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Tag Archives: halloween

So next M0nday is my very favorite holiday–Halloween! Unlike, say, Christmas or Thanksgiving, there is no weird family stuff, no obligations, no gifts to buy, just candy and dressing up and fun. I love it–especially the dressing up! This year I am going to be a French maid, if my modiste finishes my costume on time…

Halloween has its origins about 2000 years ago, in the Celtic festival of Samhain (summer’s end). It marked the death of summer and the beginning of the new year, and the boundaries between life and death were thought to be thinner. It was a moment of change, of magic and supernatural power. The Romans adapted this into the harvest festival of Pomona, goddess of the harvest, and the Christians made it All Soul’s Day. Trick or treat has its origins in the Middle Ages, in parades where the poor would go door to door begging for “soul cakes” in return for prayers for the cake-givers’ deceased relatives.

I’ve been doing lots of research on the Victorian era for my current WIPs, and like so many Victorian holidays Halloween became a bigger deal during the later 19th century than it had been before. The Victorians loved any excuse to have a party, and they also loved spooky, ghost-y things (seances, mediums, mourning jewelry, etc). Halloween became more romantic and sentimental, centering around divination games (like the “looking glass spell,” where a girl could see her future husband in a mirror), harvest-type games like bobbing for apples, ghost story-telling, and general partying with friends. There are some adorable Victorian Halloween postcards!

So to celebrate the holiday, let’s look at some examples of mourning jewelry and those adorable postcards….












BTW,for a good site about Victorian mourning jewelry you can go here

What are you doing this Halloween? Any mirror games??

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October started out well enough. I had a slight cold, but the writing was going well and one weekend, I got out to pick apples and late raspberries with my daughters. The following evening, we made fruit crisp with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Then my cold worsened into a sinus infection and I dragged for a while. Fortunately, this week I’m feeling better and working on catching up on everything I dropped, also getting back to exercize and writing. I’m feeling well enough to (perhaps foolishly) volunteer for stuff. A misunderstanding amongst volunteers has left our church Halloween Party hanging by a thread. It’s a much-loved event, the highlight being a Haunted House constructed by our very talented youth group. So when it seemed in danger of not happening, I stepped in for what my oldest called “a noble rescue”. That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

So I’m sorry I’ve had no time to write a well-researched post on Halloween or Samhain customs and what people would have done at this season during the Regency! I’m too busy making plans for food, activities and crafts. I’m also finishing up costumes for my kids. Once again, the theme is Star Trek, though this year they aren’t going to “be” Vulcans.

I don’t always dress up, although one year, strapped for time, I went as a Tired Mom in bathrobe and slippers, bearing a ginormous mug of coffee. This time, since I’m coordinating the party, I’m feeling the urge to do something more special. Since my daughters aren’t using their Vulcan ears, I am thinking about borrowing them and going as some sort of Vulcan matriarch. T’Pau would be cool and properly intimidating to any rowdy kids, but the costume looks a bit complicated. And could I find two hunky Vulcan dudes to carry me in? I need to think about this some more!

What have you been busy with this October? Any costumes or other fun stuff in your plans?

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Check the date. Yeah. Today is Wednesday, November 4. Uh huh. Perhaps you don’t recall, but my book was due November 1. I may have mentioned that a couple of times.

About now you’ve clicked away or else are glued to your screen wondering what happened.

Did she do it? Was she like Awesome Amanda (who actually turned her book in early? Or was she Merely Mortal Carolyn, turning her book in on time?

Or did something terrible happen involving tearful crying over the phone to her agent?

By the way, The awesome Nalini Singh answers Important Questions over at my blog where you could win one of her books. Please check it out.

Oh, and did you-all remember the time change? Because most of the U.S. had to Fall Back at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday November 1, the day my book was due. To be honest, I didn’t stay up for the big event. No, at 2:00 a.m., I was fast asleep in a sugary dream fueled by a great deal of Halloween candy.

Because, as you must know, the day before November 1 (the day my book was due) is October 31, which is Halloween. Any parent knows that this is one of the Three Big Non-Birthday Occasions no parent dares mess up. Two of the days involve bunnies and reindeer, respectively. Which means, in case you still need coffee, that the day before my book was due, my evening was previously engaged.

Yes, the tension is certainly mounting.

What happened?

We go to my brother’s house for Halloween because we live in the boonies and he lives in an area known for its holiday extravagance. My brother does this awesome haunted house that at key portions of the evening has a line out to the sidewalk.

