The Perfect Menu For Your Halloween Party, --- [Including easy to make "Witch's Fingers" & "Eyeballs On Toast" appetizers]...

Halloween dinners traditionally feature hardy comfort foods, and especially vegetables that are grown on or under the ground,  Here's my favorite menu for a luscious Halloween feast!!!...  [It's more fun if you come in costume.]

ON THE BUFFET TABLE:

"Witch's Fingers" Appetizers --- Make these by getting pretzel rods, slivered almonds and cheddar cheese spread.  Get a wide mouthed glass jar.  Glue the slivered almonds on the ends of the pretzel rods with the cheese spread, transforming them into the "fingers".  Put them upright in the glass jar.

"Eyeballs On Toast" --- Boil eggs, cool, slice.  Get green olives stuffed with pimentos.  Slice the olives so they make little rings.  Make toast, cool it, spread with cream cheese, cut each slice of toast into four little sections.  Put a slice of egg on each piece of toast.  Put the "eyeball," a slice of green olive, with a little pimento as the "pupil" glued in the center of the egg with a little cream cheese. 

Beef Stew With Baking Powder Biscuits [You can cheat with canned stew if you like.] with baking powder biscuits [Again, you can cheat by buying those ready-bake biscuits that come in the little cans in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.]

Mashed potatoes  [Of course, you can use instant ones, but if you do you can make them taste better by adding some ranch dressing.]

Yellow Hubbard Squash --- Remove seeds, cut it in chunks, boil it, scrape the cooked squash out of the skin and mash with plenty of butter, sprinkle the mashed squash with powdered nutmeg

Raw Carrot & Black Raisin Salad With Mayonnaise [Because it's delicious and black and orange.]

Raisin Bread with Cream Cheese

Pumpernickel Bread With Whipped Butter

Buttered Spinach  [Yes, get frozen, if you like.]

Blackberry Pie  [I'm not a baker, so I always buy deserts.]

Chocolate Cake

Apple Cider, Cola, Orange Pop [Because they're black and orange] For The Kids

Coffee, Tea, Red Wine & Ale For The Adults

Fresh Golden Delicious Apples Piled On The Serving Table

ENTERTAINMENT:  Tell ghost stories, or read them...  One of my favorite ghost story books is the paperback series "Haunted Ohio".  You can probably get it from your library or on Amazon cheap.

Have a costume contest, one for the adults, one for kids.  Give gift certificates to cool stores as prizes.]

Or, ALL of you go Trick Or Treating.

Or, put one of these wonderful movies in your dvd player, --- "The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow," [May be too scary for children], with Johnny Depp & Christina Ricci, or the animated Walt Disney version, "The Addams Family," with Angelica Huston & Raoul Julia, "Beetlejuice," with Gena Davis, Alec Baldwin and Michael Keaton, "Practical Magic," with Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Aidan Quinn, Diane Weist & Stockard Channing.  Or, for those who like a really dark and very adult movie, most definitely NOT for the kids, "From Hell," about Jack The Ripper, with Johnny Depp, or "The Skeleton Key," also adult dark and scary, about Hoodoo, with Kate Hudson, or "The Haunting," based on the Gothic horror novel "The Haunting Of Hill House," an adult and creepy movie," with Liam Neeson, Owen Wilson & Catherine Zeta-Jones.

The Origins Of Halloween...

An early 20th-century Irish Halloween mask displayed at the Museum of Country Life.

Today's Halloween customs are thought to have been influenced by folk customs and beliefs from the Celtic-speaking countries, some of which are believed to have pagan roots. Jack Santino, a folklorist, writes that "there was throughout Ireland an uneasy truce existing between customs and beliefs associated with Christianity and those associated with religions that were Irish before Christianity arrived". Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, which comes from the Old Irish for 'summer's end'."

Samhain (/ˈsɑːwɪn, ˈsaʊɪn/) was the first and most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and was celebrated on 31 October – 1 November in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. A kindred festival was held at the same time of year by the Brittonic Celts, called Calan Gaeaf in r the Celts, the day ended and began at sunset; thus the festival began on the evening before 7 November by modern reckoning(the half point between equinox and solstice).  Samhain and Calan Gaeaf are mentioned in some of the earliest Irish and Welsh literature. The names have been usedWales, Kalan Gwav in Cornwall and Kalan Goañv in Brittany; a name meaning "first day of winter". Fo by historians to refer to Celtic Halloween customs up until the 19th century, and are still the Gaelic and Welsh names for Halloween.

Snap-Apple Night, painted by Daniel Maclise in 1833, shows people feasting and playing divination games on Halloween in Ireland.

