MBN: THE MONTE BUBBLES NETWORK

 

 Here till Halloween we will be posting things about Halloween

 

http://www.fineliving.com/fine/our_shows/article/0,1663,FINE_1397_5078167,00.html

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AOL Video-Fangoria Poll Reveals What Scares Us Most In Horror Movies

 

This week every kid in the world will dress up as ugly as possible in hopes of scaring fellow uglies. Often the scarier becomes the scaree but who cares, it's Halloween!

The Celtic festival of Samhain most likely is the source of the present-day Halloween celebration. More than 2,000 years ago, the Celts lived in what is now Great Britain, Ireland, and France. They celebrated their new year on November 1 with a festival that began the night before honoring Samhain, the Celtic Lord of Death. This festival also marked the start of cold, darkness, and decay; therefore, it quickly became associated with human death. The Celts believed that Samhain allowed the souls of the dead to return to their earthly homes for this one evening.

During the celebration, the people wore costumes made of animal heads and skins. They told fortunes about the coming years by examining the remains of the animals that had been sacrificed. When the Romans conquered the Celts in 43 A.D., they combined several Roman autumn festivals with the Celtic festival of Samhain.

After the conquered people became Christians, they were allowed to keep many of the Celtic customs. In about 800 A.D., the Church started All Saints Day on November first so that all people could continue to celebrate a festival they had enjoyed before becoming Christians. The Mass that was said on this day was called Allhallowmas. The evening before became known as All Hallowsen or Halloween.

Hollowed-out-pumpkins, called jack-o-lanterns can be traced back to the people in Ireland and England who carved out beets, potatoes, and turnips to use as lanterns on this festive occasion. They were named for a miser named Jack who could not enter heaven and played jokes on the devil.

No Halloween is complete without the eerie glow of a pumpkin face in the window. This single day has made pumpkin production a booming business. It's doubtful whether large scale pumpkin production would exist without Halloween - pumpkin pie is not that great!

Fairy tales and legends from America and other countries contain many references to the pumpkin. There is the episode in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" in which the ghostly character lifts his pumpkin head from the pommel of his saddle and hurls it at the fleeing Ichabod Crane.

In a legend of India, a devoted father used a large pumpkin as a tomb for his only son. In time, the pumpkin was found to be filled with water in which swam large fish. Intent on harvesting the fish, four brothers lifted the pumpkin to carry it away but became frightened and dropped it. From the resulting cracks in the pumpkin shell, a flood of water poured out to inundate the earth.

The pumpkin achieved a romantic high when one of its oversized brothers served as a golden coach for Cinderella. It also must have been a sizable pumpkin shell which Peter the Pumpkin Eater confined his wandering wife. Regardless of whether one of the legends or Linus sitting in the pumpkin patch waiting for the "Great Pumpkin" to appear has stimulated the use of pumpkins at Halloween, this overgrown squash that we call a pumpkin is in real demand about this time of the year. The question always arises, why don't gardeners grow their own?

Certain problems arise in trying to produce pumpkins for Halloween. Pumpkin production is easier said than done which is exactly why even the most professional green thumbers purchase imported pumpkins. What is the problem? The first reason that pumpkins are in fact difficult to grow is that they are long season crops. Pumpkins require a minimum of three to four months to mature a fruit - the bigger the pumpkin desired, the longer the maturity season needed. Pumpkins are also frost susceptible and are easily damaged by cold temperatures. This means planting must occur after the last killing frost and maturity will be sometimes in mid-summer. Then you will have to store the pumpkins from mid-summer to late October.

For those who now accuse me of being a dumb Aggie for not recommending waiting to plant until July so that maturity and harvest can occur in October, think again! Even though pumpkin seeds germinate best at a soil temperature of about 95 degrees F., there is another pumpkin disaster just waiting to happen when the plants pop-up - vine borers. In the fall, these killers are so efficient that many plants are destroyed before leaves are formed. The cost of insecticides required to protect the plants for three months during such an onslaught far exceeds what a pumpkin will cost. In addition, these pumpkin plants are readily infected with virus and fungus diseases that are abundant during Texas in mid-summer and renders pumpkin production almost impossible in many areas of our state.

