Here comes Halloween!

Evolving from the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain, modern Halloween has become less about literal ghosts and ghouls and more about costumes and sweets. The Celts used the day to mark the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, and also believed that this transition between the seasons was a bridge to the world of the dead.

I like Halloween - the colours, the stories and legends, the movies, trick or treat - everything! When I was little it seemed like a time when anything could happen. Of course it was not so commercial in the UK in those days, and we didn't go trick or treating either, but my Granny would always bring some chestnuts to roast and tell me ghost stories. I'd heard the stories many times but she was a very good story teller and I never tired of hearing them.

I found out the other day that my Mum had no idea she'd told me these scary stories, but they have done me no harm whatsoever, unless you call a fascination with "darker" things harm! And I don't since it's never occurred to me to put on a mask and go out at night wielding an axe or anything! Maybe a desire to read the gory details about those who do...

These pumpkins are on the wall of the community centre opposite my workplace.