General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

The Self Pick fruit & veg shop's pumpkin weighed 58.6 kilo and the winning guess was 60kg. (from FB)

Windy Arbour Farm Shop's pumpkin is being weighed this morning & is then off to Saddleworth to star as the giant lantern at a Halloween party. (@WindyArbourFS)


From Twitter - @Joannechocolat (author):

#TenHalloweenFacts

1. Hallowe'en, or All Hallows Eve, is the night preceding All Hallows (or all Saints) Day, and was for remembering the dead.

2. Before that it was Samhain, the yearly Gaelic festival that marked the start of the dark quarter of the year.

3. All over Europe, this was a night where the dead were believed to return as ghosts and visit the living.

4. Offerings of food (often cakes and sweet things) were often left on doorsteps to placate the hungry ghosts.

5. This later became a tradition during which children would dress as ghosts, and come door to door, asking for sweets.

6. Often, in homes, people would lay place settings for their dead relatives and talk to them throughout the meal.

7. The Church once designated All Hallows Eve as a fast day. This may explain the tradition of vegetarian Hallowe'en foods like: potato cakes; apples; pumpkin; turnip.

8. In England, we made jack o' lanterns, usually from a hollowed-out turnip (swede), to resemble the skulls of the dead.

9. Bonfires were traditionally lit, and songs sung against the coming of the dark nights and the perils of winter.

10. Like many pagan festivals, it has been claimed by the Church, but the darkness remains, and we fight it as we can...