Frances Glessner Lee's REMARKABLE POINT OF VIEW

 

What a fascinating. observant, determined, skilled and wonderful woman indeed!!!!

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What a fascinating, amazing woman!
She built dollhouses to catch killers—and her tiny crime scenes revolutionized how police solve murders.
In the 1940s, while most women of her social class were hosting tea parties and serving on charity boards, Frances Glessner Lee was hunched over a workbench with tweezers, constructing perfect miniature murder scenes.

Born into one of Chicago's wealthiest families in 1878, Frances had everything society said she should want—money, status, a "proper" marriage. But what she actually wanted, she couldn't have: her family refused to let her attend college. Women of her class, they believed, didn't need education.
So Frances got married, raised children, and lived the life expected of her. But she never stopped learning. She read medical journals. She studied forensic science. And she waited.

When her husband died and she inherited a fortune, Frances was finally free. She was 52 years old. Most people that age are thinking about slowing down.
Frances was just getting started.

She had become fascinated with a problem plaguing American law enforcement: crime scenes were being botched. Evidence was contaminated. Clues were missed. Detectives would walk into a scene with a theory already in mind and see only what confirmed their assumptions. Innocent people went to prison. Guilty people walked free.
The cause? Poor training and sloppy observation.
Frances decided to fix it—with dollhouses.

But these weren't children's toys. The "Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death" were meticulously crafted dioramas of actual crime scenes, built at a scale of one inch to one foot. Each took months to construct, and every single detail mattered.

A two-room apartment where a woman lies dead. The tiny calendar on the wall shows the correct date. The miniature clock is stopped at the exact time of death. There's a crease in the bedspread where someone sat. A window is open—but only by half an inch. There's a broom leaning against the kitchen wall. The bathroom door is ajar. Blood spatters, smaller than pinheads, mark specific surfaces.
Nothing was accidental. Every object was a potential clue.

Another scene: a man hanged in a barn. The rope fibers are authentic. The knot is tied in a specific way. His body position tells a story—but is it suicide or murder? Look closer. Check the height of the beam. Measure the distance from the stool. Could he have reached that knot himself?
Frances hired carpenters, but she did much of the work herself—sewing tiny curtains, knitting miniature blankets, mixing paint to create realistic blood spatters. She studied actual cases, visited real crime scenes, and consulted with medical examiners to ensure accuracy.
She created twenty of these dioramas, each one a puzzle, each one based on real deaths.
Then she did something extraordinary: she convinced the New Hampshire State Police to make her an honorary captain in 1943, becoming one of the first women to hold such a position. She used this authority to create seminars where detectives would study her miniatures, learning to observe without prejudice, to preserve evidence, to think scientifically.

"Convict the guilty, clear the innocent, and find the truth in a nutshell," she would say.
The seminars became legendary. Detectives would spend hours examining each scene, debating theories, discovering clues they'd initially missed. A cigarette ash in the wrong location. A door that couldn't have been locked from the inside. A bullet trajectory that didn't match the suicide story.
Frances was teaching them to see.
Her work helped transform forensic science from guesswork into a rigorous discipline. She endowed Harvard's Department of Legal Medicine. She pushed for professional standards in death investigation. She proved that careful observation could mean the difference between justice and tragedy.
When Frances Glessner Lee died in 1962 at age 83, she left behind a legacy that continues today. Her Nutshell Studies are still used to train detectives at the Maryland Medical Examiner's Office. Modern CSI techniques—photographing everything, preserving the scene, looking for inconsistencies—stem partly from the principles she championed.

The woman who wasn't allowed to go to college became a pioneer in forensic science. The heiress who was supposed to arrange flowers instead arranged tiny crime scenes that saved lives.
Eighteen of her original twenty dioramas survive, and they're still as powerful as ever. These aren't dusty museum pieces—they're working tools. Detectives still gather around them, still debate what happened, still learn to look past the obvious and search for truth in the smallest details.
Because Frances Glessner Lee understood something fundamental: the truth is in the details. Not the dramatic ones. The tiny ones. The overlooked ones. The clue everyone walks past because they're too busy looking where they expect the answer to be.