Anyway, some fool put me in charge of handing out candy. It’s a complicated job involving taste testing, admiring costumes, directing haunted house traffic, advising young kids and teen boys (to mess with their minds) that there is a No Scare version of the Haunted House. There’s a lot of standing involved since we set up a table and a cauldron in front of the house, which means, I’m sure you’ve guessed, that the person handing out the candy (me!) has to keep her strength up by searching out the Whoppers, Baby Ruths and Junior Mints to make sure they taste good.

They did. With every batch. There is also a great deal of skill involved in making it look like you’re giving out gobs of bad-for-your-teeth-sweetie candy while not actually dropping the whole handful into the waiting bag. This is necessary because the kids often come by in batches of 20 or more. And the Haunted House draws them to us like flies. Over 500 kids served!

Here is an actual conversation that took place the night before my book was due.

Me: No, the Haunted House line is over there (pointing boy in correct direction)

Boy dressed as um, something: (He is 8 or 9) Is this where you come out?

Me: No. Nobody comes out of the Haunted House.

BDAUS: Why not?

Me: It’s haunted. A few make it out. Most don’t. (Pointing to large glass jar next to cauldren, which contains floating fingers, eyeballs and shrunken heads) We put the left over bits in here.

BDAUS: Really?

Me: Well, yeah. Were do you think we got all this?

BDAUS: (Eyes get really big)

Me: No. Not really. The line’s over there (pointing). Have some candy and ask for the No Scare version if you’re worried.

As you can see, I am completely perfect for this job.

And I was very relaxed because my book was done.

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Last week I promised you a photo of my Halloween costume. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Here it is.

It didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. I looked awful, but that was the point, right? I was dressed as “What Not To Wear.” If you watch the TV show on TLC, you’ll know that Stacie and Clinton throw away baggy cropped pants, patterned socks, thrift shop items (like the bowling shirt) and warn against being too “matchy matchy.”

The Halloween party was fun in spite of my failed costume. Helen, one of my writing friends and member of my original-and-still-meeting critique group gave the party. I have a double connection to Helen, because our husbands work together. Here’s the “Writing Group” (left to right: Julie, me, Helen, Virginia). As you can see, my costume looks just like I wore horrible clothes; the other costumes were very effective. (Helen, by the way, made that vest and hat)


The real surprise was to find Jane Austen at the party. Not “our” (Risky Regencies) Jane Austen but Helen’s friend Carol who came as Jane Austen vampire. And, let me tell you, her gown was fantastic. She’d made this beautiful pelisse out of a deep purple fabric with black flowery designs on it, almost like applique. I was in complete costume-envy! This pelisse was so elegant and looked like she’d just stepped out of a Regency novel. She also had black angel wings which were not so Regency. And the vampire teeth.

Helen, who also happens to be my modiste, has made me two Regency dresses over the years. The light blue one was from a copy of an authentic Regency era pattern. The dark blue was from a Simplicity pattern and it has (oh the shame!) a zipper. Last year I wore the dark blue one to the Halloween party so could not do so this year. And the light blue one fit me better when I was 20 lbs lighter. (You’ll recognize the other person in these photos as Amanda!)

I’m trying to think of a way to get Helen to make me a beautiful pelisse just like the Jane Austen vampire’s!

Did you have a fun Halloween? How did your costume work out? Better than mine, I hope!

Check out my website, which is not updated yet, but which still has a new contest on it.


Now, this morning I thought I might write about the insights I gleaned at last week’s New Jersey RWA Conference; or, I thought, maybe I’d talk about reading the third book in a trilogy that had a huge build-up of a relationship without a satisfying resolution (they got together, I think, but I didn’t get to read about the whole event. Ahem. I like reading about events).

But then I thought boring and decided to talk about Halloween! I love the holiday; our house is decorated with skulls, black velvet, mirrors, pumpkins and spiders. My son has a distinct flair for picking Halloween costumes. Last year he was Gene Simmons (that’s him in the pic; the second pic includes my husband, who dressed as a roadie) and this year, he decided he would be a . . . giant eyeball. My mother-in-law is a costuming genius (she made the Simmons outfit, I did the make-up), and this year, she has outdone herself. This pic below is the inspiration for his costume; there’s a very obscure musical collective called the Residents who perform in these outfits and have never shown their faces. And can I say? His costume looks almost exactly like these guys. I’ll post pix at my own spot next week.

My only issue with these costumes is that it looks like we’re trying to be those lame pushing their kids into coolness parents. And we’re not! He thought of these by himself, we had no input; can we help it if he is cool on his own?

So Happy Halloween, everyone! Some burning questions: Do you still dress up? What’s your most and least favorite Halloween candy? What are your kids going as for Halloween? What was your favorite costume when you were growing up?

Megan

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