Have you ever bobbed for apples?

Part three in our Halloween tradition extravaganza is likely the most obscure of the traditions of the season. Not everybody has heard of bobbing for apples in this day and age. I think that's because this isn't necessarily the easiest thing to do. It takes plenty of space to set up a big water-filled tub, float a bag of apples inside and have room to kneel down and start chomping away. My two cents, take it for what it's worth, is that apple bobbing has sort of fallen out of fashion since we spend a lot of time, effort and money on Halloween costumes. I know I wouldn't have wanted to mess up my "Poor college professor/student who's saving money to go to France next year and just wore my regular clothes" costume.

But believe me, apples have always been a huge part of fall revelries. The apple was one of the symbols of Pomona, the Roman goddess of plenty. Her celebrations were held after the fall harvests, a time when people were partying because they had gathered all of the bounty that would get them through the winter.

As Roman mythological influence decreased in Europe, other forms of religion took hold. But the celebration of fall abundances- including apples- never went away. In Celtic Ireland and Scotland, apples were often seen as a symbol of fertility. Even though the religious influence was different, the idea of celebrating the fall bounty was still there. At Celtic fall festivals, apple bobbing became extremely important. Single folks, male and female, greedily dove into the floating apples because according to legend, if you caught an apple, you were supposed to peel it in a clockwise manner and then throw the peel over your shoulder. The shape it formed when it hit the ground would give you the initial of the person you would marry.

I have finally figured it out!!! I'm single because I've always been too worried about ruining my costume instead of practically drowning myself in the apple bobbing barrel. You better bet that next year, I'm going to be ready and waiting, covered in a fisherman's raincoat and my peeling knife in hand!

If you don't treat, do you get tricked?

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat.

I remember chanting this many times as a child, excitedly putting on my Halloween costume and getting ready to go out and get the hoarde of candy my brothers and I would bring in. Since we lived way out in the country, there weren't much in terms of neighbors so we often came to one of the more established (and safer as far as my parents were concerned) neignborhoods in town to knock on doors and let strangers fill our little plastic pumpkins with all that chocolately goodness. Have you ever wondered why the other 364 days of the year, we teach our kids NOT to take candy from strangers, but it's perfectly OK on Halloween?

There is actually a historical basis for this. Centuries ago, at the stroke of midnight when October 31 became November 1, people put out food and yummy sweet goodies at their front doors. The reason for this was twofold. First, this was the time of year when everyone was beginning to wonder if they had enough food to last them through the winter season. Crops have been harvested, any food that could be canned, pickled or put in the cold cellar have been stored. But poor people who weren't in the best condition would travel around looking for handouts to help them pack on the few extra pounds to pad them up for the winter.

Secondly, this particular time period, from 10/31 to 11/2 was a time for remembering those who have passed on. If there was a time of year when the veils between the living world and the dead were at their thinnest, this was it. Restless souls could travel back into this world and harass the living. There was a real fear that the dead might burn the food storage, leading to more dead bodies by the end of winter. To head off any such "tricks" by the dead, you put out a little food on the front stoop for them. Hopefully, if it placated them, the spooks would head off to the next house looking for a treat or they would give a trick nobody wanted.

As time passed and the inate fear of the walking dead on Halloween began to fade, it became popular for children to dress up in spooky costumes and knock on peoples' doors, asking for a candy treat. At first, the costumes were supposed to be as scary as possible to make people think you were one of the spirits who had crossed back over for the night. Now it's not necessarily how scary but how cute the costume is. Some people (think older kids whose parents need to give them a good smack on the butt for acting like this) would go so far as to "trick" anybody who didn't give them a good enough treat. Those tricks might include vandalism and giving the family a big scare. Regardless of the tricks, Halloween became much more about the treats. I can imagine that most kids were like me and my brothers- you know exactly who had the best candy so you wanted to hit up that house first!

Recently, with the big push for healthier lifestyles, many folks hand out stuff like toothbrushes, fruit or other things that aren't necessarily treats. No wonder trick are on the rise! Not me! I'm going to be sitting out there on the front porch, giving out the yummiest stuff I can find- the cuter your costume, the more candy you get- and hope that the spooks don't decide to trick me.

Who was Jack?

With all the candy, costumes, parties and the like surrounding Halloween, it's really easy to get caught up in the fun and forget the fact that there's a reason why this is the scariest time of the year.

People start carving pumpkins WAY ahead of the big night. Go up and down practically any street and you'll find at least one ghoulish smile glowing back at you. There are contests to see who can carve the coolest face (my Facebook friends have posted a few examples of some really great examples of their own carvings). When I was googling to find a cute little pumpkin pic to put at the top, I found all sorts of eyecatching specimens- from a Stormtrooper (one after my own heart) to a Cylon to an amazing haunted house. But the standard is simply a grinning face. The question is... was there a real Jack?

According to Irish legends, yes there was. Sometime before the 17th century, a man called Stingy Jack was known for a lot of extremely sinful qualities. If anybody was on the Highway to Hell, it was Stingy Jack. When the Devil came to collect Jack's soul, the doomed man tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree. Jack then nailed crosses all over the bottom of the trunk, keeping the Devil treed. Jack only let him down after the Devil promised not to take Jack to Hell for his sins. Sounds like a good deal for a bad guy right? Not exactly. When Jack finally died, he was barred from Heaven because of his sins. No Heaven, no Hell, Jack was forced to walk the earth for all of eternity. But the Devil did give Jack a single ember of hellfire to light his way. When people saw an unexplained light in the woods, they thought it was Jack walking past.

By the 17th century, people in Great Britain began carving out faces into turnips, putting a flame inside to represent Jack and his hellfire lantern. Once Irish immigrants moved to North America, they brought the tradition with them, giving it a little tweak. Pumpkins were much more common here, so they took the place of the traditional turnip (I'm thinking it had to be easier to carve a pumpkin than a turnip anyway).

The European/American tradition has stuck around. It is traditional for children seeking candy to carry a jack o' lantern to ward off Jack's spirit. If you look out the window and see a strange light go by, ask yourself, is it a kid looking for treats or is it Stingy Jack wandering around in your neighborhood?