Halloween…Dates all the way back to the ancient Celts and was known as the festival of Samhain…pronounced (Sow-in). It marks the end of the summer and the harvest and marks the beginning of the cold, dark winter…

I have many happy memories of  Harvest Festival when I was young with all the lovely produce and how the church displayed it all such lovely colours oranges, golds and browns and I loved the harvest festival hymns especially ‘ We plough the fields and scatter” such a joyous hymn.

 

Halloween also has a darker side and the ancient Celts believed that on the night of All Hallows the world and the boundaries between the living and the dead became blurred and the night of the 31st was when ghosts of the dead were thought to return to earth.

The colours of Halloween Black, Orange, Browns and Golds are beautiful with the orange symbolising Strength, endurance, harvest and autumn in contrast the Black is a symbol of death and darkness and Halloween marked those boundaries between the two.

It wasn’t until about the 1930’s that the custom of trick and treating began and it still continues to this day…

The Pumpkin features very prominently in today’s celebrations of Halloween, however, the very first Jack O ‘ Lanterns were carved out of turnips.

Did you know that the largest pumpkin recorded in 1993 was a massive 836 lb… That’s a lot of pumpkin pies…

Pumpkins also look very pretty and some of the carvings are awesome but quite difficult to do so be careful you don’t cut yourself the incidence of accidents is very high and that includes traffic accidents where children get excited and just run/walk across the roads.

How to carve a pumpkin?

Every Friday up until the 31st October I will be bringing you recipes, Halloween tips and decorations and probably some trivia followed after that by Carol’s Christmas Crackers which will be all things Christmas…Only 102 sleeps…x

Did you know Samhainophobia is the fear of Halloween????

Enough of all this I am sure you want some recipes?? Here is my recipe for pumpkin spice mix ..Quick and easy you probably have all the ingredients in your store cupboard.

Pumpkin Spice Mix.

• 4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Mix all the spices together and keep in a lidded pot and use as required for muffins, pies or a nice spiced latte…

For more about the pumpkin and some yummy recipes check out my recent post ( If you) missed it…

https://blondieaka.wordpress.com/2018/08/31/fruity-fridays-the-pumpkin-and-yes-it-is-a-fruit/

That’s all for today I hope you enjoyed the first of my Fang-tastic Friday’s if you did please share or pin and enjoy your weekend xxx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://blondieaka.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all have a great weekend 🙂 xx