Halloween in New England

20 October 2021

1045

R. Linda:

Halloween! This day ends the leaf season only to be followed by that leafless, and browning of the earth month of November. When the turkeys seem to thumb their noses at everyone by staying close to homes where they know you can't hunt them, stand in the road knowing you aren't going to run them over and raid the bird feeders like the seed was mana from heaven! 

But before that, there be that last day of spookiness; the rattle of leaves not falling off the oaks, that are brown and brittle. The last tuffs of long green swamp grass that give off an odour of decay coming, and the ponds so covered in leaves you don't know where they start and where they end. The sunlight leaves early and kisses one's skin one last time with the warm memory of summer. 

The chill in the air is more pronounced at the end of the month. It's more frosty and one is not thinking of warm doughnuts and cider, no the chilly prospect of snow coming instead. The sky and stars are crystal clear and bright and the low mist in the fields reminds us time is marching on. 

All these things, the sights, feelings, smells, touch of cold . . . well they are all there to enhance Halloween. A time of endings, when the vortex between the worlds opens to allow the spirits newly lost to leave the earth. It is also what the mystic calls a time for the faeries and sprites to have their last dance and leave the gardens to the winter snows, not to return until Midsummer. 

It is a time of harvest and feasting. Canning fruits and vegetables, putting up (if you will) for the long months of cold and darkness. 

Halloween . . . we dress up so that when that vortex opens, and the spirits once again walk, we are safe and not swept up in it. At least these are things me Irish Granny told me as a child. I believed her then, and I believe her now.

So, without any further ado, here be a last look at October's biggest party, Halloween time in New England.

Old colonial dressed for Autumn

Outdoor witch and cats decorate this front door at night

Table set for Halloween festivities

A hearth all decked out for spooky doings

A circle of witches

What would Halloween be without a Jack O'Lantern?

Jellied and Caramel Apples - the season's treat

And a riotous time was had by all!

And when the witches fly and the parties are over we sit and remember the beauty that was Autumn, the spookiness that was Halloween, and look forward to the harvest that will make an appearance on Thanksgiving

Happy Halloween!

Gabe

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