Jack O’ Lanterns and Trick or Treating
October31
Travis & Jacy’s Jack O’ Lanterns
First of all, I would like to greet everyone a Happy Halloween! Whether you are dressing up for some Halloween Party, bringing your kids for Trick or Treating or simply staying at home waiting for Trick or Treaters to come, this holiday is one of the busy holidays of the year.
Travis and I carved our pumpkins last Sunday. It was my very first and I regretted choosing a difficult pattern. My first masterpiece turned out to be a some-what disaster. If you noticed, my cat only has 1 whisker and I almost poked her eyeballs out. But in the end, it still looks pretty good especially when the candle is lit inside it.
Now for some educational information, many has posted about the history of Halloween so I won’t jump in the bandwagon of blogging about it. However, I will be posting the history of Trick or Treating itself.
HISTORY OF TRICK OR TREATING The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays goes back to the Middle Ages, and includes Christmas wassailing. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of souling, when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2). It originated in Ireland and Britain, although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as Italy. Trick-or-treating is basically begging. Yet there is no evidence that souling was ever practiced in North America, and trick-or-treating may have developed in North America independent of any Irish or British antecedent. There is little primary documentation of masking or costuming on Halloween — in Ireland, the UK, or America — before 1900. The earliest known reference to ritual begging on Halloween in English speaking North America occurs in 1911, when a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, near the border of upstate New York, reported that it was normal for the smaller children to go street guising on Halloween between 6 and 7 p.m., visiting shops and neighbors to be rewarded with nuts and candies for their rhymes and songs. Another reference appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920. The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but do not depict trick-or-treating. Ruth Edna Kelley, in her 1919 history of the holiday, The Book of Halloween, makes no mention of such a custom in the chapter “Halloween in America.” It does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the earliest known use in print of the term “trick or treat” appearing in 1927, and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939. Thus, although a quarter million Scots-Irish immigrated to America between 1717 and 1770, the Irish Potato Famine brought almost a million immigrants in 1845–1849, and British and Irish immigration to America peaked in the 1880s, ritualized begging on Halloween was virtually unknown in America until generations later. Trick-or-treating spread from the western United States eastward, stalled by sugar rationing that began in April 1942 during World War II and did not end until June 1947. Early national attention to trick-or-treating was given in October 1947 issues of the children’s magazines Jack and Jill and Children’s Activities, and by Halloween episodes of the network radio programs The Baby Snooks Show in 1946 and The Jack Benny Show and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in 1948. The custom had become firmly established in popular culture by 1952, when Walt Disney portrayed it in the cartoon Trick or Treat, Ozzie and Harriet were besieged by trick-or-treaters on an episode of their television show, and UNICEF first conducted a national campaign for children to raise funds for the charity while trick-or-treating. Although some popular histories of Halloween have characterized trick-or-treating as an adult invention to re-channel Halloween activities away from vandalism, nothing in the historical record supports this theory. To the contrary, adults, as reported in newspapers from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s, typically saw it as a form of extortion, with reactions ranging from bemused indulgence to anger. Likewise, as portrayed on radio shows, children would have to explain what trick-or-treating was to puzzled adults, and not the other way around. Sometimes even the children protested: for Halloween 1948, members of the Madison Square Boys Club in New York City carried a parade banner that read “American Boys Don’t Beg.”
Those pumpkins came out great! Wow those look hard to do. You did a great job! Interesting facts on trick-or-treating. Happy Halloween.
BOO
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Jacy Reply:
October 31st, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Happy Halloween, Sue!
Did you go with the kids trick or treating? I’m pretty sure they got loads of candies to munch on for the entire weekend. Hope you’re enjoying your Halloween. Take care!
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I didn’t notice nga isa ra ang whisker sa imong cat,it looks really pretty..Good job!!How’s ur halloween?Ours was fun,and kinda tired here.
Goodnight Jacy!!
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Jacy Reply:
October 31st, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I was too confident that I can do the complicated pattern without considering that there are tiny details. I also did not follow the instruction and just carved it my way so it turned out that my cat only had 1 whisker. In fact, TS doesn’t want me to carve out her nose ‘coz he’s afraid that I might break her totally. Next time, I’ll go for a simple pattern.
I’m glad to know that your halloween was fun. Did you go out and wore a costume? We only stayed at home but we enjoyed the knocks in our door.
