I would suggest moving it ahead to Thanksgiving and praying that Nature will hold off with the snow long enough to let the kids have belated Halloween fun on Thanksgiving or the day after when school is out. 

Fun turn for homeowners will be that they can buy Halloween candy on November 1st for pennies on the dollar, give twice as much to kids this year, and blend it in with the families Thanksgiving Dinner, which would best be held around 2pm to make room for Trick-o-treaters after dark.  Friday after Turkey Day is a school holiday too, so it works out for everyone.

Any kids out there who are “stormed out” this Halloween should suggest the above to their parents who can suggest it at the next city council meeting.  And if you really like the idea be sure to mark “Liked It” below.

Thanks, and Happy “HalloThanksgivWeen” to be!  Or would you prefer “HalloThanks Day”?

Image by NASA Goddard Photo and Video via Flickr

Pumpkin Stencils

For fun family pumpkin carving patterns, try this image example :

Maybe you are an art lover. This one is surely what Norwegian Symbolist Edvard Munch had in mind when he painted ‘The Scream:’

For every classic in the book including the spooked cat, the ghost, the goblin, the owl, the skeleton, the haunted house, and for famous faces such as Darth Vader, Shrek, Jack Sparrow, and Winnie the Pooh this site has every carving pattern you could ask for and then some:

If you live near the beach, then this fishy pumpkin pattern is a must:

Pumpkin Stencils

That is a example about Pumpkin Stencils models, I hope you like it, thanks and happy halowwen.

Carving pumpkins can be a challenge for not only kids, but adults as well.  I remember trying to cut the eyes just a certain way and the eyes didn’t really look like eyes.  If you are carving a pumpkin this year – utilize the whole pumpkin – there are some valuable nutrients in it!

The nutritious part of a Pumpkin

Pumpkins are loaded with anti-oxidants like leutin, xanthins, and carotenes.  They are also a very good source of Vitamin A and the flavonoid poly-phenolic.   Since it is very low in calories, it is an excellent vegetable to add to your diet.  It also has no cholesterol or saturated fats and is a great way to add fiber! 

Pumpkins are great for your skin and eyes, because of their Vitamin A and carotene content.  (FYI – Carotenes convert to Vitamin A inside your body.) 

Pumpkin Seeds

Unlike the pumpkin, pumpkin seeds are high in calories and fat.   They are, however, rich in protein and have zinc, magnesium and iron.   They are also thought to promote overall prostate health.  Pumpkin seeds aid in preventing osteoporosis due to their zinc content and are known to help in reducing inflammation.  They also promote the amino acid, tryptophan, which is converted to GABA in the brain.  GABA is a major inhibitory brain chemical that helps to block the transmission of a signal from one brain cell to another.  It is important for balancing the excitation in the brain and helps to stop anxiety.

Pumpkin Seed Oil

Pumpkin seed oil is used for moisturizing skin, and is used in preventing stretch marks.   It is also used to inhibit cancerous cell formation and reduce an enlarged prostate.  It has a strong, nutty flavor and is very common in Australia, similar to how olive oil is used in Spain and Italy. 

The celtic new year was then celebrated on november the 1st, with October the 31st being new years eve.They believed the worlds between the living and the dead were close on Oct 31st and that ghosts wandered the earth. It was also believed the presence of ghosts on this night made it easy for celtic priests to predict the future.

In the 19th century the Irish immigrants fleeing to America had started the Halloween celebrations that we see nowadays.The Americans took the whole thing further, with the dressing up in costumes and going from door to door asking for money or food. This being the trick or treat we now do on Halloween. Starting in the late 1800`s this was starting to become the Holliday in the states that it is today. Making it more about family fun and parties than the religious event it was in the 12th century. By the 1930`s it was a national holliday with town parades a regular sight.

Did you know that the pumpkin Jack O lantern started with the inside of large turnips being cut out and candles placed inside, to scare away the witches. The Irish also used potatoes, but Irish immigrants arriving to the states found the pumpkins there to be better suited due to their size. And with this the pumpkin was used ever since!

The broomstick holds its relevance from the witches sabbath, with the belief that the higher you jumped the higher your crops grew. so women used broomsticks as support to help them leap higher.During this ritual usally held in muddy fields women also used broomsticks to leap over muddy puddles. This was a sight for people passing by , giving the apperance these women were trying to fly on their broomsticks. And that is why they are associated with Halloween today, as the ritual was held around this time.

All this a far cry from todays Halloween fun, but it is good to know how and why it all started as you are watching your scary movies this Halloween!

According to the Irish myth, Stingy Jack was a man who invited the Devil to have a drink with him. Even after all the drinks that they shared, Stingy was true in his name and refused to pay for a drink. Instead, Jack convinced the Devil to turn himself in to the coin that would give Jack the ability to buy their drinks. After the Devil did this Jack kept the coin and put it in his pocket next to his silver cross.

This cross caused the Devil to not be able to change to his true form. After some time Jack freed the Devil under a simple condition, the Devil could not bother Jack for one year and if Jack should die by then, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack ended up tricking the Devil again in to climbing a tree nearby and picking off fruit. When the Devil agreed to do it, Jack carved a cross in to the tree’s bark so he could not come down until he promised to leave Jack alone for 10 more years.