She proved that miniatures can solve murders. That dollhouses can teach justice. That a woman in her fifties with determination and resources can change an entire field.
And she proved that it's never too late to start the work you were meant to do—even if the world spent decades telling you it wasn't yours to do.

A belated full moon post, and haiku

 And now a belated post, some things really do appear to happen for a reason, and this just might have been one of them.

 

The Full Beaver  Moon of November, gets it's name from the usually  allusive, and industious beaver, who can be seen gathering food and working on their lodge as the first heavy frost of the year arrive.  The signal that  the snows of winter aren't far away.   

Those of us who live on the edge of the grid, have been busy making sure we have enough firewood, and the other necessitys to keep us comfy and , should the weather get really wicked.. 

 

Where was I?   Yesterday the wind began to pick up in the late afternoon, and by the time the sun went down it had gained a little strength, not much speed,. Certainly not enough to cause power outages.  The moon had risen above the tree line and was playing tag with the clouds and the spruce tree branches.  A beautiful silver disk , i couldn't resist watching it from the upstairs window  as it climbed higher in the night sky,  I was temped to, so i did watch it until it rose to a point where it was no longer possible to see it from that window.

Not long after that , the power went out. It does that sometimes, we are very used to it.

potatoes are dug

  tomato stakes all pulled

wait! the first snowflake

 

 

   

  

November, a Telestitch

Over the years i have spent the first day of November swimming and picnicking at a near-by lake. shoveling the sidewalks, painting the house and even trying to learn how to cross country ski...... one year I walked across the Kinzua tressel in a windstorm, but that's another story.   

Winter is not my favorite season.! 

 

n  looking for sunshine, but found None

o   clouds  thick and gray and churning Overhead

V   my heart grows heavy with this View 

e    daytime grew short all tos soon it is Evening

m   the songs of birds now are few and Muted

B   cold winds cover the grass with a snowy Blanket

e    gone for the year are summers warm Elements

R    soon the winds will whistle and Roar

 

 

And the year turns, "Great Joy in the new"

 One more day, and one more year. It makes perfect sense to me that our ancestors chose tonight to be the entrance to the New Year.  The beginning of a new year, a cycle of earth.  

Dormant and gestating, the earth is building the next year.

And tonight is  a magical space between past, present and future, a liminal space, where the veil is thin. Where the air crackles with something mysterious and magical, and the future is said to be as visible as is the past.  The crossing into the new year begins, and as we can look both directions, and learn from them.   No, I won't tell you what to look for, that I cannot do, only you can choose what is most important.  Only you can choose.

 

On this night when green and growing things are nearly ready to return to the ground they grew in.  Return as the compost the next that will feed next years growth.  The seeds of the new year are  in the earth to wait thru winter's dormancy. 

  

 Great Joy in the New!!!!!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Postcards for Halloween

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

totallyhistoric.com

Vintage Halloween Postcards in the Early 20th Century

Diane

19–24 minutes

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Hallowe’en, 1910, Raphael Tuck & Sons, Art Publishers to their Majesties the King and Queen, Printed in Saxony

Postcards were all the rage in the early 20^th century. In a time before cell phones and email, they were a quick way to communicate with friends and loved ones. Scribble a message on the back of a card, slap on a stamp, and mail that sucker. In addition to the written form, artwork, photographs, and designs made postcards visual treats. These images now give us a glimpse into the past, telling us what was popular and culturally significant in a given period. As a self-professed Halloweenie, I’m obsessed with vintage Halloween postcards. I’ve gathered a modest collection, ten of which we’ll examine to see how Halloween celebrations evolved over the years.

Halloween in Transition

Over 3,000 Halloween postcards were produced in the early 20^th century, demonstrating the festival’s popularity. Irish and Scottish immigrants had just recently introduced the holiday to the United States in the mid-19^th century. Old-world beliefs and traditions took on new American twists while others fell out of favor. Vintage Halloween postcards depict these transitions, giving us a window into how the holiday was celebrated in the past. Additionally, postcard imagery contributed to the creation of cultural icons we all recognize today, as they “worked to codify and solidify Halloween iconography.”¹

Vintage Halloween Postcards: Divination and Fortune-Telling

Divination and fortune-telling were popular Halloween activities in Ireland and Scotland, especially in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. On the night of All Hallows’ Eve, the veil thins between the natural and spirit worlds, making it the perfect time to predict the future. Those desperate to know their fate called upon spirits for assistance in foreseeing what was to come.