Suppose that you want the challenge of fall pumpkin production - if the vine borers and the mosaic virus don't get you, the space requirement might. Pumpkin vines are gigantic! Even with five feet between plants on beds which are at least 12 feet apart, these super growers may become crowded. These spacing dimensions mean that a "hill" of pumpkins requires at least 60 square feet. Some gardens aren't that big!

Obviously this profuse growth is a basis for another pumpkin legend which concerns a youth named Jack who mounted his horse on a spring day to plant pumpkins. Although he spurred his mount at top speed and dropped the seed in previously prepared hills, he was unable to keep ahead of the fast growing vines.

So as you can imagine, pumpkin production should be left to growers with large acreages. Gardeners can still enjoy the large squash called pumpkin at this time of the year when a mere vegetable becomes a magical and scary item in your youngster's imaginations.

For those of you who want to make something decent out of all that pumpkin scrapings, try Diane Sutton's Pecan Pumpkin Pie recipe -- it's so good, it's spooky!

 

Diane Sutton's Pecan Pumpkin Pie

 

Ingredients:
three eggs one cup of pumpkin (fresh or canned) one-third cup of sugar one teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice (may use one teaspoon cinnamon, one-fourth teaspoon ginger, one-fourth teaspoon cloves, one-fourth teaspoon nutmeg) two-thirds cup corn syrup (light) one- half cup of sugar three tablespoons of melted oleo one-half teaspoon vanilla one cup pecans; one unbaked nine-inch pie shell.

Stir together one egg (slightly beat), one cup of pumpkin, one-third cup sugar, and the pie spice to make a pumpkin mixture. Spread over bottom of pie shell. Combine two eggs, corn syrup, one-half cup sugar, oleo and vanilla. Stir in the pecans. Spoon over pumpkin mixture described above. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 50 minutes or until set. Pecan halves make prettier presentation; pecan pieces makes it easier to cut. (When using fresh pumpkin, to cook the pumpkin, remove all seed and membrane and use a knife to remove the outer skin. Cut into one-inch cubes and cook until tender in a small amount of water. Drain the water, mash the pumpkin and strain it through a colander or sieve.) Regardless, this recipe will at least make pumpkin edible. Who knows? You may even be glad that Halloween happened this year!

Why not pickle some pumpkins? Don't have a good recipe? Here it is: One 7-10 pounds pumpkin 6 cinnamon sticks 5 pounds sugar (white or mixed) 1/4 tsp. mustard seed 1/3 cup lemon juice 1 tbsp. whole cloves 1 quart white vinegar 1 tsp. whole allspice 1 pint water 1 tsp. powdered alum

Peel pumpkin, clean insides of seeds, skin and cut into 1" x 1 and " cubes. Boil in large pot with alum for 10 minutes. Drain and soak in water with ice in it until cold. Drain well on towels for at least 2 hours.

For syrup, mix sugar, water, vinegar, lemon and spices in 2 gallon kettle. Simmer syrup 15 minutes, add pumpkin; stir and cook 15-45 minutes, until desired flavor is reached.

This recipe fills 6-8 pint jars. Cover with syrup, process in hot water bath 20 minutes or refrigerate. Store 30 days before opening.

If you want a clear syrup on your pickles, use only white sugar and keep spices in a gauze bag you can remove before putting pickles in jars. I wonder if burning a candle in the pumpkin jack-o-lantern all night before pickling will give the pickles a smoked flavor?

 

Halloween, one of the world's oldest holidays, is still celebrated today in several countries around the globe.

The autumn rite is commemorated in the United Kingdom, although with a surprising and distinctive British twist. In Mexico, Latin America, and Spain, All Souls' Day, the third day of the three-day Hallowmas observance, is the most important part of the celebration for many people. In Ireland and Canada, Halloween, which was once a frightening and superstitious time of year, is celebrated much as it is in the United States, with trick-or-treating, costume parties, and fun for all ages.

   The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (pronounced sow-in), which means "end of summer", the Celtic New year.

Trick for Treat

The custom of trick or treating probably has several origins. During Samhain, the Druids believed that the dead would play tricks on mankind and cause panic and destruction. They had to be appeased, so country folk would give the Druids food as they visited their homes.