Later on in this myth Jack died and as the myth states, God would not allow such an unfaitful person in to Heaven. Upset by the tricks Jack had played on him, he would not allow him in to Hell either. He sent Jack away into the night with only burning coal to light his way. Jack put this coal in to a carved out turnip and has been wandering the Earth ever since. The Irish refer to Jack as “Jack of the Latern” and now more commonly his legend is known as “Jack O’Lantern.”

Where does the Pumpkin fit in?

Those fun and scary faces in the turnips or pumpkins in our modern day case, is from the legend itself. The Irish and Scottish would carve these faces in to their turnips and potatoes and place them in windows or by the door to frighten away Stingy Jack, and other evil spirits. As the legend grew and immigration took place, the pumpkin was brought in.

If you are a fan of Halloween, or even carving your Jack O’Laterns remember, you are keeping away the evil spirts and giving yourself a fun and exciting thing to do for this Halloween. Get creative, and remember these faces are to keep Stingy Jack away!

Source: http://www.history.com/topics/jack-olantern-history

First and most important, was the punch. I always took a large pumpkin and gutted it, and decorated the outside as a jack-o-lantern with either paint, markers or construction paper. Then we filled it with orange kool-aid, placing the top back on with the stem attached. You can also use orange sherbet with ½ 7-up and ½ ginger ale, but I found that the kool-aid goes over much better. At first I was worried about the pulp, but it turns out, the pulp soaks up the flavor of the drink and adds a nice touch.We also took tootsie roll pops and wrapped the tops with Kleenex and a rubber band making eyes with a marker and small oranges or tangerines decorated as a jack-o-lantern for treats.

 Of course there was always a spook house, and this was enjoyed by all ages. We started out making a life size dummy stuffed in cover alls and laid him on an old sofa in the garage, or in another room. However, it didn’t take long before there was always an adult willing to dress up and scare the little kids. We would walk them through the room telling the story of an old tale my dad always told. Raw Hide and Bloody Bones. In bowls we had internal body parts that had been removed from Rawhide, the dead man on the sofa. A cauliflower with ketchup or fake blood makes for a perfect brain. Those guts removed from the pumpkin turned into the guts of Rawhide. (The seeds can be used for toasting), or cooked spaghetti works well too. My daddy hunted, so on some occasions we had squirrel eyes for the eyes, and once I even used fish eyes, but that was most certainly not my favorite. The majority of the time, I just used decorated marshmallows. Rawhide always seemed to come back to life and scare the heck out of everyone, even the ones that knew what was going to happen. We once had someone with a chainsaw outside start the saw as Rawhide arose. I do suggest watching the smaller ones, as one time, the neighbor kids ran all the way home across the street before I could catch them. ♥

 I wish I had thought of it before, and I would have made a construction paper jack-o-lantern to hang on the wall and have blindfolded kids pin his mouth on.

The night always ended with spooky stories told by the children and of course, hardly anyone slept that night. The party always went over so well, that the kids could hardly wait for the next year, and neither could the adults, as many of the adults in my family always attended.

I hope this gives you some ideas, and feel free to share any that you may have as well.

Happy Hauntings. ♥

1.Americans eat 50 million pumpkin pies a ear, it is said.

2. The Irish brought the tradition of carving gourds and turnips withthem to the new world and hence they soon were carving the big round orange field pumpkins in New England during Harvest Time in the fall of the year.

3. 90 percent of a pumpkin is water! and they are very high in fiber.

4. Native Americans had many uses for pumpkins: as a medicine, food, dried the skin and used for woven mats.

5. Did you realize pumpkins were indigenous to Central America originally, but are now grown on 6 continents.

6. During the colonial days in North America, settlers would carve off the pumpkin top and hollow out the seeds, then fill the squash with milk, honey and spices and roast them on open fire pits. Hmmmm sounds good. The first pumpkin pies, I believe.

7. It is said that in the day (before today) it was believed that pumpkin parts could cure freckles and even snake bites.

8. This is a very low in calorie food source, but high in potassium and other vitamins.

Every year on
Oct. 31, children
all over the United States look forward to a Halloween night complete with
costumes, candy, and maybe even a jaunt through a “haunted” house,
as they run from door to door yelling, “Trick or treat!”
Compared to this eerie holiday’s start, today’s celebrations are a
“ghost” of Halloween history.

Halloween comes
to us from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter.
Winter meant long hours of darkness and the Celts believed that this darkness
brought evil spirits. To keep the spirits away, they built bonfires and burned
sacrifices. They also wore costumes made of animal heads and skins, and
believed that on this night they could predict each other’s futures.

By A.D. 43, Rome
had conquered the Celts and added their own traditions to Halloween. They added
a tribute to Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees, which is where
today’s custom of bobbing for apples comes from. Apples played a large role in
some Halloween customs involving love and romance. It was believed that if you
peeled an apple in one long peeling without breaking it, and then threw it over
your shoulder, that the peel would form the initials of your true love. On the
other hand, if you placed an apple under your pillow, you would dream of your
future spouse.