We happen to know all about Scottish divination rituals thanks to Robert Burns’ 1785 poem, “Hallowe’en.” Unsurprisingly, young adults carried out most of these rituals with the intent of discovering who they’d marry. Not much has changed on that front, as I vividly recall playing the game MASH in the late 1990s and early 2000s, hoping my future husband was Leonardo DiCaprio. If MASH wasn’t your speed, perhaps you played the soda can game, where you pulled the tab back and forth while reciting the alphabet. When the tab finally popped off, the letter you were on was the initial of your one true love! Did anyone else play this, or was it just me?

Anyway, five of the postcards depict divination rituals originating in Scotland and Ireland, which eventually made their way to the United States. These old-world fortune-telling traditions appeared in American Halloween party books as fun games to entertain guests. You probably won’t recognize them, though, because they fell out of favor sometime in the 20^th century.

The following are captions for the vintage Halloween postcards above, from left to right: 1. Hallowe’en (Nuts) by Ellen H. Clapsaddle, International Art Publ. Co., New York/Berlin, Printed in Germany; 2. May You See Your True Love’s Face; 3. Hallowe’en, 1914; 4. Hallowe’en Greetings by James Brundage, Printed in Germany; 5. Hallowe’en, 1908, International Art. Publ. Co., New York City.

Burn Your Nuts

A popular divination ritual was burning chestnuts or hazelnuts, which were abundant during the harvest. The ritual has a couple of variations, but the goal was to foresee a future spouse or if a relationship was endgame. The first is to throw several nuts into a fire and assign a name to each. The nut that burns brightest and longest is your true love.

The other ritual, portrayed in our postcard, involves two nuts representing a couple. Throw the nuts into the fire and see how they react. If one of them hisses and steams, the associated person is a real fucking problem. If both misbehave, you’re both toxic AF. When the nuts pop away from each other like the two labeled “despair,” expect a break-up. However, if they burn together, you’ve found your “happy ever after.”

Burns’ poem dedicates four stanzas to this ritual. Here’s one, explaining the gist:

The auld guidwife’s weel hoordet nits [nuts]

Are round an’ round divided;

And monie lads’ an’ lasses’ fates

Are there that night decided

Some kindle couthie, side by side,

An’ burn thegither trimly;

Some start awa’, wi’ saucy pride,

And jump out-owre the chimlie

Fu’ high that night.²

Americans were really into this divination ritual in the early 20th century. Almost every Halloween party book included it, with the following instructions:

These glowing nuts are emblems true

Of what in human life we view;

The ill-matched couple fret and fume,

And thus in strife themselves consume;

Or from each other wildly start,

And with a noise forever part.

But see the happy, happy pair,

Of genuine love and truth sincere;

With mutual fondness while they burn,

Still to each other kindly turn;

And as the vital sparks decay,

Together gently sink away;

Till life’s fierce trials being past,

Their mingled ashes rest at last.³

If you’re not sure the person you’re with is the one, try this ritual. But don’t blame me if you don’t get a good result!

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Mirrors were another important Halloween divination tool. Several rituals were performed, all of which resulted in the identification of a future spouse. Burns includes the first ritual in his poem, where a young woman stands in front of a mirror on Halloween night. The face of her true love appears in the mirror after she eats an apple or slices it into pieces. Another ritual is almost the same but specifies the time as midnight and adds that the girl must also comb her hair.

Our postcard with the caption “May you see your true love’s face” depicts a similar ritual. The hour is midnight. The young woman is indoors with a candle in one hand and a mirror in the other. Upon citing the following incantation, she will see her true love’s face in the mirror.

Round and round, O stars so fair!

