Category Archives: Halloween

Song of the Witches & The Great Pumpkin

It is  Halloween, the night of October 31, the eve of All Saints’s Day.   Some scholars believe that Halloween has Christian roots which have been influenced by the Celtic harvest festival.  Some others believe that there is a connection to the Gaelic festival, Samhain.  Whatever the case may be, I am reminded of twoContinue reading “Song of the Witches & The Great Pumpkin”

The Man Who Scared the Nation

No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a manContinue reading “The Man Who Scared the Nation”

There is Always a Pumpkin

A carved pumpkin is the quintessential symbol of Halloween.  You may be interested in knowing – as I was when I was looking up “pumpkins” – that in Ireland and Scotland, the turnip was the vegetable of choice for carving.  With the great Irish and Scottish immigration to North America in the 19th century, theContinue reading “There is Always a Pumpkin”

Countdown to Halloween

Halloween is coming and all of the little ghosts and goblins are in countdown mode. Unlike the scholars that debate on the origins of this auspicious day, children, of all ages, focus on the important “stuff” – the parties, candy and costumes that come every October 31st.    As we head into the final weekContinue reading “Countdown to Halloween”