By the ninth
century, Christianity had made a foothold inside of Celtic territory, and the
pope proclaimed Nov. 1 as All Saints Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs.
It was also called “Allhallows,” which meant “all saints”
in the Middle English language. Thus, October 31 became “All Hallows
Eve” or ultimately “Halloween.”

There are many
strange customs and facts associated with Halloween. Some of the more popular
ones are jack-o-lanterns, dressing up, and trick-or-treating. Jack-o-lanterns
are made by carving a face into a pumpkin. In fact, 99 percent of all pumpkins
sold are used for this purpose, according to a recent web survey. Pumpkins
aren’t the only thing ever used to make jack-o-lanterns.

The Irish used
turnips, but when they came to America and found that turnips weren’t as
plentiful, they switched to pumpkins. Legend says that a man named Jack died
and was cursed to roam the Earth carrying a hollowed-out turnip with a burning
ember inside until Judgment Day. He was banned from both heaven and hell due to
his miserly ways and the tricks he had played on the devil.

The tradition of
dressing up in costume has both European and Celtic roots. Early cultures believed
that ghosts could come back to Earth on Halloween night. Dressing up in
costumes was supposed to make these ghosts think normal people were also
spirits, and therefore, they would be unharmed. Trick-or-treating may also have
come from this custom, as some people would also leave bowls of food on their doorsteps to appease
the spirits.

Another
possibility is a ninth century custom called, “souling.” This
involved early Christians walking from village to village begging for
“soul cakes.” A soul cake was a square-shaped piece of bread that had
currents in it. The more cakes that you got, the more prayers the receiver said
for the ones who gave them the cakes.

Halloween is
also full of many different superstitions. Some of the more popular include
that journeys must be finished before sunset, and that if you carried a candle
with you between the hours of 11 to midnight, you would have good luck if the
candle stayed lit, but it would be a bad omen if it burned out. Others include
black cats being unlucky, witches roaming the night, and in the last few years,
even Halloween greeting cards.

Whether you
spend Oct. 31 passing out candy for trick-or-treaters, or dressing up in
costume to scare away evil spirits, it has evolved from a mysterious night full
of mischief and mayhem, into the second most popular holiday in the
United States.

Happy Halloween!

As a psychotherapist by trade, I must put on my therapy hat for just a moment. As an admirer of Carl Jung, the swiss psychologist, he has an intriguing philosophy on the subject of dressing up for Halloween. He believes that we all have a hidden part of us that lay in our unconscious, dying to be noticed. What we show people on the outside and what lay hidden on the inside, can be quite a contrast. It is fun to dress up into a character that you may find mysterious or differen’t from your day to day persona.

Jung describes this unknown part of us as the shadow. On halloween night in my Jungian class, we were given the opportunity to dress upas one aspect of our shadow. What a fun party theme and interesting concept to think about. What about you is so hidden, that you may want to show others? I encourage you to think about this and just for fun, think of what you would dress up as, to show this piece of you or your shadow. Analytical psychology uncovers that piece or pieces of our psyche, so that we can become more aware of what lay hidden. That is the fun of halloween. It is also quite healthy for our mental state.

My family sees halloween as an opportunity to stay with tradition and get silly together. Every year we carve our pumpkins on halloweeen eve or day and cook the pumpkin seeds. These seeds are baked and very delicious. We also trick or treat each year with our neighborhood. We have a great time decorating our yard and stoop. It is always fun to see the kids react to the scary decorations as they approach the house for treats.

Recipe for Pumpkin Seeds

• Rinse pumpkin seeds in strainer in sink
• Add salt to water with pumpkin seeds atleast four hours
• Take out of water and rinse
• Place pumpkin seeds on olive oil greased pan
• Bake pumpkin seeds till golden brown
• Bake at 400 degrees
• Salt to Taste

I would like to close with a fond childhood memory. In my catholic school they taught us this Halloween song. My kids have loved this song since they were quite small. ……..

Witches, pumpkin heads, and black cats, scary spooks and black bats, oh its Halloween.

Witches, pumpkin heads, and black cats, scary spooks and black bats, oh it’s Halloween

Halloween night is the night where fearful things are seen. LOOK OUT- LOOK OUT- LOOK OUT IT’S HALLOWEEN.

The methods for carving are endless, but here are a few suggestions for websites with fun and easy templates!

• The DLTK site has many family friendly pumpkin patterns.  It also gives a detailed description about how to properly carve a pumpkin.  
• This eHow has many patterns available, as well as a nifty Halloween countdown! 
• For more original patterns than the traditional bats and cats, go to Zombie Pumpkins!  
• With over 300 different patterns, you can find a stencil for almost anything at The Pumpkin Lady!  
• Visit the Nickelodeon website for templates of all of your child’s favorite Nick Jr characters. 
• To learn about the history of Halloween, Jack-o-laterns, and patterns (of course), go to the History Channel!  
• If you just aren’t sure what pumpkin pattern is right for you, take the Better Homes and Gardens ”Halloween Pumpkin Quiz”!  

Have a safe and happy Halloween!