HALLOWEEN FUN!
5 Fun Facts, Spooky Food Night Gone Wrong, and more...
Oh, HEY! Surprise! Your Tuesday newsletter arrived on Monday! What strange magic is this, you ask? Well, last week I promised a light, fun little newsletter romp, and I planned to write a bit centered around Halloween, and well, tomorrow would have been too late!
So, Happy Halloween to all those who enjoy this day! Last week, I wrote about my spiritual practices for honoring my ancestors, but as promised here’s something a bit on the lighter side!
So off we go!
Our family has always had a lot of fun with Halloween. I’m not your super-creepy Halloween-loving gal. You won’t find me at the doorstep of Haunted Houses or watching terrifyingly graphic or violent Halloween movies. I’m more of the cute and cozy kind of Halloween. Dressing up and Halloween parties, waiting for adorable trick-or-treaters, decorating and dancing to the Monster Mash or Thriller in my kitchen, and making spooky food for our Spooky Food Night.
One of our family’s favorite Halloween traditions, Spooky Food Night, is something I started when our girls were little. When it first began, it was simply a cute ( and fast) little Halloween-themed meal I’d make for the family before taking the girls trick-or-treating. Over the years, it grew into more elaborate dishes as my girls began contributing ideas and helping me prepare the meal, and we began inviting close friends to join us. Often we would hold Spooky Food Night a few nights before Halloween, as it was an event in itself, and too much to do the same night as Halloween. I have so many sweet memories from these nights.
Spooky Food Night Gone Wrong
I’ll share one classic story from the early years of Spooky Food Night. One Halloween, I decided to make meatloaf rats as the main course. I know, I know - what was I thinking? I foolishly thought they’d be cute. Little rat-shaped mini-meatloaf, with peppercorn eyes and carrot tails. What I did not know at the time was that without some sort of glaze or sauce on the hamburger meat, they would come out of the oven.. .um… gray. When I called my hubby and girls to the table and served their plates with meatloaf rats and ghost-shaped mashed potatoes, there were a variety of reactions. At first excitement, and then as we began cutting into our meatloaf rats and dipping each bite in catchup (shudder) well, one by one we started putting our forks down. The youngest left the table! We couldn’t eat it! Suffice it to say we lured her back to the table, removed the rat, and laughed about it while consuming all the mashed potatoes. Since then, we have never made anything remotely disgusting, only cute Halloween food from now on!
3 Super Easy Halloween Fun Foods You Can Make Tonight (excluding rats)
PUMPKIN SNACK BOARD I’m making tonight to nibble while awaiting the kids!
5 HALLOWEEN FUN FACTS TO SHARE:
The many faces of Halloween. Halloween has been called by many names over the years including Hallowe’en, Allhalloween, All Hallow’s Eve, All Saint’s Eve, Lamswood, Samhain, Summer’s End, and Snap-Apple Night.
Halloween’s origin likely evolved from the ancient Celts. During the celebration of Samhain—a day to honor the gods of the harvest, it was a common belief that the veil between our world and the world of spirits was “ thinned.” Due to that belief, it was common for the Celts to wear costumes and masks to befuddle any spirits with ill intent.
Jack-O-Lanterns are named after a man named Stingy Jack from the tale of a Celtic farmer who would constantly play tricks on the devil. The devil retaliated by forcing him to wander Purgatory with a burning lump of coal. Jack took the coal and carved a lantern out of a turnip, to guide his lost soul. It’s a wonder we don’t all have carved turnips on our porches on Halloween!
We have carved pumpkins instead of carved turnips due to the Irish families who fled the potato famine in the 1800s. Turnips were hard to come by in the U.S. so
pumpkins, readily available in America, were used as a substitute to guide lost souls and keep away evil spirits, like“Jack of the Lantern” away.
Candy Corn was originally known as Chicken Feed. In the 1800s, candy maker George Renninger of Philadelphia created a “ buttery cream candy” and “ chicken feed” since corn was commonly used as food for livestock. Candy Corn even had a photo of a rooster on the box. Originally it had no association with Halloween or the autumn season. After World War II, it became a special Halloween treat due to its colors and connection to the fall season. Now we automatically associate “chicken feed” with this season. The hubby and I like Candy Corn but I think we might be in the minority?
Why are spiders a strong theme of Halloween? According to legend, if you see a spider on Halloween, it’s the spirit of a loved one watching over you. Granted, it’s also a slightly creepy decoration for Halloween. It does make one wonder why your loved one would send a creepy-crawly spider and not, say a butterfly or red cardinal, right? But this is Halloween, after all.
I know this holiday can come with complicated feelings. Whether you can’t wait to greet those little costumed faces at your door, or you turn off the light and move as far from your front door as possible, I wish you a wonderful evening!
Happy Halloween, y’all!
xo Mary