Samhain/Calan Gaeaf marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year. Like Beltane/Calan Mai, it was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned. This meant the Aos Sí (/iːsˈʃiː/ eess-SHEE), the 'spirits' or 'fairies', could more easily come into this world and were particularly active.  Most scholars see the Aos Sí as "degraded versions of ancient gods whose power remained active in the people's minds even after they had been officially replaced by later religious beliefs". The Aos Sí were both respected and feared, with individuals often invoking the protection of Godwhen approaching their dwellings.  At Samhain, it was believed that the Aos Sí needed to be propitiated to ensure that the people and their livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the crops, were left outside for the Aos Sí.  The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Places were set at the dinner table and by the fire to welcome them. The belief that the souls of the dead return home on one night of the year and must be appeased seems to have ancient origins and is found in many cultures throughout the world.  In 19th century Ireland, "candles would be lit and prayers formally offered for the souls of the dead. After this the eating, drinking, and games would begin".

Throughout Ireland and Britain, the household festivities included rituals and games intended to foretell one's future, especially regarding death and marriage. Apples and nuts were often used in these divination rituals. They included apple bobbing, nut roasting, scrying or mirror-gazing, pouring molten lead or egg whites into water, dream interpretation, and others. Special bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them. Their flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers, and were also used for divination.  In some places, torches lit from the bonfire were carried sunwise around homes and fields to protect them. It is suggested that the fires were a kind of imitative or sympathetic magic – they mimicked the Sun, helping the "powers of growth" and holding back the decay and darkness of winter.  In Scotland, these bonfires and divination games were banned by the church elders in some parishes. In Wales, bonfires were lit to "prevent the souls of the dead from falling to earth".  Later, these bonfires served to keep "away the devil".

A traditional Irish Halloween turnip (rutabaga) lantern on display in the Museum of Country Life, Ireland

From at least the 16th century, the festival included mumming and guising in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales.  This involved people going house-to-house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food. It may have originally been a tradition whereby people impersonated the Aos Sí, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf, similar to the custom of souling. Impersonating these beings, or wearing a disguise, was also believed to protect oneself from them. It is suggested that the mummers and guisers "personify the old spirits of the winter, who demanded reward in exchange for good fortune".  In parts of southern Ireland, the guisers included a hobby horse. A man dressed as a Láir Bhán(white mare) led youths house-to-house reciting verses—some of which had pagan overtones—in exchange for food. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla'; not doing so would bring misfortune.  In Scotland, youths went house-to-house with masked, painted or blackened faces, often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed.  F. Marian McNeill suggests the ancient festival included people in costume representing the spirits, and that faces were marked (or blackened) with ashes taken from the sacred bonfire.  In parts of Wales, men went about dressed as fearsome beings called gwrachod.^[66] In the late 19th and early 20th century, young people in Glamorgan and Orkney cross-dressed.

Elsewhere in Europe, mumming and hobby horses were part of other yearly festivals. However, in the Celtic-speaking regions they were "particularly appropriate to a night upon which supernatural beings were said to be abroad and could be imitated or warded off by human wanderers". From at least the 18th century, "imitating malignant spirits" led to playing pranks in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. Wearing costumes and playing pranks at Halloween spread to England in the 20th century. Traditionally, pranksters used hollowed out turnips or mangel wurzels often carved with grotesque faces as lanterns. By those who made them, the lanterns were variously said to represent the spirits, or were used to ward off evil spirits. They were common in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands in the 19th century as well as in Somerset (see Punkie Night). In the 20th century they spread to other parts of England and became generally known as jack-o'-lanterns.

History Buffs: "From Hell," --- [Jack The Ripper movie based on the graphic novel of the same name. Oh, yeah... this movie, starring Johnny Depp, contains a lot of dark "adult" stuff!!!]...

Heh-heh-heh...  I don't care if it's improbable and even silly.  I still find it very entertaining.  [Bring on the cheese curls and the blackberry wine, while I put my feet up and relax with four cats on my lap.]  =^_^=

Look For Me As Maleficent At The Youngstown, Ohio "Comic Con," --- Sat. July 8, 2018...

   And my son Josh, dressed as Shadow Link. 

It's Midsummer, --- June 21, 2018...

Yes, it's Midsummmer, a very magical time of the year, especially for both dark and light faeries.  It's when the Oak King is overturned and dethroned by the Holly King.  From now on the year will wan as the amount of daylight gets gradually shorter. 

"The Legend of Bloody Mary," --- 2008... [Beautifully done little horror film!!!]...

Top 10 Nursery Rhyme Dark Origins...

1 Hour Of Creepy Doll Music...

The Wily Leprechaun, --- [Yes, he is one of the Unseelie Court!!!]...

