So I'm a little confused. My phone tells me that it's in the 80s during the early mornings and heading well into the 90s by mid day. When I go out to jog, the sun is blisteringly and blindingly hot. I still rush in and spend most of my day in the air conditioning to remain feeling like an Earth being rather than a Venus or Mercury inhabitant (or at least like I don't live in Hong Kong without air conditioning anymore).
BUT
The rest of the world seems to thing fall is getting on. Halloween stores have been advertising like crazy. I received an advertisement in my inbox for haunted house coupons. When I went into Michael's for a t-shirt, all of the skeletons, scarecrows, pumpkins and corn husks took up at least half of the store. The Possession comes out this week.
Did I miss something? It's not even September 1st yet (though I'm counting the days). Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. Last year I did an Octoberpost series (click here for the series start). I'm all about it. I love that I finally will get to wears some scarves (sniff - alas, I left many in NC during the move), sweaters and hats in my favorite color palette.
BUT
It's still August! It's still summery hot outside. I guess it's all just wishful thinking. If so, I'm glad to know that there are many people here that share my love of autumn. :)
Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts
30 August 2012
31 October 2011
History of Halloween
The last October Post of the month is here! It's gone by so quickly. Today we'll be doing a brief history of Halloween to celebrate the day. :)
The ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain was a New Year's celebration. November 1st was considered New Year's day, marking the end of summer and harvest and the beginning of the darker, colder months. The Celts believed that on this transitional day, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became thin and blurred, so ghosts could walk among the living. Samhain is a fire feast, so it was traditionally celebrated with bonfires, predicting the future and wearing costumes to scare away any spirits that came near.
When the Roman conquered the Celts, two Roman holidays started to blend with the tradition of Samhain. Feralia was a late October Roman holiday the commemorate the passing of the dead. Another holiday celebrated Ponoma, the goddess of fruits and trees. Her symbol is the apple and is commonly believed to be the origin of the bobbing for apples tradition.
Later, the Catholic Church declared that the November 1st would be All Saints Day, a day to honor saints and martyrs in feast. As this celebration spread, it started to replace some of the old Celtic and Roman rituals, which all blurred together further. It was typically celebrated with bonfires and costumes of saints, angels and devils. The day was called "All-hallows" or "All-hallowsmas". The day before (also the traditional day of Samhain) became known as "All-hallowes-eve", which eventually evolved into the Halloween we know today.
Halloween came to America along with immigrants. It was much more popular in the southern colonies (rather than the more puritanical New England ones) until the mid 1800s when the great potato famine in Ireland brought millions of Irish to America. This population movement helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween on a national level. As the Irish and English had done, people began to dress up and travel door to door asking for money and food, which eventually became "trick-or-treating". By the 1930s, Halloween was a secular holiday. The 1950s saw a boom in celebration just as they saw a boom in population. Trick-or-treating was considered an inexpensive way to celebrate as a community. Today it has become America's second largest commercial holiday.
If you're interested in learning more about the History of Halloween, visit History.com's Halloween page.
It's been wonderful writing these October Posts this month! I've enjoyed having the direction and getting to share with you all in the comments. Happy Halloween!
Please let me know you stopped by in the comments below!
When the Roman conquered the Celts, two Roman holidays started to blend with the tradition of Samhain. Feralia was a late October Roman holiday the commemorate the passing of the dead. Another holiday celebrated Ponoma, the goddess of fruits and trees. Her symbol is the apple and is commonly believed to be the origin of the bobbing for apples tradition.
Later, the Catholic Church declared that the November 1st would be All Saints Day, a day to honor saints and martyrs in feast. As this celebration spread, it started to replace some of the old Celtic and Roman rituals, which all blurred together further. It was typically celebrated with bonfires and costumes of saints, angels and devils. The day was called "All-hallows" or "All-hallowsmas". The day before (also the traditional day of Samhain) became known as "All-hallowes-eve", which eventually evolved into the Halloween we know today.
Halloween came to America along with immigrants. It was much more popular in the southern colonies (rather than the more puritanical New England ones) until the mid 1800s when the great potato famine in Ireland brought millions of Irish to America. This population movement helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween on a national level. As the Irish and English had done, people began to dress up and travel door to door asking for money and food, which eventually became "trick-or-treating". By the 1930s, Halloween was a secular holiday. The 1950s saw a boom in celebration just as they saw a boom in population. Trick-or-treating was considered an inexpensive way to celebrate as a community. Today it has become America's second largest commercial holiday.
If you're interested in learning more about the History of Halloween, visit History.com's Halloween page.
It's been wonderful writing these October Posts this month! I've enjoyed having the direction and getting to share with you all in the comments. Happy Halloween!
Please let me know you stopped by in the comments below!
17 October 2011
Fall Decor
This week's October Posts are going to be about fall decor.
If you haven't figured it out yet, I spend much of the little free time I have on pinterest. I've been using it to search for fun, beautiful and spooky ways to decorate for the fall.
The first decoration on the list today would make a great pumpkin carving alternative. For those of you who prefers to not have to buy one of those mini serrated knife kits every year only to realize you can't think of anything creative to carve into your pumpkin, this is for you.
