Today, the 31st October, is All Hallows Eve, which is more commonly known as Halloween.
Halloween is the first day of Hallowtide, which also includes the Feast of All Hallows, or All Saints’ Day, which is celebrated on 1st November, and the Feast of All Souls, which is celebrated on 2nd November.
Let me explain the origins of Hallowtide and how Hallowtide was celebrated in medieval and Tudor England.
Here is my video on soul cakes:
And here’s my playlist of ghost stories from Anne Boleyn Files followers:
Hello creepy Claire and how I like your pumpkin lights, very interesting discussion on the traditions and strange customs of All Hallows’ Eve, when I was young the magazines used to feature Halloween in the week up to the 31st October and apple bobbing and Jack o lanterns were mentioned, but I have never heard of cracking nuts with ones teeth in the contemporary sauces so that custom must have died out, hardly surprising as I imagine quite a few lost their teeth, some children did dress up and attend parties but because our Guy Fawkes night followed soon after folk were more excited about bonfire parties and fireworks, however Halloween is a quaint little custom although it has been taken over by the monster brigade, mostly from fiction, superstition like witches and devils and vampires abound freely yet Halloween was merely about remembering the beloved dead, that sacred time when the veil was lifted between the world of the living and the world of the dead, praying for those in purgatory and honouring their memory, today our ancestors would be horrified at the ghoulish costumes people dress up in and the fake make up available to buy, the custom of begging for alms and soul cakes which sound delicious ( having seen the video), must be the forerunner of the trick or treat which children do today, yet it is merely an American custom, actually this year it had been a beautiful sunny day then early evening the heavens opened and it poured of rain, I felt so sorry for the little ones and also the parents who had to accompany them, I didn’t hear many come round but I think they knocked next door, I had a tub of haribo’s and some little cakes but no one came to my house, maybe because I hadn’t displayed my big plastic pumpkin outside, but i couldn’t find it though I believe it’s in the cupboard under the stairs, and it needs a good clear out, oh dear !