Trick or Treat!

This is one of my favourite times of the year – everywhere I go right now I’m reminded it’s Halloween! Everything is decorated with witches and ghosts and anything black and orange! TV shows have Halloween-themed episodes and TV Channels are showing non-stop horror films. Last week PetSmart had a costume party for pets, the Toronto Zoo is hosting “Boo at the Zoo!” and Canada’s Wonderland has turned its amusement park into a haunted house!

On October 31st kids across the country will get dressed up in costumes and go from house to house saying ‘trick or treat.’ People decorate their houses and give out candy (nobody expects them to play a trick anymore!). Some adults will dress up too and go to Halloween parties (trick-or-treating in only for the young!). It’s such a fun community event! This year at my house we’re giving out mini-chocolate bars and small bags of potato chips to all the trick-or-treaters.

How did Halloween begin?

Halloween began as the Celtic festival Samhain (pronounced sow-in) celebrated on November 1st, the beginning of their new year. The Celts were pagan people who lived 2000 years ago in what is now the United Kingdom and northern France. Samhain celebrated the end of both the summer and the harvest and the beginning of winter. The Celts believed that on the night before Samhain the ghosts of the dead returned to earth and witches would descend and cast their evils spells on people. It was an important night because winter was a frightening and uncertain time for them. The days were short and many people were afraid of the long dark nights. The Celts wanted to ward off evils spirits to protect themselves through the long, dark winter.

People were afraid they would encounter ghosts when they left their homes, especially after dark, so they would put on masks and costumes to avoid being recognized and hoped that the ghosts would think they are fellow spirits! (Today, people still dress up as ghosts or witches or skeletons for Halloween!) They would also attempt to scare off evil spirits by carving a scary face into a hollowed out turnip or rutabaga, putting a candle in it for light and putting this in the window of their house. Nowadays we hollow out pumpkins and carve scary or funny faces into them. (Pumpkins are native to North America, readily available in October, and are a whole lot bigger than turnips or rutabaga!)

After the Celts were conquered by the Romans, Samhain was incorporated into other Roman festivals commemorating the passing of the dead. As a way to encourage pagans to convert to Christianity, a 7th C Pope attempted to replace old Celtic and Roman festivals with church-sanctioned holidays and declared November 1st All Saints’ Day, a day to honour saints and martyrs. The day was renamed ‘All-hallows’ or ‘All-hallowmas.’ The night before ‘All-hallows’ was called ‘All-hallows Even’, or what we know today as Halloween. Later, another Pope would declare November 2nd All Souls’ Day, a day to honour the dead. All three days were called Hallomas a time and some of the old Samhin traditions were incorporated – but now people dressed up as saints, angels, and devils (which are still popular costumes today!)

Why do we celebrate Halloween?

Today we celebrate the end of the harvest season as Thanksgiving, and Halloween has lost much of its religious significance. Over time Halloween has turned into community celebration and trick-or-treating is an inexpensive way for an entire community or neighbourhood to share in the tradition!

People come up with the most creative costumes in addition to the traditional ones. When I was young I dressed up as a clown, a bunny, a cartoon character, and a ’50s girl among other things. We still try to scare each other, but now we do it by telling ghost stories or talking a walk through a haunted house!

Related Posts:
Canadian Thanksgiving

What is Christmas?
Valentine’s Day
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Are you a big fan of the television show The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Milan? What about The Ghost Whisperer? Wondering what they’re whispering?

In popular culture, a whisperer is someone who has an extraordinary ability to understand and communicate with troubled animals, people, or other beings, and can help to rehabilitate them or change their behaviour.

Where did this come from?

The idea of a whisperer became popular in 1995 because of a book written by British author Nicholas Evans. The Horse Whisperer was #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list and has sold over 15 million copies. It was made into a move in 1998 starring the popular American actor Robert Redford, who plays the horse whisperer. The movie was even more popular than the book and has grossed almost $187 million worldwide.