Ye travel and search out everywhere;

I pray you, sweet stars, now show to me

This night who my future husband shall be.⁴

The magic behind the face in the mirror goes back to the Celtic belief in the spirits of the living. The Irish called them “fetches,” and the Scottish named them “wraiths.” If a living person’s spirit appeared on Halloween, it was a good thing because it meant marriage.⁵

I would never do these rituals because I associate incantations and staring at mirrors in the dark with summoning the urban legend Bloody Mary. I was thoroughly convinced during my entire childhood that Bloody Mary was going to jump out of a mirror and kill me. So, that’s a hard pass for me on these rituals. But if any of you try them, let me know how it goes.

Mirror Prophecy Comes True

Apparently, it went well for one Madge Falconer in 1880s Scotland. A Harper’s New Monthly Magazine article titled “Hallowe’en: A Three-fold Chronicle” (1886) details the story. The author, William Sharp, recounts Madge’s tale of young love lost and true love found. When she was 14, she fell in love with her 17-year-old neighbor, Ralph. She couldn’t marry him because she was too young. No child brides in this story, thank the heavens. After he moved away to India, she pined for him for 7 years. She decided to try the mirror divination ritual on Halloween night before her 21^st birthday. To her dismay, she saw some older dude with a scar instead of Ralph.

She eventually moved to India and finally met up with Ralph. After dating, Madge decided he sucked, and they broke up. Girls be fickle like that sometimes. She soon met Major Colville, an older man with a badass battle scar. He was obviously the dude Madge saw in the mirror, so they married and lived happily ever after. Hooray!⁶

Bobbing for Apples

Apples, abundant in autumn, were another tool for predicting the future. Bobbing for apples on All Hallows’ Eve goes way back in Britain, at least 400 years back. By the 19^th century, however, it fell out of fashion and seems to have been confined to Ireland and Scotland.

As with the other rituals, there were variations on bobbing for apples. The main version was to fill two tubs with water and apples. One tub had girls’ names carved, adhered, or inserted into the apples. The other tub had apples with boys’ names. With their hands tied behind their backs, participants tried to retrieve an apple with their teeth. The name on the apple prophesied their future spouse. Our postcard shows this variation, as there are only girls surrounding the tub of apples. In another game, everyone bobbed for apples at the same time, and the first to retrieve one would be the first to marry.

Yet another variation was snap-apple, which involved a suspended stick with an apple on one end and a lit candle on the other. Spin the stick and try to get the apple. I can imagine a lot of singed eyebrows and mouths full of hot wax in this game. No, thank you.

Apple Paring

Our other postcard involves yet another apple ritual to discover true love. It involves paring the skin of an apple and flinging it over your left shoulder as you recite this incantation:

I pare this pippin round and round again,

My sweetheart’s name to flourish on the plain;

I fling the unbroken paring o’er my head,

My sweetheart’s letter on the ground is read.⁷

The apple paring will then reveal the initial of your future spouse. I guess you’re shit out of luck if your true love’s name starts with a f, t, or y…

Pick a Card, Any Card

Our last card is the cute little fortune-teller with a deck of cards. I haven’t found evidence of a Celtic tradition of divination with playing cards, so it would appear this is an American invention. There is a brief mention of cards in a 1870 American ladies’ magazine, which describes an “English” Halloween celebration involving divination by laying out cards, among other methods.⁸ The author doesn’t specify what kind of cards, and also erroneously calls the holiday English, so we can’t rely on this source too much.

Fortune-telling with cards, however, was an established tradition in the United States at the turn of the 20^th century. A New York Times article from 1903 describes this type of fortune-telling as a fun winter activity for a “sharp-witted” girl. The author includes displays of card spreads and notes that professional fortune tellers have special decks with elaborate designs, but any set will do for a weekend party.⁹

American Halloween publications include sections on fortune-telling, including card systems. The most popular method, however, was writing fortunes on white paper with milk and burning them in walnut shells. The burning process browned the milk, revealing written fortunes.

Vintage Halloween Postcards: Cultural Icons

The five remaining postcards depict images we all recognize as modern Halloween icons: the witch, the black cat, ghosts, jack-o’-lanterns, owls, and crows. But where did these symbols come from, and how did they become associated with Halloween?