An old Irish peasant practice called for going door to door to collect money, breadcake, cheese, eggs, butter, apples, etc., in preparation for the festival of St. Columb Kill.

Also a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes" made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.

Did You Know...

• A traditional food eaten on Halloween is barnbrack, a kind of fruitcake that can be bought in stores or baked at home. A muslin-wrapped treat is baked inside the cake that, it is said, can foretell the eater's future. If a ring is found, it means that the person will soon be wed; a piece of straw means that a prosperous year is on its way.

Bobbing for Apples:

When the Celts were absorbed by the Roman Empire, many rituals of Roman origin began. Among them was the worship of Pomona, goddess of the harvest, often portrayed sitting on a basket of fruits and flowers. Apples were the sacred fruit of the goddess, and many games of divination involving them entered the Samhain customs.

The Witch's Broomstick:

The witch is a central symbol of Halloween. The name comes from the Saxon wica, meaning wise one. When setting out for a Sabbath, witches rubbed a sacred ointment onto their skin. This gave them a feeling of flying, and if they had been fasting they felt even giddier. Some witches rode on horseback, but poor witches went on foot and carried a broom or a pole to aid in vaulting over streams. In England when new witches were initiated they were often blindfolded, smeared with flying ointment and placed on a broomstick. The ointment would confuse the mind, speed up the pulse and numb the feet. When they were told "You are flying over land and sea," the witch took their word for it.

Jack-O-Lanterns:

Irish children used to carve out potatoes or turnips and light them for their Halloween gatherings. They commemorated Jack, a shifty Irish villain so wicked that neither God nor the Devil wanted him. Rejected by both the sacred and profane, he wandered the world endlessly looking for a place to rest, his only warmth a glittering candle in a rotten turnip. Read about Jack in the 'Legend of the Jack-O-Lantern' short story.

Did You Know...

• The Irish Potato Famine (1845-50) prompted over 700,000 people to immigrate to the Americas. These immigrants brought with them their traditions of Halloween and Jack o'Lanterns, but turnips were not as readily available as back home. They found the American pumpkin to be a more than an adequate replacement. Today, the carved pumpkin is perhaps the most famous icon of the holiday.

 

Halloween Masquerade Mask:

From earliest times people wore masks when droughts or other disasters struck. They believed that the demons who had brought their misfortune upon them would become frightened off by the hideous masks. Even after the festival of Samhain had merged with Halloween, Europeans felt uneasy at this time of the year. Food was stored in preparation for the winter and the house was snug and warm. The cold, envious ghosts were outside, and people who went out after dark often wore masks to keep from being recognised.

Pumpkin Facts

• In 1584, after French explorer Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence region of North America, he reported finding "gros melons." The name was translated into English as "pompions," which has since evolved into the modern "pumpkin."
• Pumpkins have been grown in North America for five thousand years. They are indigenous to the western hemisphere.
• Pumpkins are fruits. A pumpkin is a type of squash and is a member of the gourd family (Cucurbitacae), which include squash, cucumbers, gherkins, and melons.
• Pumpkin seeds should be planted between the last week of May and the middle of June. They take between 90 and 120 days to grow and are picked in October when they are bright orange in color. Their seeds can be saved to grow new pumpkins the next year.
• 2005 New World Record! In what has become an annual event, the world record has fallen once more. The largest pumpkin ever grown stands at 1,469 pounds. It was grown by Larry Checkon of North Cambria, Pennsylvania. It was weighed in on October 1, 2005 at the Pennsylvania Giant Pumpkin Growers Weighoff. Will the record fall again in 2006? I will let you know!

 

 

 

Best Geek Costumes For Halloween

Ghost? Zombie? Nixon? Man, these costumes are old news. This Halloween, why not dress up as something from the geek universe? Here's my picks this year for the scary, the provocative, and the outright absurd.

Sony Laptop Battery Pack - What you need: Rectangular piece of cardboard or foam, black paint, a lit cigarette (to simulate the smoking effect). Bonus points for carrying those little poppers that explode when you step on them.

Sony Rootkit-Infected CD - Large circle of cardboard covered in aluminum foil, evil laugh. (Just as scary as the battery.)

