When I think of
Halloween, chills run up my spine, my teeth tingle with the thought
of all the candy that will be consumed and my superstitions are
heightened as the holiday approaches.
This month is
Halloween, one of my favorite holidays. It is filled with ghosts and
goblins and witches and warlocks and all things “scary” and
“spooky”, however, the original roots of this holiday are built
around all things nature. How many nature things can you think of?
One of the first
things that come to mind is the traditional orange and black colors.
These colors originated from a celebration of the harvest and fall,
with orange representing the crops that have ripened and the black
representing the end of summer or “death of a season”.
Another orange
colored tradition is the Jack O' Lantern, originally, this carved
vegetable with a frightening face was the turnip. This lantern, with
a small candle inside to make it glow, was to scare away evil
spirits. As time went on, it was replaced by the pumpkin, which are
more numerous, hopefully still scaring off evil spirits lurking in
the dark.
Apples are another
traditional fruit used in Halloween celebrations also representing
the bounty of fruit at harvest time. Long ago, the candy apple was
given instead of candy when trick-or-treating door to door. Bobbing
for apples is a common game at parties and originally was played as a
fortune telling game. One version is played like this: If you bite
the apple you are going to have romance and marry, putting it under
your pillow would allow you to dream about your true love, if after
three times no apple was bitten then the relationship was doomed.
Black cats, bats and
spiders are all symbols of Halloween and create a common feeling of
dread. The bad luck associated with these creatures came from
stories that the devil gave them to witches as companions. What do
you believe?
When enjoying the
traditions of Halloween this month, keep in mind the nature side of
this holiday. Boo!