The following are captions for the vintage Halloween postcards above, from left to right: 1. Hallowe’en Greeting, 1921, Whitney, Worcester, Massachusetts; 2. Hist! and Hark!, 1922, Whitney Made, Worcester, Massachusetts; 3. Hallowe’en, 1910, Raphael Tuck & Sons, Art Publishers to their Majesties the King and Queen, Printed in Saxony; 4. You Auto Have a Happy Hallowe’en, Collins Malto Bread, 1908, International Art Publishing Co., New York/Berlin; 5. A Hallowe’en Warning, Made in the USA.

Witches and Black Cats

Let’s start with the lovely witch depicted in our 1910 postcard. She’s a refreshing departure from the gnarly old hags we’re used to seeing. Instead, she’s young and vibrant, with rosy cheeks and red lips. She’s a new breed of witch who became popular alongside sexier pin-up ladies on broomsticks with legs on display and cleavage galore. Even though these witches have gotten facelifts, we still see wizened old birds in Halloween imagery during this period.

Witches were a staple of Halloween iconography in the early 20^th century. In 1919, Ruth Edna Kelley wrote a history of the holiday and noted witches were a central element, representing “magic and prophecy.” Halloween was a night for witches, as evidenced by this recitation in a party book from 1900:

*To be recited by a girl who dressed like an old witch, with a shrill voice:

It is the night of the year

That we have good cheer

We race on broomsticks through the air

And witches’ celebrations share.¹⁰

Witches have been associated with Halloween for centuries. Witch hunts raged across Europe and America in the 15^th to 17^th centuries. Accusations of witches consorting with the devil on All Hallows’ Eve were thrown around left and right. Since many of the accused were older women, the image of a scary, wrinkly witch with her broomstick, cauldron, and black cat (all domestic symbols) became the norm. Our postcard’s cute little witch may not have wrinkles or a broomstick, but she has her faithful familiar, the black cat.

Jack-o’-lanterns

Jack-o’-lanterns originate from the Irish folktale of Stingy Jack, a man doomed to roam the earth with a lantern made of a turnip and ember from hell. Irish and Scottish children recreated Jack’s lantern using turnips during Halloween celebrations, resulting in the original jack-o’-lantern. These things were terrifying. When Halloween came to America, turnips were swapped for pumpkins, creating the iconic symbol we all know today. If you want to learn more and see a photo of a creepy turnip lantern, check out the post The Origins of the Jack-o’-lantern.

Vintage Halloween postcards helped codify the pumpkin as the holiday’s king. Several of our postcards depict jack-o’-lanterns, but two in particular are interesting. Our Hist and Hark! and You Auto Have a Happy Hallowe’en postcards both have anthropomorphized jack-o’-lanterns. WTF does anthropomorphized mean? Basically, it’s giving human traits to things that aren’t human. In this case, there’s a little girl with a pumpkin head surrounded by animals and a man with a pumpkin head driving a car. A little creepy and off-putting? Yes. Iconic? Hell yes.

Ghosts

Ghosts have always been an integral component of Halloween. Tradition tells us October 31st is the night the veil lifts between worlds and spirits cross over to join the living. In 1903, Stanley Schell described Halloween: “Of all nights of the year this is the one upon which supernatural influences most prevail. The spirits of the dead wander abroad, together with witches, devils, and mischief-making elves, and in some cases, the spirits of living persons have the temporary power to leave their bodies and join the ghostly crew.”¹¹

Our Hallowe’en Greeting postcard portrays a couple of members of the ghostly crew. If you look carefully, you’ll see two ghostly faces emerge from the candle’s smoke. Ghosts also made appearances at Halloween parties in the late 19^th century. In her 1898 party book, Martha Russell Orne encourages hosts to dress up as ghosts. She instructs readers to wear a sheet and greet guests by saying: “This is where I died seven years ago. These groans proceed from my ancestors, who cannot rest in their graves because I have returned to earth to spend Hallowe’en!¹² LOL. Love it.

Crows and Owls

Two of our postcards depict black birds, which are probably crows. Their association with Halloween likely stems from the fact that they’re symbols of death. Not only are a group of crows called a murder, but they also eat almost anything, including dead carcasses. Their flocks, numbering in the thousands, have been considered bad omens throughout history. They’re super smart and have amazing memory, which proves troublesome for humans who piss them off. They’ll remember if you wrong them and they will fuck you up.¹³ Since crows are all black, they’re often confused with ravens. Ravens are also associated with horror and death, all thanks to Edgar Allan Poe’s 1845 poem, “The Raven.”