LonelyGirl15 (pictured) - What you need: T-shirt or tank top, pony tail scrunchy, tweezers (to pluck eyebrows immaculately), age-diminishing cream, Aliester Crowley books, feather boa, purple monkey puppet, general sense of rebellion and ennui about life.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs - Black turtleneck, blue jeans, iPod, glasses, smug grin.

Firefox - What you need: Fox outfit, lighter fluid, match, sense of irony, fireproofness, legion of geek followers.

The TRON Guy - Awesome TRON bodysuit, pot belly, no sense of shame.

Former HP Chairman of the Board Patricia Dunn - Liza Minnelli haircut, expensive women's suit, reporter's telephone records that you have no idea how you got, pink slip. 

 

 

Guard Against Ghoulish Goodies: Keep Your Pets Safe from Halloween Hazards

ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center Offers Poison Safety Tips for Pet Owners

Urbana, Ill. – The arrival of Halloween brings fun parties, trick-or-treaters, and lots of delicious candies. However, some of the same goodies and decorations we humans are fond of can be potentially hazardous to our pets. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center is offering pet owners some helpful hints to keep their pets healthy and safe during Halloween.

Halloween treats with chocolate are not appropriate for pets. Depending on the dose ingested, chocolate (bakers, semi-sweet, mmilk and dark) can be potentially poisonous to many animals. In general, the less sweet the chocolate, the more toxic it could be. In fact, unsweetened baking chocolate contains almost seven times more theobromine as milk chocolate. Vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, hyperactivity and increased thirst, urination and heart rate can be seen with the ingestion of as little as ¼ ounce of baking chocolate by a 10-pound dog.

Candies and gum containing large amounts of the sweetener xylitol can also be toxic to pets, as ingestions of significant quantities can produce a fairly sudden drop in blood sugar, resulting in depression, incoordination and seizures. Be sure to keep such products well out of the reach of your pets.

Keep aluminum foil and cellophane candy wrappers away from pets. They can cause vomiting and could even produce intestinal blockage.

Keep your pet on its normal diet. Any change of diet, even for one meal, may give your dog or cat severe indigestion and diarrhea. This is particularly true for older animals that have more delicate digestive systems and nutritional requirements.

Never offer or allow your pets to access alcoholic beverages. Place unattended drinks where pets cannot reach them. If ingested, the animal could become very ill and weak and may go into a coma, possibly resulting in death from respiratory failure.

 

Halloween decorative plants such as pumpkins and decorative corn are considered to be relatively non-toxic, yet they can potentially cause gastrointestinal upset and may even result in intestinal blockage as well if large pieces are ingested.

Keep wires and cords from electric lights and other decorations out of the reach of your pets. If chewed, your pet could experience damage to its mouth from shards of glass or plastic, or receive a possibly life-threatening electrical shock.

Liquid potpourri, commonly used to add pleasant scent to the home during certain holidays, can be hazardous to pets. Potentially severe damage to the mouth, skin and eyes could result from exposure to both heated and cool liquid product.

If you suspect your pet may have become exposed to a potentially toxic product of substance, contact your local veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center immediately for assistance.

For over 27 years, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center has been the premier animal poison control center in North America. The center, an allied agency of the University of Illinois, is the only facility of its kind staffed by 25 veterinarians including 10 board-certified toxicologists and 14 certified veterinary technicians. Located in Urbana, Illinois, the specially trained staff provides assistance to pet owners and specific analysis and treatment recommendations to veterinarians pertaining to toxic chemicals and dangerous plants, products or substances 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In 2005, the center handled over 100,000 cases. In addition, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center provides extensive veterinary toxicology consulting on a wide array of subjects including legal cases, formulation issues, product liability, regulatory reporting and bio surveillance. To reach the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, call 1-888-426-4435. For more information on the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center visit www.aspca.org/apcc (1/06)

Founded in 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was the first humane organization established in the Western Hemisphere and today has one million supporters. The ASPCA’s mission is to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States. The ASPCA provides national leadership in humane education, government affairs and public policy, shelter support, and animal poison control. The NYC headquarters houses a full-service animal hospital, animal behavior center, and adoption facility. The Humane Law Enforcement department enforces New York’s animal cruelty laws and is featuared on the reality television series Animal Precinct on Animal Planet. Visit www.aspca.org for more information.

Source: www.aspca.org