What are you working on in October (2023)?

[Dorothy Donn]

1 hour ago, Susan Ewart said:

I love all the stories everyone posted about Halloween.  they are interesting, particularly the parts where you talk about your childhood and your parents.  Interesting to read that Christmas got hijacked from the Pagans.  Does anyone know what the Pagan holiday would have been called? 

Halloween is a holiday that has evolved over time and has both pagan and Christian roots. The holiday originated from the Celtic festival of Samhain, which was celebrated on the night of October 31st. The Celts believed that on this night, the boundary between the living and the dead became blurred, and ghosts could return to earth.

The Catholic Church later designated November 1st as All Saints’ Day, a day to honor saints and martyrs.  The night before All Saints’ Day became known as All Hallows’ Eve, which eventually became Halloween.

Today, Halloween is celebrated in many countries around the world and has become a secular holiday that is often associated with costumes, trick-or-treating, and spooky decorations.

I know this to be true as in school we had to dress as a character on the 31st (I was a gypsy) and as saint (I was Saint St. Cecilia) on Nov 1st.

[Sue Thomas]

3 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

I love all the stories everyone posted about Halloween.  they are interesting, particularly the parts where you talk about your childhood and your parents.  Interesting to read that Christmas got hijacked from the Pagans.  Does anyone know what the Pagan holiday would have been called? 

Yule is the pagan festival of the winter Solstice , which  marks the longest night.  For 12 days there would be  feasting, dancing,  gift giving  to celebrate the return of the sun.  Burning an oak log, that would burn for 12 days.  The 12 days between the winter solstice and the beginning of the next solar year.  It was considdered a sacred period, belonging to neither  the old year nor the new year. They would gather greenery to fetch into the house,   ivy, mistletoe which grew on the  oaks, holly and berries to decorate their homes.  The longest night would be  between the 20th -23rd December, depending on  the  year.    Saturnalia is an  ancient Roman festival, celebrated on the 17th December. It honours  Saturn, the agricultural  god, which was  derived from the  pagan winter solstice rituals. 

Pope Julius  chose the 25th December,  in 336AD  as the date when Christmas was first celebrated in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions  of the pagan Saturnalia festival.  First called the feast of the nativity. The custom spread, and arrived in  the UK some time at the end of the 6th century. 

When I was a child,  we decorated the house with all the greenery we could find outside.  Mum, my brother and I would find the holly tree with the most berries,  hazelnuts, pinecones, conkers (are nuts,   the seed of the horse chestnut tree) we used to play conkers. Mosses, ivy, mistletoe, we would drape them over the mantelpiece, and on the windowsill as decorations. For a tree, we gathered  large branches, decorated them by weaving ivy around them, and decorations like babbles and tinsel, nothing elaborate, also we made paper chains , and lanterns.  We did have stockings to hang up over the mantlepiece on Xmas eve.  

 

Edited October 31, 2023 by Sue Thomas

[Dorothy Donn]

On 10/29/2023 at 1:47 PM, Ann Seeber said:

We have a flock of about 20 Canada Geese that arrive next door on their large lawn and then end up under my bird feeders outside my kitchen window and on my patio in the front (another bird feeder) and I have a hard time not stepping in their numerous "deposits" all over my patio, the grass and the road. We really don't admire them much for that reason. I only have to walk out the patio door and they flee! I even speak to them from inside the house and they stop eating and drift away. I'm the CG bully, you see. 😉 

We started out with more mallard ducks then geese here. We also watched them eat our grass seed and our tulip and iris.  Soon we had over a 100 land in our yard every day and their discard piles started to cover all sidewalks, patios, and our yard. John was afraid for our puppy and started picking up their leavings. He told me he collected over 800 droppings.  We finally hung some balloons and sprinkled red pepper around.  It does help a little. And the mallard ducks you ask.... they are all gone.

[Dorothy Donn]

Halloween in Maryland 1955:

A small Chesapeake Bayside community in the summer the population would be around 900 and, in the winter it would be around 100 folks. The night before Halloween was called "Mischief Night".  All the youngsters would go out looking for metal trashcans and take their lids down to the point where the boats entered the harbor.  There was a very tall flagpole there and all the lids would be "run up" the flagpole. If it was a breezy night (as usual) you could hear them clanging all over town.  If we got our candy the next night, the following morning all lids were returned.

[Ann Seeber]

Module 2 of the Basic Scrap Course-A family photo from Summer 2023. Kit-Marisa L - Shopping Mini Kit; Photo-Granddaughter Alycia Wilson, Great Granddaughter Sonya Anne, and Alycia's friend, Andrai Arm-Madrid. Brad - Choose-to-Shine kit; Title Alpha-cass-Licorice; Label - Marisa Lerin; Staple - LinJane; Flowers-DiHiller; Ric Rac-Janet Scott; String-Janet Kemp, Marisa Lerin; Striped Background-opacity 25%; Small text - Tw Cen MT Condensed Extra Bold.

[Dorothy Donn]

18 hours ago, Ann Seeber said:

Module 2 of the Basic Scrap Course-A family photo from Summer 2023. Kit-Marisa L - Shopping Mini Kit; Photo-Granddaughter Alycia Wilson, Great Granddaughter Sonya Anne, and Alycia's friend, Andrai Arm-Madrid. Brad - Choose-to-Shine kit; Title Alpha-cass-Licorice; Label - Marisa Lerin; Staple - LinJane; Flowers-DiHiller; Ric Rac-Janet Scott; String-Janet Kemp, Marisa Lerin; Striped Background-opacity 25%; Small text - Tw Cen MT Condensed Extra Bold.

The family resemblances are outstanding in this photo. What a happy crew!!

[Michele]

Last Halloween theme from my game for 2023 (I hope). All I did was add outer glows and play with the opacity of each layer.

 

[Michele]

The game seems to be a couple of days behind. lol Today I used the Central Park Halloween Flotilla for inspiration. There are tons of layers.