Halloween posts and talks

'Snap-apple Night' painting, 1833, shows several games - snap-apple, diving (duck/bobbing) for apples, and divining one's future. Also snapdragon, turnip lanterns, Colcannon Night, (Soule) Cake Night and Day of the Dead (Nov 2). Click to enlarge

Taped talks on Día de los Muertos, Food History Horror Stories, Gothic Food, and Cabarets of Death in Paris. (at end)

Snap-apple

Trying to bite into an apple. on a string. revolving. with candles. what could go wrong?? HERE

Snapdragon

Another tricky game - grabbing for raisens in a fire HERE

Colcannon Night

In Ireland "...a gold ring was concealed somewhere in the dish of potatoes and cabbage." HERE

Turnip jack o'lanterns for Halloween

Turnips were used instead of pumpkins to make 'turnip lanterns' HERE

Ducking (Bobbing) for apples

"juveniles, by turns, duck their heads with the view of catching an apple." HERE

"Tricks" done on Halloween in Pa. Dutch areas

In mid1800s, Halloween was celebrated "roughly" - parts of a wagon were put in different trees, gates taken off hinges, wooden steps removed, taking wagons apart and rebuilt in a stable, and other extreme 'tricks'. HERE

A Scottish Halloween spell - by Robert Burns

Robert Burn's poem Halloween had several 'spells' for young folks to do on All Saints eve to foretell their future. HERE

Cake Night - Soul Cake, Seed Cake

The sketch shows a group a-souling for Soul or Soule cakes which were given out on All Hallows Eve (the night before All Saints Day, Nov 1) or on All Souls Day (Nov 2) was an old tradition by 1511.HERE

And!...
Day of the Dead - Dia de Muertos

In Mexico, sugar skulls were sold in market stalls (1908 image). Other items for the family alters include candles, Pan de Muerto (a sweet yeast bread), mole and other foods.HERE

Halloween blog posts (past and future) HERE

First image: Snap-apple Night, painted by Daniel Maclise, 1833. (1845, 1853 engravings explained HERE )

TAPED TALKS

Día de los Muertos Celebrating the Rich Culinary Heritage. Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. DC Nov 2020 HERELivestream and TAPE HERE

Food History Horror Stories: Witches, Poisoners and Puritans. Sarah Lohman. Chelmsford Public Library MA Oc 20 2022 HERE TAPE HERE

A Gothic Cookbook. “how food works in Gothic texts, mostly literature but also film,” author Dr Alessandra Pino. Fabulous Folklore. 2022 TAPE HERE

Gothic Food: Examples of Consumption and the Cruelty of its Consequences in Gothic Literature Dr. Alessandra Pino. 2020 TAPE HERE

Paris' Cabaret of Heaven (Ciel, left) and Cabaret of Hell (l'Enfer, open mouth door).

Oc 26 Tue 7:30 Cabarets of Death: Playing with Death and the Afterlife in Popular Amusements. “From 1892 until 1954, three cabaret-restaurants in Paris’ Montmartre district enraptured tourists with their grotesque portrayals of death in the afterworlds of Hell, Heaven, and Nothingness. Each had specialized cuisines and morbid visual display…" plus it "gained popularity in America— from Worlds Fair attractions to Coney Island’s disaster spectacles...” Joanna Ebenstein. 3 short films on “three death themed amusements of the era.” The Viktor Wynd Museum & The Last Tuesday Society. 2021 rent TAPE HERE


Calendar of virtual food history talks HERE

©2021 Patricia Bixler Reber
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