The book was based on the lives of real people – horse trainers who have a gift for helping rehabilitate horses traumatized by an accident or abuse. The skill of horse whispering dates back to the 19th century. A horse trainer was so successful at calming traumatized horses, people assumed he must be communicating in some way with the horse – and to some it looked like he was whispering to them!

The popularity of the book and the movie led to anyone who has an ability to talk to animals being called a whisperer. Cesar Milan is the Dog Whisperer who helps dogs with behavioural problems. (His catchphrase is “I rehabilitate dogs. I train people.”)

Over time it has become a ubiquitous term used to describe people who have an ability to communicate with any being that cannot otherwise talk. On TV, American actress Jennifer Love Hewitt plays the Ghost Whisperer, a woman who can communicate with the ghosts of dead people and helps them talk to the living. There is also an Angel Whisperer, and a Baby Whisperer. People who would otherwise be called consultants are also referred to as whisperers, for example a Lifestyle Whisperer.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Every year, on the second Monday in October, Canadians gather to celebrate Thanksgiving Day! We spend time with our family, eat a huge dinner together, and give thanks – thanks for enough food to eat, thanks for a good life, and thanks for family and friends. It was originally a day to thank God for a good harvest, but as Canadian society became more secular, it has become a day to give thanks for everything. Most Canadians are no longer farmers, and we can easily buy any food we want and need at the supermarket (even if it isn’t grown in Canada), but we still carry on this tradition!

We spend time with our extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc.) and eat a delicious meal of turkey with gravy, all sorts of fall vegetables that can be grown in a cold climate, and pumpkin pie for dessert! Usually my mom makes mashed potatoes, stuffing (bread mixed with spices and stuffed into the turkey while it cooks), mashed squash, brussels sprouts (miniature cabbage), carrots in a brown sugar sauce and cranberry sauce. I’m not sure why we eat turkey specifically on this day, it’s just the tradition – everyone eats turkey on Thanksgiving! (Maybe it’s because a turkey is big enough to feed a large family!)

How did Thanksgiving begin?

Thanksgiving originated in Europe as a celebration at the end of a successful harvest season. The harvest is the time of year – long after summer has ended but before the cold winter begins – when all the crops are collected from the fields to be eaten or stored for winter. People would gather to celebrate and thank God for a good harvest and an abundance of food. This tradition was later brought to North America by European settlers.

It is a statutory holiday (an official holiday declared by the government) so no one has to work on this day and most stores are closed.

The Americans celebrate Thanksgiving later than we do – Canada is a colder climate, so our harvest season usually ends before the American harvest. In addition to giving thanks for the harvest season, Americans also remember the Pilgrims who fled England and landed in American in 1620 to start the first permanent English settlement in New England (northeastern America).

Thanksgiving Day is right in the middle of fall. At this time of year, it’s getting colder. The summer is long over and the leaves on the trees are turning colour, so we know that winter is just around the corner!

Related posts:
Trick or Treat – It’s Halloween!
What is Christmas?
Valentine’s Day
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

In English-speaking countries, a typical wedding begins with a wedding ceremony. This is when the bride and groom are officially wed.

The ceremony is then followed by dinner and dancing. This is the wedding reception. Together, these two events are called a wedding.

This is NOT called a wedding party. I often hear this from students: “Teacher, last weekend I went to a wedding party!” No, you did not. You went to a wedding.

There are two definitions of the word party:
1) a celebration, a social event, where people gather to have fun
2) a group of people with a common purpose – like a political party, dinner reservations for a party of 5, and a wedding party.

The wedding party is the group of people directly involved in the wedding and who participate in the wedding ceremony – the bride, the groom, and their attendants. The wedding party is sometimes called the bridal party.

A groom will have a best man and groomsmen. A bride will have a maid of honour and bridesmaids. Young children may also participate as flower girls, page boys, or ring bearers (who carry the wedding rings exchanged by the bride and groom). This is the wedding party.

After the wedding, the bride and groom are called newlyweds. They then go on a short vacation called a honeymoon.