Now, the leprechaun is a very clever little faerie, a faerie shoemaker, actually.   But, he only works on one shoe, never two.  And, he likes to sit under the big leaves of the burdocks, humming or giggling to himself...  Which is exactly what he was doing when a young man from Limerick came upon him.  He grabbed the leprechaun by the back of his green coat and lifted him up while the little shoemaker struggled and tried to slug him.

"Lemme go!," the leprechaun screamed.

"No!," the young man, whose named was Billy, replied.  "I know you have a pot of gold hidden somewhere that you'll give to me to get your freedom!"

"No!  Ye can't have me gold, ye greedy fool!"

"I know if I take my eyes off you you'll disappear, so I'll keep looking at you and I'll hold onto you till you tell me where your gold is!"

"Never!  LEMME GO!"

Yet, although he wiggled and wiggled the leprechaun couldn't get free of Billy's strong grip.  Finally, he sighed.  "Okay.  Okay...  If ye let me go I'll tell ye where I keep me gold."

"No, you show me first, THEN I'll let you go."

"Yer a smart lad, Billy.  Alright, I'll take ye there."

And, the leprechaun told Billy where to carry him, to a field of daisies.  In the middle of the field the leprechaun told Billy to stop.  He pointed to the ground at Billy's feet.  "If ye dig down six feet you'll find me pot o' gold.  Now, lemme go!   And see, I'll tie me red garter around the stem of this daisy right over the spot so you'll know where to dig when ye come back with yer shovel.  Okay?"

Billy scratched his chin.  "Alright, I guess.  I'll let you go."

And, he did.  Quick as the blink of an eye, the leprechaun disappeared.  But, Billy looked down at the red garter and grinned.  He'd be rich.  He ran back to his shed to get a shovel.  When he returned to the field of daisies he threw down the shovel and started to swear mightily as he looked out over the vista of beautiful flowers.  Every one had a red garter around it's stem.  Billy thought he could hear the leprechaun laughing and laughing nearby.  "Uh-uh-UH!!...  Ye can't have me gold!"

Now, the leprechaun is a very clever little faerie, a faerie shoemaker, actually.   But, he only works on one shoe, never two.  And, he likes to sit under the big leaves of the burdocks, humming or giggling to himself...  Which is exactly what he was doing when a young man from Limerick came upon him.  He grabbed the leprechaun by the back of his green coat and lifted him up while the little shoemaker struggled and tried to slug him.

"Lemme go!," the leprechaun screamed.

"No!," the young man, whose named was Billy, replied.  "I know you have a pot of gold hidden somewhere that you'll give to me to get your freedom!"

"No!  Ye can't have me gold, ye greedy fool!"

"I know if I take my eyes off you you'll disappear, so I'll keep looking at you and I'll hold onto you till you tell me where your gold is!"

"Never!  LEMME GO!"

Yet, although he wiggled and wiggled the leprechaun couldn't get free of Billy's strong grip.  Finally, he sighed.  "Okay.  Okay...  If ye let me go I'll tell ye where I keep me gold."

"No, you show me first, THEN I'll let you go."

"Yer a smart lad, Billy.  Alright, I'll take ye there."

And, the leprechaun told Billy where to carry him, to a field of daisies.  In the middle of the field the leprechaun told Billy to stop.  He pointed to the ground at Billy's feet.  "If ye dig down six feet you'll find me pot o' gold.  Now, lemme go!   And see, I'll tie me red garter around the stem of this daisy right over the spot so you'll know where to dig when ye come back with yer shovel.  Okay?"

Billy scratched his chin.  "Alright, I guess.  I'll let you go."

And, he did.  Quick as the blink of an eye, the leprechaun disappeared.  But, Billy looked down at the red garter and grinned.  He'd be rich.  He ran back to his shed to get a shovel.  When he returned to the field of daisies he threw down the shovel and started to swear mightily as he looked out over the vista of beautiful flowers.  Every one had a red garter around it's stem.  Billy thought he could hear the leprechaun laughing and laughing nearby.  "Uh-uh-UH!!...  Ye can't have me gold!"

--- Copyright 2018 by Antoinette Beard.

The Leprechaun...

A leprechaun counts his gold in this engraving c. 1900

The earliest known reference to the leprechaun appears in the medieval tale known as the Echtra Fergus mac Léti (Adventure of Fergus son of Léti).^[8] The text contains an episode in which Fergus mac Léti, King of Ulster, falls asleep on the beach and wakes to find himself being dragged into the sea by three lúchorpáin. He captures his abductors, who grant him three wishes in exchange for release.

