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Are you ready for Halloween?

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Hopefully by my next post I’ll have Exciting Book News to share, but today I have a seasonal question for you:

Are you ready for Halloween?

A Jack o' Lantern made for the Holywell Manor Halloween celebrations in 2003. Photograph by Toby Ord on 31 Oct 2003.

For practically the first time since Miss Fraser was born in 2004, I can answer that question with a yes, and before October 30, too. After some discussion, Miss Fraser has elected to go as the goddess Athena this year, so we found a generic Greek goddess costume, which we’re accessorizing with a helmet, a toy spear, and a stuffed owl. And just in case she backs out of being Athena at the last minute because she has to wear a dress, I ordered a mockingjay pin, which, along with her bow and arrow set and carefully chosen clothes from her everyday wardrobe, would make a credible Katniss Everdeen costume.

Her first choice was actually Avatar Korra from The Legend of Korra, but I couldn’t figure out how to bring the costume together given my utter lack of crafting or sewing skills. I have to say, I’m proud of having raised a daughter who’s so fond of strong women in myth and literature that her heroines are Korra, Athena, and Katniss.

I even have a costume of my own planned for the first time in over a decade! I’m part of a fantasy football league at work, and we’ve decided to all dress up as our teams. My team is the War Tigers, a riff on my favorite college football team, the Auburn Tigers, whose battle cry is, “War Eagle.” If you watch an Auburn game, you’ll see both an adorable mascot in a tiger suit and an actual eagle who swoops around the stadium before the game and then perches on his handler’s arm on the sidelines looking menacing during the game.

War Eagle!

So I’m going to wear my Auburn shirt and baseball cap, and carry a stuffed tiger perched on my wrist like that eagle. Granted, maybe two of my Seattle coworkers watch enough college football to get the reference, but still.

One of these years I’m going to invest in a Regency dress–or maybe a redcoat officer’s uniform, so I can go in Napoleonic-era drag–and make that my costume.

What about you? Are you dressing up for Halloween this year, or do you have a kid to costume? If you dressed as a Regency and/or literary figure, who would you choose and why?

Posted in Frivolity | Tagged , | 5 Replies

Belated Happy Halloween!

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Besides anxiety about Sandy, Halloween has obsessed me for much of this week.  This past weekend I helped to run a Halloween Party for my UU church, complete with a Haunted House put on by some of the older youth including one of my daughters, who played her role to creepy perfection.

While waiting for Sandy to hit, we finished carving our pumpkins in accordance with this year’s theme, Lord of the Rings.  (My daughters dressed up as Elven maidens in medieval-style gowns and their ever-useful Vulcan ears.)  Here’s my pumpkin, carved with the head of a Balrog, the fire demon that the wizard Gandalf battles in the mines of Moria.

Carving vegetables into scary shapes was already a custom during the Regency, although potatoes and turnips were often used.  If you want to learn more, check out my post about Jack-o-Lanterns from a few years ago.

We were fortunate enough not to lose power, so I was able to toast the pumpkin seeds the next day. This year, we experimented with a Mexican-inspired version. They were quite yummy. Those that I didn’t spill on the kitchen floor while transferring from pan to storage container, that is!

Here’s my recipe should you care to try it:

Ingredients: pumpkin seeds, olive oil, chili powder, cumin, salt.

  1. Rinse pumpkin seeds. Remove all pulp. Drain and spread on a cookie sheet to dry overnight.
  2. Preheat oven to 250F. Line baking sheet with foil.
  3. Toss pumpkin seeds in enough olive oil, salt, cumin and chili powder (about twice as much chili powder as the cumin) to lightly coat them.
  4. Bake for about 1 hour, tossing every 15 minutes, until golden brown.
  5. Cool. Store in airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 months.

Lastly, I was browsing around Youtube and found this clip of Northanger Abbey as if it really were a Gothic horror novel.


I hope you all enjoyed or will enjoy your Halloween, if you live in an area where it has been rescheduled. I think it’s important for the children (all of us, really) to maintain fun traditions even during scary, troubling times.

So what did you do for Halloween or what are you planning?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
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Posted in Frivolity, Jane Austen, Research | Tagged , , | 3 Replies

A Regency Ghost Story

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Happy Halloween!

My quick surfing of the net and peek into Google Books yielded very little information about Halloween during the Regency.
In 1818, Blackwood’s Magazine entertained its readers with ghost stories from Wales (as opposed to Scotland, where such stories usually originated, apparently). Witches, ghosts, demons, evil spirits, dogs of hell, fairies, corpse candles, and something called Kyhirraeth, a “doleful foreboding noise before death,” were discussed.
This example amused me:

The Rev. Mr Thomas Baddy, who lived in Denbigh town, and was a dissenting minister in that place, went into his study one night, and while he was reading or writing, he heard some one behind him laughing and grinning at him, which made him stop a little. It came again, and there he wrote on a piece of paper, that devil wounding scripture, 1 John iii. ‘ For this was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil,’ and held it backwards towards him, and the laughing ceased for ever; for it was a melancholy word to a scoffing devil, and enough.

Clever fellow, Reverend Tom. Nerves of steel, as well. I believe I would have screamed and run from the room.