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Happy Halloween Jacs!
We did not have much fun with Halloween here in Gold Coast. I saw a group of kids though stopping at our neighbors last night. They did not bother coming to our house ‘coz we have a gate and it’s in a kerb, quite dangerous for the kids.
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Jacy Reply:
November 1st, 2008 at 11:48 am
hello Hermz!
did you not take your little boy trick or treating? it would’ve been fun. but like you said, it’s not a big thing there in Oz.
here, we had a banner in each house welcoming them. if you don’t have the banner, the children will not bother knocking on your doors.
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You both did a great job on your Jack-O-Lanterns!
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Jacy Reply:
November 1st, 2008 at 11:49 am
Thanks, Mel!
it was my first carving and i’m glad it turned out great.
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My dogs (the small ones)had their costumes on and my lil cuzin too with her bestfriend,I went with them trick or treating in our neighborhood,they had fun so am i…
I am not fun of wearing costume…..it just a waste of money=)
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Jacy Reply:
November 1st, 2008 at 12:23 pm
hello Wen!
if you’re not fond of wearing costumes, i’m the opposite coz i like dressing up to look crazy. hehehe!
your experience sound fun!
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Hi. How are you? It’s nice to read your blog. Keep on working on it. So, I drop EC for you. Don’t forget to Keep on Smiling. Salaam.
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Jacy Reply:
November 1st, 2008 at 9:31 pm
i hope to see you around! i’ll continue to make my blog better. thanks for dropping by.
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hi sis, stopping in to say thanks for
stopping by and to say good night
i am soooooo tired. sending wishez
for a great weekend along with luv
and hugz
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Jacy Reply:
November 1st, 2008 at 9:31 pm
don’t mention it sis.
i hope you’ll have good sleep.
good night and sending my love to you!
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hehehe, you did a good job Jacy! I thought the picture you posted was just a picture from somewhere. It really looks good. You cat looks ‘igat’ in that carved pumpkin hehehehe
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Jacy Reply:
November 1st, 2008 at 11:07 pm
“igat” but only 1 whisker. hehehe! they are both outside right now bisan mana ang halloween.
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Really nice job on the pumpkins! somehow once you light them they always look great. Pumpkin carving is one of my favorite things, and I try to do at least a half-dozen. No time this year, so I have enjoy what other people have done on the internet!
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Jacy Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:32 am
it is actually a fun thing to do. i can’t believe you’d carve at least a half-dozen. carving 1 took me a lot of time. i don’t want to imagine carving at least 6 of them.
i just dropped on your site. it’s a good place!
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Yads,
.
Amazzinnnggg!!!! Im glad Travis bought you that kit =) twas worth a million times over. I hope Travis would buy you a sewing kit na aron naa kay Jacy collection
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Jacy Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:33 am
you are right, Ver. i needed a sewing kit. coz i still have a lot of jeans to shorten the seams. hahay!
and i also need the power tools too! hehehe!
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good morning sis,
hope the rest of your weekend is nice.
need to get some coffee, brb, okay back, haven’t done much at multiply yet cept delete stuff in the updates box. right now i am listening to carole king.
someone left a place list. this brings back memories.
have a wonderful day sis,
love and hugz
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Jacy Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:34 am
hello sis!
i love carole king. especially her songs that are made on the movie soundtracks. weekend is over and it’s another week ahead.
i hope you’ll have a good one.
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wow! what a great job you both did mami! cute kaayo and you did a brilliant effort for a first timer ayeeee!!!
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Jacy Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:35 am
i will try a simpler one next time mami. it took me a lot of time. thanks for the compliments.
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Be-lated Halloween!!!
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Jacy Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:35 am
same to you, sky!
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I love your kitty pumpkin design
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Jacy Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:35 am
i liked it too but it was too late for me to realize that it’s a complicated carve. hehehe!
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those are amazing… unique and totally an artist… hehehe
those are great!
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Jacy Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:56 am
thanks Nova. it was good for a first attempt. but i swear i’ll try an easier pattern next time.
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Hi Jacy! Your Jack-o-lantern is so impressive. The little imperfection is not really noticeable if you haven’t mentioned it. You did a great job!
Hope you’ll have a wonderful week ahead! Take care, Jacy!
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Jacy Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:51 pm
thanks Tita Beng! I tried so hard to make it look good. TS helped me cleaned it up though.
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