What are you working on in October (2023)?

[Ann Seeber]

2 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

You'll have to pardon me if  I don't get excited  over the 20 you have on your patio

Unfortunately, it's the best I can do here in the city. 

[Suzy]

Here ya go. In the city.

Barred Owl n my neighbor's patio yesterday late afternoon.  (I had a Hawk up in a tree on my patio last week during chipmunk time (4-6pm)  but alas, no camera.)

In both instances, my neighbor and myself, we were sitting under a patio umbrella reading on our ipads.  The owl was clacking its beak menacingly (and noisily), but the hawk was doing something with its feather which made an unusual noise, not loud, just something I couldn't place.

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Suzy

[Sue Thomas]

4 hours ago, Ann Seeber said:

Unfortunately, it's the best I can do here in the city. 

At least you get to see some up close,  which is nice, plus they crop the grass, and fertilize it.

[Jannette Nieuwboer]

11 hours ago, Suzy said:

Here ya go. In the city.

Barred Owl n my neighbor's patio yesterday late afternoon.  (I had a Hawk up in a tree on my patio last week during chipmunk time (4-6pm)  but alas, no camera.)

In both instances, my neighbor and myself, we were sitting under a patio umbrella reading on our ipads.  The owl was clacking its beak menacingly (and noisily), but the hawk was doing something with its feather which made an unusual noise, not loud, just something I couldn't place.

 

A gift from 'Mother Nature'.😃

[Susan Ewart]

3 minutes ago, Jannette Nieuwboer said:

A gift from 'Mother Nature'.😃

Wow!  what an experience that would be.

[kasany]

14 hours ago, Suzy said:

Here ya go. In the city.

Barred Owl n my neighbor's patio yesterday late afternoon.  (I had a Hawk up in a tree on my patio last week during chipmunk time (4-6pm)  but alas, no camera.)

In both instances, my neighbor and myself, we were sitting under a patio umbrella reading on our ipads.  The owl was clacking its beak menacingly (and noisily), but the hawk was doing something with its feather which made an unusual noise, not loud, just something I couldn't place.

 

Good photo and not nice situation.

[Suzy]

It was taken with an iPhone 15!
Yes, lots of predators here.  We can’t hear them, but often see the shadow cross over us when they swoop down and get a little (and sometimes not so little!) critter and fly off with it in their talons. The whole thing is entirely visible and sometimes the prey looks to be as large as the bird. 
We hardly have any rabbits here. I’m pretty sure they are a delicacy. 

Here is something I learned today. The term Trick or Treat originated in Canada, specifically Alberta and Saskatchewan, circa 1920s. Source: Historyfacts.com

 

[Susan Ewart]

58 minutes ago, Suzy said:

It was taken with an iPhone 15!
Yes, lots of predators here.  We can’t hear them, but often see the shadow cross over us when they swoop down and get a little (and sometimes not so little!) critter and fly off with it in their talons. The whole thing is entirely visible and sometimes the prey looks to be as large as the bird. 
We hardly have any rabbits here. I’m pretty sure they are a delicacy. 

Here is something I learned today. The term Trick or Treat originated in Canada, specifically Alberta and Saskatchewan, circa 1920s. Source: Historyfacts.com

 

hahaha.  Better to be known for Halloween than our crazy politics wouldnt you say?  My neighbour goes all out.  And i get to participate this year, it's a day I'm home early enough to hand out some goodies.  I'll probably abandon the door to go hang with them.  

 

[Ann Seeber]

14 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

At least you get to see some up close,  which is nice, plus they crop the grass, and fertilize it.

Here are the views from my windows daily. 

[Jannette Nieuwboer]

What are they looking for Ann. Snales??

[Susan Ewart]

30 minutes ago, Ann Seeber said:

Here are the views from my windows daily. 

I wanna live with you!

[Jannette Nieuwboer]

2 hours ago, Suzy said:

It was taken with an iPhone 15!
Yes, lots of predators here.  We can’t hear them, but often see the shadow cross over us when they swoop down and get a little (and sometimes not so little!) critter and fly off with it in their talons. The whole thing is entirely visible and sometimes the prey looks to be as large as the bird. 
We hardly have any rabbits here. I’m pretty sure they are a delicacy. 

Here is something I learned today. The term Trick or Treat originated in Canada, specifically Alberta and Saskatchewan, circa 1920s. Source: Historyfacts.com

 

sorry Suzy after reading What is told you, here a bit different.  This is what I found. 

I don't know what to believe. 🤥

American Wizardry
Halloween as we know it today has undergone its greatest transformation in the United States. During the 19th century, Irish and Scottish immigrants brought their Halloween traditions to America, including the concept of trick-or-treating. Children dressed up and went door to door with bags to collect candy and treats. If they didn't get treats, they threatened to do a funny "trick" to bring a smile on their faces. 

 

On the same site: The Genius Concept of 'Trick-or-Treat'

The concept of trick-or-treating is truly genius and has its origins in the Middle Ages in Europe. During that period, less fortunate people went door to door and asked for food in a friendly manner.
 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Jannette Nieuwboer

[Ann Seeber]

29 minutes ago, Jannette Nieuwboer said:

What are they looking for Ann. Snales??