It seemed to me that the Regency era people prided themselves on being rational, with no time for such nonsense as ghosts and witches and fairies. I suspect the prevailing view on the occult was similar to Sir Walter Scott’s.
In Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft Scott clearly scoffs at ghost sightings and such. He believes in rational explanations for events which are credited to the supernatural.

Here’s an example in Scott’s words:

The remarkable circumstance of Thomas, the second Lord Lyttelton, prophesying his own death within a few minutes, upon the information of an apparition, has been always quoted as a true story. But of late it has been said and published, that the unfortunate nobleman had previously determined to take poison, and of course had it in his own power to ascertain the execution of the prediction. It was no doubt singular that a man, who meditated his exit from the world, should have chosen to play such a trick on his friends. But it is still more credible that a whimsical man should do so wild a thing than that a messenger should be sent from the dead, to tell a libertine at what precise hour he should expire.

Sir Walter is clearly a skeptic. Too bad he didn’t have access to Celebrity Ghost Stories on the Bio Channel.

Perhaps in Wales and Scotland, families practiced old rituals on Halloween during the Regency. Perhaps people told ghost stories by the light of the fireplace at night and carved turnips into jack o’ lanterns, but I suspect Halloween was not celebrated among the Beau Monde.

I’m celebrating Halloween today with a contest! Seven authors, including me, are hosting a Novel Trick or Treat Contest. Stop by my website to start. We’re each giving away prizes to some lucky commenters, but, like all good trick or treaters, you have to visit each of us in turn. Come join the fun!
How else are you celebrating Halloween today?
Posted in Giveaways | Tagged , | 6 Replies

October Overload

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October started out well enough. I had a slight cold, but the writing was going well and one weekend, I got out to pick apples and late raspberries with my daughters. The following evening, we made fruit crisp with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Then my cold worsened into a sinus infection and I dragged for a while. Fortunately, this week I’m feeling better and working on catching up on everything I dropped, also getting back to exercize and writing. I’m feeling well enough to (perhaps foolishly) volunteer for stuff. A misunderstanding amongst volunteers has left our church Halloween Party hanging by a thread. It’s a much-loved event, the highlight being a Haunted House constructed by our very talented youth group. So when it seemed in danger of not happening, I stepped in for what my oldest called “a noble rescue”. That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

So I’m sorry I’ve had no time to write a well-researched post on Halloween or Samhain customs and what people would have done at this season during the Regency! I’m too busy making plans for food, activities and crafts. I’m also finishing up costumes for my kids. Once again, the theme is Star Trek, though this year they aren’t going to “be” Vulcans.

I don’t always dress up, although one year, strapped for time, I went as a Tired Mom in bathrobe and slippers, bearing a ginormous mug of coffee. This time, since I’m coordinating the party, I’m feeling the urge to do something more special. Since my daughters aren’t using their Vulcan ears, I am thinking about borrowing them and going as some sort of Vulcan matriarch. T’Pau would be cool and properly intimidating to any rowdy kids, but the costume looks a bit complicated. And could I find two hunky Vulcan dudes to carry me in? I need to think about this some more!

What have you been busy with this October? Any costumes or other fun stuff in your plans?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 11 Replies

Jane Austen Everywhere

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Last week I promised you a photo of my Halloween costume. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Here it is.

It didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. I looked awful, but that was the point, right? I was dressed as “What Not To Wear.” If you watch the TV show on TLC, you’ll know that Stacie and Clinton throw away baggy cropped pants, patterned socks, thrift shop items (like the bowling shirt) and warn against being too “matchy matchy.”

The Halloween party was fun in spite of my failed costume. Helen, one of my writing friends and member of my original-and-still-meeting critique group gave the party. I have a double connection to Helen, because our husbands work together. Here’s the “Writing Group” (left to right: Julie, me, Helen, Virginia). As you can see, my costume looks just like I wore horrible clothes; the other costumes were very effective. (Helen, by the way, made that vest and hat)


The real surprise was to find Jane Austen at the party. Not “our” (Risky Regencies) Jane Austen but Helen’s friend Carol who came as Jane Austen vampire. And, let me tell you, her gown was fantastic. She’d made this beautiful pelisse out of a deep purple fabric with black flowery designs on it, almost like applique. I was in complete costume-envy! This pelisse was so elegant and looked like she’d just stepped out of a Regency novel. She also had black angel wings which were not so Regency. And the vampire teeth.

Helen, who also happens to be my modiste, has made me two Regency dresses over the years. The light blue one was from a copy of an authentic Regency era pattern. The dark blue was from a Simplicity pattern and it has (oh the shame!) a zipper. Last year I wore the dark blue one to the Halloween party so could not do so this year. And the light blue one fit me better when I was 20 lbs lighter. (You’ll recognize the other person in these photos as Amanda!)

I’m trying to think of a way to get Helen to make me a beautiful pelisse just like the Jane Austen vampire’s!

Did you have a fun Halloween? How did your costume work out? Better than mine, I hope!

Check out my website, which is not updated yet, but which still has a new contest on it.

Posted in Jane Austen | Tagged , , | 10 Replies