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?

Anne Hutchinson- My Hero

If you are in my class this semester, we either just talked about Anne Hutchinson or will soon be talking about her (depending on which meeting time you have) and when I saw on my "This Day in History" widget that on this day in 1634, Anne arrived in Boston after her long journey from England, I figured I'd talk a little more about her story.

Anne and her husband were both staunch Puritans. They toed the religious lines- wore black, modest clothes, were in church every time the doors were opened, pointed fingers at their sinning neighbors- and actually were assumed to be saints within the community, meaning that God had predestined them for an afterlife in Heaven.

But Anne wasn't your typical Puritan woman. When she disagreed with what the town leaders were doing in terms of running the community, she spoke out. OK, that was bad because women weren't supposed to be that outspoken, but even though the mayor gave her the side-eye, they let it slide.

Then she took it too far. When Anne disagreed with some of the things the preacher said in sermon, she once again spoke up. During Bible studies she held in her home, she said that the preacher was wrong about certain things and that this was how she would have presented that information. Oh the horrors!!! A woman voicing her opinion!!! Can't have that... it might lead to anarchy or at the very least other women voicing their opinions.

Anne was brought before the town judges on charges of heresy, an offense punishible by death. Every time Anne tried to defend herself in court, she was told to keep her mouth shut, that the learned men of the bench did not need to hear the voice of a foolish female. When they found her guilty and were on the verge of sentencing her to death, a very pregnant Anne spoke her peace. You can't blame her; she had 13 kids at home and if they hung her, the baby she was carrying would die with her.

She essentially told the judges that if they hurt her, God would punish them, their community and all the generations to come. I bow to this woman!!! She spoke with such conviction that the judges still found her guilty of heresy but rather than execute her, the banished her and her family from the Massachusetts Colony. They relocated to the newly formed Rhode Island Colony.

Sadly, Anne's story from there isn't a happy one. The stresses from the trial and from the hasty move to Rhode Island took their toll on the expectant mother and she gave birth to a stillborn child on the way to Rhode Island. The judges in Massachusetts said that this was due to the fact that she was a "monster" and "a woman not fit for society."

It didn't stop there. Less than five years after building a new life in Rhode Island, Anne's husband died suddenly. Anne simply couldn't live there anymore so she relocated to the New Netherlands Colony (which is now New York; at the time it was under Dutch control). But she didn't find peace there either. A few months later, she and 5 of her children were killed in an Indian attack.

But despite her sad story, Anne Hutchinson is still one of my heroes. I love the stories of women who didn't quite fit in with the lot in life that men had given them. We need more Anne Hutchinsons in the world today.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

OK, go outside (yes, even if you are still wearing your pj's), close your eyes, take a deep breath and take in the smell of...the beginning of the fall TV season. Isn't it just wonderful?!?

This is my absolute favorite time of the year. As the oppressing heat of summer begins to fade away and we start to get the first hints of nippy fall weather I get all giddy because new TV has started. I can immerse myself into the fake lives of all the characters that I love and love to hate. Sons of Anarchy and The Vampire Diaries have both started off with a bang. And Supernatural and Nikita are yet to come. The premiere that I'm most looking forward to though is Fringe; I've gone all summer jonesing for a good Walter fix.

On top of all my returning faves, it looks like there's going to be a bunch of good newbies on the block. The Secret Circle piqued my interest and Terra Nova is looking pretty good. But the one that I have high hopes for is Ringer. Identical twins where one "dies" and the other assumes her life? A trite concept, I know, but after watching last week's pilot, I'm anxious to see where they go next. My only question as I watched was, "Hey Buffy, where's Spike?"

I have already resigned myself to the fact that things like prepping for class and writing the next chapter of the book I'm working are just simply going to have to play second fiddle to my old friend the TV right now. If I suddenly go off on tangents talking about Damon and Elena and how I wish I had an identical twin so I could fake my own death, just bear with me.

Remembering 9/11

"Naked and starving as they are
We cannot enough admire
The incomparable Patience and Fidelity
of the Soldier."

George Washington wrote these words in his journal during the horrendous winter of 1777-78 when he and his soldiers fought to survive at Valley Forge. They are now inscribed on the monument at the campsite.

Today, over 2 centuries later, I truly believe that the same feeling applies as we remember the events of a decade ago when this country suffered from its worst attack in recent memory.

On that day, I remember sitting in my car, listening to the radio as I waited to go into the office and start the workday. I had already dropped Caitlin off at school and since traffic was lighter than normal, I had a few extra minutes to kill. When they broke into the music to tell about the first plane hitting the WTC, I ran into the office and turned on the lights and TV just in time to watch the smoke begin to plume from the 2nd tower. In my 28 years, I had never been so scared. Was it an accident? Was it the beginnings of an invasion? We just didn't know and the longer we waited, the worse the fear got. As my co-workers and I watched the footage and saw the Pentagon get hit and then the crash of Flight 93, all I could do was to pray for those who had been lost and those who were trying to help.

Today, as we remember 9/11, I am still doing the same. I pray for our country and its leaders. I pray for all of those who willingly put their lives on the line to serve in our military and keep us all safe. I pray for those who serve on a civilian level, the policemen, firemen, emergency crews who constantly put themselves in danger for us. I pray for us all as I know with all my heart that I am proud to be an American.

God bless America!

It's a Barbie World

Seriously, what toy has had more impact on people today than the Barbie doll? Since today is Barbie's sort of birthday I figured it was a good time to walk down memory lane and relive my Barbie playing days. The reason that I say it's her "sort of" birthday is because Barbie's debut was at a New York toy fair in March 1959 but today is actually the anniversary of Mattel putting the blonde bombshell on toy store shelves so all the little kiddies could partake in the wonderfulness that was Barbie.

Since the rise of the Feminist Movement, Barbie has gotten a lot of flack. If the perfectly proportioned Barbie is supposed to be ideal, are little girls going to grow up and starve themselves and buy some boobs so they can be ideal too? I never really bought into that, mainly because by the time I was deep into Barbie-world, they had stopped doing things like putting a weight loss guide that said "Don't Eat" and a scale set at 110 lbs in with the doll. Was Barbie supposed to be a ditz? I think this got blown out of proportion too. People hit the roof because Barbie said things like "Math class is tough!" I personally agree with her, math class IS tough, it's MATH!!! It's supposed to be tough. Did this mean that Barbie couldn't be whatever she wanted? Not so much. My Barbies were queens of the world, warrior princesses, powerful sorceresses, astronauts, doctors, teachers and mommies. Barbie could be anything which meant that I could be anything!

I did a little research on Barbie's history when I saw on my "News of the Day" that today was the first day Barbie was sold and I learned several surprising things. I knew that the original model for Barbie was a New York girl named Barbara Millicent Roberts but I didn't know that Mattel originally published a series of books based on Barbara's/Barbie's life. I think Ken was made up just so Barbie could have a boyfriend but I never knew that he actually had a last name (Carson) and when Ken and Barbie broke up (Ken severely needed a makeover and attitude adjustment) Barbie got "close" with Australian surfer Blaine. I love that, Mattel actually used the word "close" to describe their relationship.

Despite all the controversies, I personally think that Barbie has made much more of an impact on the life of young girls than anybody gives credit for. I might be a grown up now, but to this day, nothing makes me happier on Christmas morning or my birthday than to receive a Barbie in a long dress with gorgeous hair and jewelry. I think that's something I'll never grow too old for.