I'm not sure of their diet, Jannette. Some birds eat everything, some eat just nuts, seeds and insects; some eat vegetation. With songbirds, it depends on how their beaks have evolved. Like Cardinals are uniquely equipped to crack large seeds. Starlings are strictly meat eaters and disdain seed. They go after my suet. Geese are not my expertise. Audubon says: Feeds on very wide variety of plants. Eats stems and shoots of grasses, sedges, aquatic plants, also seeds and berries; consumes many cultivated grains (especially on refuges, where crops planted for geese). Occasionally eats some insects, mollusks, crustaceans, sometimes small fish.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Ann Seeber
Added Audubon ref.

[Suzy]

My parents were born in 1915, so they would have been trick or treat age at the very, very beginning,  but they said there was none. My mom in Chicago said nobody did it when she was a youth. She had hardly heard of it in terms of good things like candy until she had kids in the 1940s. She did say that bad teenagers would vandalize and the RC church stepped in with parties for them to keep them off the streets, but she was too young. Then C.Y.O.* Started and they had parties all the time. ….the way she segued into it, it was as if the beginnings of C.Y.O. had to do with Halloween? As of those original “Keep them off the streets on Oct 31” parties were so successful they decided to make it an official program? (Catholic Youth Organization)

My dad was in Pittsburgh, and he said it was a time for usually teenagers to vandalize anything. He intimated it was a bigger problem in terms of destruction in the rural areas. Things like burning down an entire barn, for example. At the time, he assumed they dressed up to conceal their identity. (Notice here how “they” is used….he never said he was among “them”, but I don’t think I asked him outright.).  He said it was the early 1940s before he ever heard of any door-to door children doing trick or treating, but he conceded that the late 1930s he was in college and things having to do with kids were not on his radar.

That is the extent I know about the beginnings of Trick or Treating in the US, and it’s a very small sample of the US territory, but it supports the American wizardry version. Hahaha.

I just though the Canadians would appreciate the story.

[Cassel]

Interestingly, I grew up in Montreal, in a francophone family and neighbourhood. When going out on Halloween night, we were saying something completely different. In French, we would say "La charité, s'il vous plait", which would simply be a way to beg for food. I have no clue where that comes from. I surely was not the only one saying that, as all the children would repeat the same thing. I'll have to investigate on that.

[Jannette Nieuwboer]

This remains me of another holiday called St Maarten. Or Martin. I also don't know this festival from my youth. My husband doesn't either. Since we are both from a big city and St. Maarten was only held in small villages and towns. This is what I found on the internet. See the differences and similarities. Children walk past the doors with lanterns on November 11.

Why is Sint Maarten on November 11?
Martin dies in 397 AD. He was buried in the city of Tours on November 11th. The Saint Martin feast is therefore celebrated on the day he is buried. Martin was later canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Saint means holy. Hence the name Sint Maarten.

For many people, this is now an ordinary day, but for centuries this was a huge celebration. On this day, people once again went all out with food and drinks. In winter, people often had to go on rations to ensure they had enough food to get through the winter. Then on that day, poor people went door to door to collect food as well. Do you see the connection? Now children go door to door to pick up sweets. In the past, it was mainly poor children, but at the beginning of the last century, the festival was embraced as a general tradition. 

 

here it is a tradition the children have to sing songs in exchange for the treats.  No trick or treat saying at all. 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Jannette Nieuwboer

[Ann Seeber]

12 minutes ago, Jannette Nieuwboer said:

This remains me of another holiday called St Maarten. Or Martin. I also don't know this festival from my youth. My husband doesn't either. Since we are both from a big city and St. Maarten was only held in small villages and towns. This is what I found on the internet. See the differences and similarities. Children walk past the doors with lanterns on November 11.

Why is Sint Maarten on November 11?
Martin dies in 397 AD. He was buried in the city of Tours on November 11th. The Saint Martin feast is therefore celebrated on the day he is buried. Martin was later canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Saint means holy. Hence the name Sint Maarten.

For many people, this is now an ordinary day, but for centuries this was a huge celebration. On this day, people once again went all out with food and drinks. In winter, people often had to go on rations to ensure they had enough food to get through the winter. Then on that day, poor people went door to door to collect food as well. Do you see the connection? Now children go door to door to pick up sweets. In the past, it was mainly poor children, but at the beginning of the last century, the festival was embraced as a general tradition. 

 

here it is a tradition the children have to sing songs in exchange for the treats.  No trick or treat saying at all. 

 

 

My Dad was born in 1892 and my mother in 1907. She hated the tradition of, as she called it, "begging" on Halloween. Perhaps the older traditions influenced that, associating it with poor people. To me it was just what all the other kids did and we said "Trick or Treat" as we went door to door for candy. One tradition was sort of bad. The night before was Mischief Night and people's car windows got soaped and trees were hung with streamers of toilet paper. It seems the tricks came before the treats! 

