Ted is pump’ed

… please don’t tell my “kin” … get it “pumpkin”. Alright alright I’ll keep my day job – or better still I may even get one. One thing is for sure though, I am not very keen on venturing out alone with all this Halloween activity and current mad clown hysteria going on in the UK … it's just too late now ... 

So how did the poor little member of the squash family known fondly by elderly Aunts (with whole bedside cabinets full of “regifting” soap and handkerchiefs just waiting for a child’s birthday opportunity … but I digress) as Cucurbita Pepo, get involved in quite frankly scary shit.  

Essentially it got itself into all this trouble simply by the colour of its skin - oh how the world moves on … orange being the colour of celebration for the days of the dead in Mexico, when those that have departed this mortal coil (adults and children) are remembered and given gifts and food for another year in the afterlife.  The pumpkins' place in modern “European” Halloween is thought to have originated a long time back in Ireland. Pumpkin carvings are supposed to represent the “Jack O’Lantern” a knowledge and tradition that I fear is being quite quickly lost … usurped by scary costumes with a preponderance to blood and more than just a nod to the Friday the 13^th movies.

The story goes that Jack was met by the devil and through various tricks, no doubt aided by a surfeit of Irish Whiskey (yes with an “e”) managed to trap the Devil up a tree and made him agree never to take him into hell.  The Devil kept his word and when Jack wasn’t (of course) admitted to Heaven he came to the Devil who threw him a hot hell coal to keep him warm … Knife in hand he looked around for something to put it in that would provide him with light and warmth and scare off predators … enter Cucurbita Pepo for ever more.

Fast forward and today it is an American institution to carve pumpkins into modern day Jack O’Lanterns, and it’s taken rather seriously indeed … this year’s overall winners … wait for it … NASA. Moving immediately forward to a yet another take on Halloween sans pumpkins (in anything but the supporting cast anyway) and it’s none other than Tom Hanks as David S Pumpkins, although the critics have kinda squashed the show.

Last, and certainly missing a few millennia of human evolution, it’s that roadkill wearing Trumpkin … be afraid be very very afraid … for the whole world … 

Ted is spooked

… to find out that Halloween and the Day of the Dead are not the same thing at all, and what’s more Halloween did not originate in North America …

While the two were the same thing in my mind until now it seems that the Day of the Dead of “All Souls and All Saints” days originated in Mexico and is a time when families go cemeteries and make offerings to their departed loved ones, sprinkle marigolds, make heads from bread and sugar skulls to honour them.  Halloween on the other hand means “hallowed evening” or the eve of All Hallows and it has its roots in the Celtic speaking countries and most likely Pagan festivals to celebrate the autumn harvests.  All Hallows day the next day then traditionally remembers their dearly departed.

Pumpkins are synonymous with Halloween and the bounty of autumn harvest. They have long been carved into “Jack of Lanterns” with their ghoulish faces and candles, although in earlier Celtic times they were more likely to have been carved from turnips or rutabaga. People would dress up and go from household to household singing songs in exchange for food and gifts, and threatening to do mischief like burning down your house if they weren't forthcoming – trick or treat has clearly become more friendly and light hearted with the passage of time.

Halloween costumes on the other hand have become far more outlandish and pretty much anything ghoulish or daring will go now, skeletons, witches, wolves, and pigs are popular in the UK this year apparently.

Halloween foodstuffs abound as well, pumpkin marshmallows, spider cupcakes, candies in all shapes and colours avec or sans hidden skeleton jellies, scary house gingerbread creations - the list is endless. In Ireland they have the Barmbrack bread that has various objects baked into it that makes what you find in your slice a Halloween fortune telling ... 

In all this Halloween excitement I somehow can’t help but feel that the all-around versatility and goodness of the humble pumpkin gets a little overlooked. Despite the fact that Halloween didn't originate in North America we know that pumpkins appear to have done so in Mexico, as far back as 7000 BC even. Pumpkins or winter squash grow on all continents except Antarctica (a tab obvious again Ted) with the US being the biggest producer, followed by Canada, Mexico, India, and China.  Oddly not everyone deems pumpkins fit for human consumption and in much of Europe they are grown purely as food for livestock.

Those of us that do eat them know that we can eat almost every part of them – flowers, leaves, the fleshy shell, and last but not least, the seeds. We roast, boil, and steam them, make soup and sweet pies, toast the seeds,
make pumpkin seed oil which is marvellous nutty dark green goodness for drizzling on … oh almost anything. 

Pumpkin Time

Press reports have warned that there is a severe shortage of pumpkins in the UK this year, due to such a wet August.  Apparently they have been laying in sooty wet soils causing them to rot.

Despite these warnings the stores seem to be filling their windows with decorated pumpkins in preparation for halloween celebrations..  This one more friendly than the usual slightly scary designs.  

Spooky Chocolate

A creepy skull created in chocolate is Fortnum & Masons contribution to Halloween. Plus a range of chocolate tricks with delightful flavours such as fish sauce.

Halloween

What did you wear to your Halloween party last night?

Halloween Japanese Style

Shibuya Restaurant getting into the spirit of halloween.

Halloween

The parties have begun

Small Pumpkins

I read the other day the pumpkins for Halloween will be a bit smaller than usual because of the dry spring and damp summer. Spotted a few that looked OK. I guess if you want to carve your own pumpkin you'd better grab one soon. Although I don't think I've seen carved pumpkins in London, other than in stores.

Ghost Walk

Halloween in London is ghost walks, tales of terror and horrible history. Ghoulish parties and lots of dressing up. Not trick and treating.

Zombies for change

London really embraces Halloween. Walking down the street after dark you can find yourself chatting with anything from a witch to a werewolf, usually covered in enough fake blood to make a butcher squeamish. Last night I tracked down these creatures in Parliament Square outside Westminster, which they call "Zombie Parliament - Home of our Undead Democracy".

No... they are not there to meet up with relatives. They were there as part of the Vote for a Change campaign, which is calling for more accountable parliament with a referendum on the voting system.

Billy

Autumn, graveyards and Halloween today.

Billy's heart in Bow Cemetery was one of many in this style grouped together. Is this significant? Was it Victorian fashion or are they part of group who died in similar circumstances? Any locals know the answer?

I don't know why but I thought that Halloween was an American invention. But no, it's origins go back further than that. Back with the Celts a couple of thousand years ago. Samhuinn (pronounced.. sah'win) marked the end of summer or the beginning of winter. The cows all had to be brought indoors. The ghosts of the dead were all a bit cold so were hanging about. Hence a good idea to leave them some food and do whatever was necessary to keep them happy.

So I hope Billy is resting happily under the trees in their red and gold autumn robes.