The leprechaun is said to be a solitary creature, whose principal occupation is making and mending shoes, and who enjoys practical jokes. According to William Butler Yeats, the great wealth of these fairies comes from the "treasure-crocks, buried of old in war-time", which they have uncovered and appropriated.^] According to David Russell McAnally the leprechaun is the son of an "evil spirit" and a "degenerate fairy" and is "not wholly good nor wholly evil".

Appearance

Tourists with a novelty oversized Leprechaun in Dublin

The leprechaun originally had a different appearance depending on where in Ireland he was found.  Prior to the 20th century, it was generally held that the leprechaun wore red, not green. Samuel Lover, writing in 1831, describes the leprechaun as,

... quite a beau in his dress, notwithstanding, for he wears a red square-cut coat, richly laced with gold, and inexpressible of the same, cocked hat, shoes and buckles.

According to Yeats, the solitary fairies, like the leprechaun, wear red jackets, whereas the "trooping fairies" wear green. The leprechaun's jacket has seven rows of buttons with seven buttons to each row. On the western coast, he writes, the red jacket is covered by a frieze one, and in Ulster the creature wears a cocked hat, and when he is up to anything unusually mischievous, he leaps on to a wall and spins, balancing himself on the point of the hat with his heels in the air."

According to McAnally,

"He is about three feet high, and is dressed in a little red jacket or roundabout, with red breeches buckled at the knee, gray or black stockings, and a hat, cocked in the style of a century ago, over a little, old, withered face. Round his neck is an Elizabethan ruff, and frills of lace are at his wrists. On the wild west coast, where the Atlantic winds bring almost constant rains, he dispenses with ruff and frills and wears a frieze overcoat over his pretty red suit, so that, unless on the lookout for the cocked hat, ye might pass a Leprechawn on the road and never know it's himself that's in it at all."

This dress could vary by region, however. In McAnally's account there were differences between leprechauns or Logherymans from different regions:

• The Northern Leprechaun or Logheryman wore a "military red coat and white breeches, with a broad-brimmed, high, pointed hat, on which he would sometimes stand upside down".
• The Lurigadawne of Tipperary wore an "antique slashed jacket of red, with peaks all round and a jockey cap, also sporting a sword, which he uses as a magic wand".
• The Luricawne of Kerry was a "fat, pursy little fellow whose jolly round face rivals in redness the cut-a-way jacket he wears, that always has seven rows of seven buttons in each row".
• The Cluricawne of Monaghan wore "a swallow-tailed evening coat of red with green vest, white breeches, black stockings," shiny shoes, and a "long cone hat without a brim," sometimes used as a weapon.

In a poem entitled The Lepracaun; or, Fairy Shoemaker, 18th century Irish poet William Allingham describes the appearance of the leprechaun as:

...A wrinkled, wizen'd, and bearded Elf,

Spectacles stuck on his pointed nose, Silver buckles to his hose,

Leather apron — shoe in his lap...

The modern image of the leprechaun sitting on a toadstool, red beard, green hat, etc., are clearly more modern inventions or borrowed from other European folklore.

Related creatures

The leprechaun is related to the clurichaun and the far darrig in that he is a solitary creature. Some writers even go as far as to substitute these second two less well-known spirits for the leprechaun in stories or tales to reach a wider audience. The clurichaun is considered by some to be merely a leprechaun on a drinking spree.

''The Wiles of the Leprechaun,'' by Evan Dollarhide | ST. PATRICK’S DAY C...

In Honor Of Saint Patrick's Day, --- The Gancanagh, The Faerie Seducer...

A gancanagh (/ɡænˈkænə/) (from Irish gean cánach, meaning 'love talker')^[1] is a male fairy in Irish mythology that is known for seducing human women.

W. B. Yeats described the gancanagh in 1888, as follows:

“

[Nicholas] O'Kearney, a Louthman, deeply versed in Irish lore, writes of the gean-cánach (love-talker) that he is "another diminutive being of the same tribe as the Lepracaun, but, unlike him, he personated love and idleness, and always appeared with a dudeen in his jaw in lonesome valleys, and it was his custom to make love to shepherdesses and milkmaids. It was considered very unlucky to meet him, and whoever was known to have ruined his fortune by devotion to the fair sex was said to have met a gean-cánach. The dudeen, or ancient Irish tobacco pipe, found in our raths, etc., is still popularly called a gean-cánach's pipe." The word is not to be found in dictionaries, nor does this spirit appear to be well known, if known at all, in Connacht. The word is pronounced gánconâgh. But, he isn't always little and like a leprechaun, as shown above in the pic.

I LIKE this!!!...

Very Cool...

Dark Music, - The 5 Hymns of Darkness...