[Julie Magerka]

19 hours ago, Suzy said:

Here ya go. In the city.

Barred Owl n my neighbor's patio yesterday late afternoon.  (I had a Hawk up in a tree on my patio last week during chipmunk time (4-6pm)  but alas, no camera.)

In both instances, my neighbor and myself, we were sitting under a patio umbrella reading on our ipads.  The owl was clacking its beak menacingly (and noisily), but the hawk was doing something with its feather which made an unusual noise, not loud, just something I couldn't place.

 

What a beauty! But look at those talons....

[Cassel]

I researched and found something interesting about Halloween in Quebec. Here is an article: https://www.decouvertemonde.com/fete-dhalloween-dans-le-monde

It seems that the expression "La charité, s'il vous plait" would be a catholic-related phrase. I found interesting the explanation about the colors used at that time too. I guess you would have to use Google translate to read that whole page.

[Sue Thomas]

Halloween stems way back to the  Celtic, Gaelic pagan festival of Samhain, 2,500 yrs ago.  Which is a pagan religious festival originating from an ancient Celtic spiritual tradition. The winter half of the year  began  with  the feast  of Samhain,  (pronounced sow-win) which was  on the 1^st November, and marked the end of harvest. 

Celts believed that on the night before the new year  (1^st November)  the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. So on the 31^st October they celebrated it.  It was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth on the 31^st Oct.    The  entrance passage to the Mound of the Hostages on the hill of Tara is aligned with the  rising sun.  The Mound of Hostages dates back 4,500 -5,000 yrs old.  Which may suggest that Samhain was celebrated long before the Celts arrived in  Ireland 2,500 yrs ago.

Samhain, is the forerunner of Halloween.  Back in the  eight century Pope Gregory the third, designated 1^st Nov as a time to honour  saints.  Soon after called  All Saints Day. Which incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain.  The evening before  all Saints Day was known as All Hallows Eve, and then later known as Halloween..

Traditionally Halloween can not fall on the same day each year, because of the  equinox and solstice fall on different days each year. By the time  of the first written references to Samhain came into being in the middle ages, it was already being celebrated on  31^st Oct or 1^st Nov. 

It was in the late 18^th century America made the move to change Halloween  into a holiday, more a bout community and neighbourly  get togethers than about   harvest, witchcraft  and ghosts. They changed   Halloween  to parties for adults and children to celebrate the day.  Of course in my opinion it has been commercialized to the hilt.  I wonder how many children, and adults  would actually know  the history or origins  of why they celebrate Halloween if they were to be asked. 

Don’t get me started on  Christmas, which dates back to pre Christianity.  A pagan festival,  once again associated with the winter solstice  in the Northern Hemisphere, which falls on the  21-22 December.  

I Have books on such topics, which I have picked up over the years, after visiting ancient burial sights, castles etc.  Even Stonehenge, which is familiar to  almost everyone around the world.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Sue Thomas

[Sue Thomas]

34 minutes ago, Cassel said:

I researched and found something interesting about Halloween in Quebec. Here is an article: https://www.decouvertemonde.com/fete-dhalloween-dans-le-monde

It seems that the expression "La charité, s'il vous plait" would be a catholic-related phrase. I found interesting the explanation about the colors used at that time too. I guess you would have to use Google translate to read that whole page.

I have just read the link you posted, after I posted  my own comment above.  I took references from  my books, and   what I remembered.   The link you posted, has endorsed a lot of what I have posted.

[Ann Seeber]

16 minutes ago, Sue Thomas said:

Don’t get me started on  Christmas, which dates back to pre Christianity.  A pagan festival,  once again associated with the winter solstice  in the Northern Hemisphere, which falls on the  21-22 December.  

Yes, reading about how the early Christians appropriated the pagan festival, I thought it was a brilliant move. Combining the two gave legitimacy to the "new" Christianity as the common people were familiar with a celebration at that time of year.

[Jannette Nieuwboer]

11 minutes ago, Sue Thomas said:

I have just read the link you posted, after I posted  my own comment above.  I took references from  my books, and   what I remembered.   The link you posted, has endorsed a lot of what I have posted.

I saw the differences and similarities, Sue. I keep seeing those very old explanations here, sometimes accompanied by very old paintings. (My laptop is constantly translating from English, French, and German.) A few similarities are the end of the growing season. The soil goes to rest. Cattle goes to the stables. Going door to door. Asking for food. Heavy time to Children. Difficulties to survive the winter.

 

[Bonnie Ballentine]

Andy, Fran, Judy and I shared a fun filled day recently. We shopped a flea market and thrift store and broke bread in a small, local eatery. We also shopped an old-fashioned General Store. Andy and Fran were high school sweethearts and continue to fall deeper in love with each passing day.

For the background I used a photo of leaves; selected about a 2 inch square. Using the pick tool I stretched it to fill my layout, then applied a gaussian blur. I extracted the leaf at the top, duplicated it. I used Selections...select selection borders for the photo. I also inserted a heart for the "o" in love.

[Susan Ewart]

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?