An owl appears on our postcard with the pumpkin-headed girl, as well as the young fortune-teller. They weren’t associated with Halloween in England, Ireland, or Scotland, so they’re also likely newcomers to the holiday’s iconography. Owls are nocturnal predators with an terrifying screech. Seriously, listen to this barn owl.

According to historian Lesley Pratt Bannatyne, folks in the Middle Ages thought owls were bad spirits who ate the souls of the dying. They believed an owl’s cry was a sign of impending death.¹⁴ Yeah, I believe it.

Stanley Schell gives us some insight into why owls became associated with Halloween when he included owls in his list of “grewsome things” to use as party decorations in 1903.¹⁵

What Vintage Halloween Postcards Tell Us

As Halloween became popular in America at the turn of the 20^th century, celebrations incorporated traditional beliefs, practices, and symbols. Halloween party books list witches, black cats, owls, ghosts, and jack-o’-lanterns as essential décor. Drills, dialogues, and plays were a staple for children’s parties and required participants to dress as witches, ghosts, and jack-o’-lanterns. The song “Hallowe’en is Lots of Fun” from 1900 provides us with direct evidence of these symbols’ importance in Halloween festivities. Sung to the tune of Old MacDonald, the first verse is about the jack-o’-lantern, the second is about a cat, the third features a bat, the fourth sings about a ghost, and the fifth focuses on a witch.¹⁶ Vintage Halloween postcards depicted these holiday symbols en masse and codified them as quintessential Halloween imagery.

While Halloween parties also featured divination games and fortune-telling, these traditions disappeared over the years. They are forever captured in vintage Halloween postcards, allowing us to glimpse into past practices. I don’t know about you, but next time I throw a party on All Hallows’ Eve, I’m going to bring back some of these rituals. 

If you’re interested in the history of Halloween and jack-o’-lanterns, check out the posts: The Origins of Halloween and The Origins of the Jack-o’-lantern.

 

Ivy's Aunt Clara

   "Who would think such a small house could hold so much stuff?" Ivy muttered, "Storage, plenty of storage.  All storage is good for is putting things away and forgetting them."   " She had so many cool things, all these wonderful old Halloween  decorations!"  Gretta said cheerfully.  "No, dear girl" those are the greetings cards, your great great aunt made every year, for almost every holiday.  "Haven't you ever seen them before?"  "Actually, no! she was very talented." Greta replied.

"Very talented, very talented, and crazy, but in a sweet way. She was a very hard working woman. did everything.  Once she made hats for  everyone in the Marlowe Women's club so they would stand out at at the ...ohhhhhhwaddayacallthem???? ...Ivy paused.   "You mean the Rummage Sale at Saint Gemma's? Greta beamed.  All of that  stuff. all over the parking lot, in the grass, just everywhere, that was so much fun. I wish they still had them."    Ivy settled into a chair and said "Me Too" "How did we ever get tasked with this job, it's Herculean!"  Gretta muttered .   "Oh Look a picture of Steve Reeves!" "Of who?" Gretta returned.   The room grew silent except for the sound of old records and books being put into boxes.  the sun was going down, when Gretta switched on a lamp.   The only sounds were the crinkling of paper, and the ticking clock.

"Didn't she give you "Mr. Chips" ? "Greta asked as she gently placed a bird cage into a large box with pine trees printed on it.   "she did love cats, especially black cats, I remember that.  She was a little scary until you got to know Her, Mom always said she was a witch."  "She thought Aunt Clara was a witch?  Really? Did she?" Greta said as he pushed aside still another box. "look at this painting!" 
"That would look good in your apartment! After all you do like cats." was Ivy's reply.  "put it over by the door. Take it home tonight."  Greta smiled, "I love it."  "Aunt Clara would be pleased to hear that." said Ivy. 

 Ivy  lowered her gaze and studied her hands.  The room fell silent,  the ticking of an old  clock, the only sound.  The old clock's hands were always at 12 O'clock, never moved even though the clock was still ticking. Working in silence save for a few sniffles and whispered homages to Aunt Clara.  Boxes were packed and stacked.

