Wednesday 31 October 2018

All Hallows Eve and Samhain

The Eve of All Saints Day or Halloween as it's more usually called is now associated with pumpkins, and dressing up but it is a day that has for centuries been shrouded in mysteries and superstition.
The Night of the Dead - the most unpredictable night of the year - when festivals from many cultures collide.

On Hallowe'en the old ghosts come
About us- and they speak to some
(Anon)

The traditional beliefs of  Halloween are connected with rituals performed for Samhain, the Celtic festival celebrated in Ireland and Scotland. Samhain was one of the four Celtic festivals known as quarter days. The meaning of the word in old Irish is 'summers end'. Celts considered sundown as the start of a day, which is why although Samhain is November 1st, it would have been celebrated at sundown on the 31st. It was their new year and fires would have been lit on the hilltops to drive out the evil of  the last year and welcome in the new. Later festivities would have been influenced by the Christian feasts of All Saints on the 1st and All Souls on November 2nd, when the dead are remembered in prayers.

For on Hallowmas Eve the Nighthag shall ride,
And all her nine-fold sweeping by her side 
(Waverley by Sir Walter Scott published in 1814

 In the past it was a night for staying by the fire, out of harms way, and telling fortunes.
Fortune telling was done by throwing a hazelnut into the fire and seeing how it burned, or by peeling an apple and looking for the shape of the peel. These were ways of foretelling a birth or death in the family, the success of a marriage or the initials of a future husband.
In some parts of the country the 31st of October was known  as Mischief Night when mummers  would blacken their faces and knock on doors asking for cash. So although we think the trick or treat idea for Halloween came here from the USA, along with pumpkins, during the last 25 years, it's not completely  new............... before pumpkins,  faces would have been carved from swedes, turnips or mangle wurzels.

Years ago at the smallholding pumpkins were always one of the ways we made a bit of money through the  month of October when most other crops had finished. I searched the old blog and found the picture from 2014 - the year when we were given some seeds for giant pumpkins. We sold all these and also £75 worth of normal sized pumpkins. It was always hard work planting the small pumpkin plants out on the field in the late spring but a very useful income in late Autumn, as it is for many bigger farmers.



 
Back Tomorrow
Sue

23 comments:

  1. Did you sell all of those enormous pumpkins? I’m wondering how people managed to lift them when they got them home. They would make a “few” bowls of soup! X

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    1. Yes we sold them all for £20 each I think. People had to back right up to the trailer and roll them into the boot of their cars!

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  2. Oh my! At first glance I didn't realise just how large those pumpkins were. They would have taken some carving. X

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    1. The biggest was lifted onto the trailer on the pallet by the front loading forks of our tractor!

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  3. They're HUGE!!!!! Beautiful pumpkins!
    xx

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    1. They were big - the only year we ever grew giant ones. It was the year before Colin was diagnosed and we moved into Ipswich

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  4. I always have a pumpkin as it is my birthday - but sadly no farmer to carve it for me this year so i have to have a go myself.

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    1. Happy Birthday Pat. Enjoy that Pumpkin carving

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  5. Weaver - I am sure you will have great fun carving your pumpkin!

    Sue - those are enormous. There were some similar in size to these in Narberth recently, but inflation has put their price up to nearer £30. You would have enough pumpkin soup to feed an army from one of those!

    I loved all the folklore about Halloween. I liked . . . "and they speak to some."

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  6. My daughter has given me so lovely harvest/Halloween decorations from America over the years and I love putting them out. She and my grand daughter did the pumpkin yesterday and the children in the village love to see her display. I loved your display Sue.
    Hazel c uk

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    1. I have a ceramic pumpkin in the cupboard and have forgotten all about it despite writing about Halloween!

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  7. Wow, giant pumpkins incredible size. Love pumpkin, soup, roasted delicious xcx

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    1. They were huge. The biggest had to be lifted with the tractor.

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  8. Those pumpkins are amazing!!

    I love all the information you're giving us on various dates and customs, it's fascinating ... but not something I would think to go and look up myself ... so thank you.

    For some reason this year I forgot to plant any 'orange' pumpkins ... all mine are a strange shade of green and have what look like warts on them ... very spooky for Halloween though :-)

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    1. The green ones probably taste the same. There are so many different sorts now

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  9. Those are some prize winning pumpkins! We have a festival every year in early October in a town about 35 minutes from here called Pumpkinfest where growers of giant pumpkins (and some other members of the squash family) enter a contest where they are weighed and measured. A winner is declared and often the runner-ups are displayed at local businesses for the month of October after that. You would have given them a run for their money! -Jenn

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    1. They were huge - the only year we ever grew giant ones

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  10. I grew these one year when my children were small. I carved their names in when the pumpkins were small and they grew as the pumpkins grew,

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  11. Wow, they are enormous although they must take some carving. Loved learning a little more about the folklore.

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  12. BooOOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo
    *H*A*P*P*Y* *H*A*L*L*O*W*E*E*N*!*
    BooOOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo

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  13. Happy Samhain! Lovely post. I have to admit that until I moved to America I didn't realise how a pumpkin grew. They are so beautiful and really do look vine-y as they do on Cinderella's coach in the Disney film. We've grown them a few times.

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  14. We al one with our children are having a largest pumpkin growing competition next year...may be looking for some tips! x

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