States. They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to America, make perfect jack o’lanterns.

The rest, as they say, is history.  And, just think: Pumpkin pie is so much tastier than turnip pie, or potato pie, or (perish the thought) beet pie! This is clearly one situation where a tradition greatly benefitted from the distinctly American modernization of it.

Hooray for the humble pumpkin!