This creative, diy project comes from Page Turners Hollow. There are some great links to resources for these lovely silhouettes (don't worry! you don't have to draw these by hand).
For those of you who like to have a wreath year around, this is a great Halloween alternative to winter greens or fresh flowers.
A few old newspapers or a book and a wreath form is all it takes to make the base for these bats to flutter around your doorway. Visit Heidi over at Vacuuming in High Heels & Pearls for simple directions.
Source: themerrymagpievintage.com via Carina on Pinterest
Who can resist hurricane lamps in autumn? These are a great fall decor addition to a dining room or living room and they'll last you through Thanksgiving.
I can't help it! I have to put a cute pumpkin owl in. I know that everyone's into owls right now, but I've been collecting for a while and I thought this was adorable. It's another great way to not have to carve your pumpkin while getting to ride the hayride to pick one out.
What kind of decorations are you putting up this fall? Feel free to link to pictures of your place in the comments. :)
This post has been added to lovelinks this week. Check it out at its new space!
If you haven't figured it out yet, I spend much of the little free time I have on pinterest. I've been using it to search for fun, beautiful and spooky ways to decorate for the fall.
 |
Source: pageturnershollow.wordpress.com via Carina on Pinterest |
This creative, diy project comes from Page Turners Hollow. There are some great links to resources for these lovely silhouettes (don't worry! you don't have to draw these by hand).
For those of you who like to have a wreath year around, this is a great Halloween alternative to winter greens or fresh flowers.
A few old newspapers or a book and a wreath form is all it takes to make the base for these bats to flutter around your doorway. Visit Heidi over at Vacuuming in High Heels & Pearls for simple directions.
Source: themerrymagpievintage.com via Carina on Pinterest
Who can resist hurricane lamps in autumn? These are a great fall decor addition to a dining room or living room and they'll last you through Thanksgiving.
This post has been added to lovelinks this week. Check it out at its new space!
14 October 2011
October Post: Halloween Food!
So this week's October Post theme has been food and today we're looking at some Halloween treats.
Owl Oreo Cupcakes
I found this wonderful picture on Pinterest, but when I followed the link there was no recipe. That being said, these cute little owls seem to be fairly self explanatory:
1) Make your favorite cupcake recipe and frost your cupcakes with chocolate frosting.
2) Disassemble some oreo cookies, keeping all of the ends with the frosting still attached set aside for the eyes. (Save the non-frosted sides to make an oreo pie crust.)
3) Place your frosted oreo halves on the frosted cupcakes to make the owl eyes. Put reese's pieces or even candy dots on the white frosting for pupils.
4) Take the orange reese's pieces and stick the in the crack between the oreos for the beak.
Voila! Owl Oreo Cupcakes.
Candy Corn Sugar Cookies
The Kathie Cooks blog posted the recipe for these adorable cookies that depict one of the most iconic Halloween candy treats: candy corn.
This recipe is really simple and comes down to dying your dough and layering it in a baking dish so that you can cut your cookies into neat triangles. The sugar cookie dough recipe can be the one you prefer, but I like Kathie's idea of adding some lemon juice and lemon zest into the dough for a cookie full of flavor.
For the last set of recipe's I have to send you to a blog that is swiftly becoming one of my favorites: The Pastry Affair. The author spent a part of her summer at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida and brought some of the book treats brought to life home with her. She spent sometime experimenting and came up with some great recipes for Honeyduke's Treats, Cauldron Cakes, Butterbeer, and Butterbeer Cupcakes.
 |
I found this wonderful picture on Pinterest, but when I followed the link there was no recipe. That being said, these cute little owls seem to be fairly self explanatory:
1) Make your favorite cupcake recipe and frost your cupcakes with chocolate frosting.
2) Disassemble some oreo cookies, keeping all of the ends with the frosting still attached set aside for the eyes. (Save the non-frosted sides to make an oreo pie crust.)
3) Place your frosted oreo halves on the frosted cupcakes to make the owl eyes. Put reese's pieces or even candy dots on the white frosting for pupils.
4) Take the orange reese's pieces and stick the in the crack between the oreos for the beak.
Voila! Owl Oreo Cupcakes.
Candy Corn Sugar Cookies
 |
Source: kathiecooks.blogspot.com via Carina on Pinterest |
The Kathie Cooks blog posted the recipe for these adorable cookies that depict one of the most iconic Halloween candy treats: candy corn.
This recipe is really simple and comes down to dying your dough and layering it in a baking dish so that you can cut your cookies into neat triangles. The sugar cookie dough recipe can be the one you prefer, but I like Kathie's idea of adding some lemon juice and lemon zest into the dough for a cookie full of flavor.
For the last set of recipe's I have to send you to a blog that is swiftly becoming one of my favorites: The Pastry Affair. The author spent a part of her summer at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida and brought some of the book treats brought to life home with her. She spent sometime experimenting and came up with some great recipes for Honeyduke's Treats, Cauldron Cakes, Butterbeer, and Butterbeer Cupcakes.
Check out these sweet treats and whip up a few for yourself.
What are your favorite Halloween treats? Do you think you'll try any of these recipes?
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