Pumpkin carving always displays a wide range of artistic vision...From our howling wolf, experimenting with the 'shadowed look' ... to the exotic and wonderfully scary creations at the main office...
Out here we don't get a lot of trick or treat visitors, but we do get some, and it's always a treat to see these little ones (and some big ones) who have put some effort into their costumes.
Few if any of them know that they are 'guising' (costumed, disguised) as part of centuries long tradition. Samhain -- which means Summer's End, marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the dark winter season in old Celtic traditions. It was the time when cattle were brought back down from the summer pastures and when livestock were slaughtered for the winter. In much of the Gaelic world, bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them, as at Beltane, the beginning of summer. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual. Tradition held that Samhain (like Beltane) was seen as a time when the "door" to the "otherworld" opened enough for the souls of the dead, and other beings, to come into our world. Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend and a place set at the table for them. Anyone who came to the door received food -- now it's candy. People also took steps to protect themselves from harmful spirits, which is thought to have led to the custom of wearing costumes, or disguises, so that they could not easily be recognized by any harmful spirit. The fierce faces on the pumpkins were also a way to ward off anything harmful.
What great pumpkin-carving! It brings back memories of the successful wolf howl that we experienced at Bondi back in August.
ReplyDelete-The Geenen Family
That wolf howl pumpkin looks terrific!
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