 The ticking of that old clock was comforting to both women as they worked their way thru the treasure and trash of several decades.  Stacks and stacks of old boxes, that were in themselves a history lesson.  Campbell Soup boxes held yards and yards of unused silk fabric, brought back from one of Clara's journey's.  One box that once held Sam Thompson Rye whiskey, contained a selection of hand made kitchen knives and sturdy coffee mugs.   Aunt Clara was the sort of aunt who every adventurous and spirited young woman would like to become.  They paused for a cup of tea, and to watch the sunset, then when back to sorting. 

 

You know we could have this all packed up tonight."  Greta remarked, "well may-be."  Ivy replied.  They sat quietly, sorting.   Listening to the classical station, in the background, they worked until well into the night.  "I didn't know you like classical music."   "Really?" Gretta said questioningly.   " we are almost done." Ivy said"how about another cup of tea and we can leave in the morning?"   
As they walked toward the kitchen the aroma of Earl Grey hung in the air.  Gretta flip the switch, there on the table were 3 steaming teacups.  

.

 

 

 

HALLOWEEN TURNIPS

 

  Doubtless, well at least i am. you have heard that the original Jack-O-Lanterns were made using turnips or rutabagas, that was before pumpkins were brought back from the Americas.   The richness of factual Halloween history ! 

 

 

 

Carolyn Emerick - Völkisch Folklorist

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Trick or Treat - British or American

I have seen some Brits complaining about "American" trick or treating, happens every year. Many customs, practices, words, phrases, songs, etc, left Britain with Scots-Irish who came to America. Sometimes the custom was preserved as is, and sometimes it evolved. Then when it was reintroduced after it had died out in Britain, the people there no longer recognized the practice.

Trick or treat, though perhaps not under that name, is indeed originally British. Scots-Irish families often came to America due to necessity (famine, highland clearances, etc), but they desperately missed their homeland and the people they left behind. So they kept their customs and cultural identity strong as it was passed down through their families. Europeans often mock Americans for saying "I'm part Irish" or whatever their heritage is. Europeans usually shoot back "um, no you're not, you're American." They don't understand the idea of family cultural identity apart from national identity unless their country has a history of large waves of immigration.

I previously wrote an article on Hop-tu-Naa, which is Halloween on the Isle of Man. The Isle of Man has been traditionally somewhat cut off from trends in the rest of Great Britain before the age of mass media and the Internet made contact easier and cheaper. Therefore their old customs stayed alive even when they died out in the rest of Britain. And, they were also separated from incoming new trends, such as American customs.

Children on the Isle of Man have been participating in going door to door asking for treats with their Jack-o-lanterns right along back to ancient times! It died out in the rest of Britain, but not the Isle of Man! Now it's come back, and (sorry) ignorant people are calling it American! (I do not intend the word ignorant as insulting, but simply that people do not have this knowledge of their own cultural heritage).

It makes me saddened and honestly a bit upset to see British people using "American" as a negative connotation and rejecting their own heritage come home because it took a detour in the U.S. It also saddens me because I love culture, history, and believe folk customs are hugely important to social identity, and in America trick-or-treat is dying out due to irrational overly fearful helicopter parents.

So, please, my British friends, do not hate "American" Halloween customs! Realize that it comes from our SHARED heritage! It lived on because families who were forced to leave their homes made an effort to keep culture alive in a new land!

For more on Manx Hop-tu-Naa, please read my article here:

http://carolynemerick.hubpages.com/.../Hop-tu-Naa...

Other old European Pagan connections:

The custom of going around through town asking for food or beverage was tied to MANY of the old Pagan high days. In an effort of intense research, I discovered that Trick-or-Treat is related to Christmas Caroling. I also discovered that going around town asking for food and threatening to "curse" any who refused also occurred at Candlemas.

To read about the ancient pagan roots of Christmas Caroling, read my article The Hidden History of Christmas Carols. I promise you will NOT find this information anywhere else! (Unless they stole it from me, people are stealing my research lately)

https://www.academia.edu/.../The_Hidden_History_of..