HOW TO PLAN HALLOWE'EN FOR CHILDREN Bloomsbury Time Bank

How to Plan A Hallowe'en Celebration
in a Time Bank Community Centre
or Residential Building




history of Hallowe'en
recipes for fresh pumpkin
notice for communal notice board

MODEL Purple Poets at the   West Euston Family Party  H-Pod, Cumberland Market 27.10.2009 from 2p.m. to 4 p.m. (co-ordinators: Urmi and Josie, Saede, Kim) .............................................................................. GAMES FOR SMALL CHILDREN Pin the Nose on the Jack O' Lantern Musical Chairs Pass the Parcel Hunter and Hunted The Hallowe'en Raffle

Some communal celebrations, like Christmas and Hallowe'en, are done for the sake of small children. In large urban areas, particularly neighbourhoods which are a high risk area, it is often best if small children go trick-or-treating within their own building and with a parent or older  siblings or neighbours' children to take them around. The advantage to living in a large building is that they will be visiting neighbours rather than strangers.

The Week-end Before Hallowe'en:

If you see small pumpkins for sale,  preferably at a farmers' market or small greengrocer, buy them (try to buy enough for every flat that has children in your building, and you can include recipes, so the families can try the recipes together).  If you forget to buy pumpkins beforehand, it will mean a six hour search on Hallowe'en afternoon. Since pumpkins keep well, it saves you time to buy them the week before.

Post a notice on your communal notice board, preferably with an orange jack-o-lantern drawing, to draw attention to it.

Leave space for people to add their own flat numbers and put at least two flats down, in handwriting, to encourage others to join in.

The Afternoon of October 31st (Hallowe'en)

Have a ring around as well, to ask people if they would be willing to hand out treats for Hallowe'en. When you have gathered the list of flats, on the afternoon of Hallowe'en, print or write them up officially (using a scary font such as "Algerian" ).

You can also note any time limits on some of the flats (before six, if they will be out after six, for instance).

This will be the first page of a Hallowe'en booklet you will be giving to the flats that have children. You will be making several copies of this booklet - make as many copies as you have flats of children,  plus one for the communal notice board, so that the children and their friends (or parents) will know which flats to go to when they go trick-or-treating.

As well as the copy of which flats are giving out treats, include a short essay on  the history of Hallowe'en, so that children can understand why they dress up, why they get candy and why they draw faces on pumpkins for Hallowe'en.

Also include  recipes for cooking fresh pumpkin, so that the parents can have fun cooking the pumpkin with their children after Hallowe'en is over.

If you have time, include a sheet of A4 orange paper or tissue paper so that the children can cut out a Jack-o-Lantern for their windows as well, if they wish (or include instructions on how to make a Hallowe'en Mask).

Staple all these papers together  to form an A4 size booklet and leave one pumpkin on top of this outside the door of each child's flat around 2 in the afternoon, so that they discover the pumpkin by themselves .(If their parents have already bought them a pumpkin, one more won't make any difference, but since many parents forget about Hallowe'en until it happens, by the time they remember, all the pumpkins will have been sold.)

Don't leave candles with the pumpkins. Every small newsagent sells candles  so they are readily available and it is important that each parent decide whether the child is to have a Jack-o-Lantern with a candle or just draw the face onto the pumpkin.

If you have an active community, you might want to have someone volunteer to have the children over to their flat for a party in the evening, after trick-or-treating is done, so that the childrens' parents can have a brief social evening with the other adults of the building.

WHY HALLOWE'EN?  Hallowe'en (October 31st) is usually considered a North American holiday but it is part of an older Celtic holiday, called Samhaim (pronounced SAWvane or SAWwin). Samhaim is a gaelic word which means 'summer's end.' For Europeans, October 31st was then end of summer and the beginning of the cold months to come. The last crops were stored and animals slaughtered at this time so that their meat could be preserved for winter. So at its simplest level, October 31st is an end-of-harvest celebration, celebrated with fairs, feasts and festivals.

"Hallow" means 'holy' (as in: 'hallowed be thy name' from the Lord's Prayer). Knowing that, you can see that Hallowe'en  means  Holy Evening  (e'en is an abbreviation of evening). All Saints Day is celebrated on November 1st, so Hallowe'en is the evening before All Saints Day (the way Christmas Eve is the evening before Christmas Day).  Other names for this holiday include All Hallows Eve, Hallowmass , All Soul's Night (November 1st) and The Day of the Dead  (Mexico's Day of the Dead  festival is world-famous). Since ancient times, people in Ireland, Scotland and England have celebrated October 31st as not only the day of the dead, but also the day that marks the new year.This is a more sensible time to celebrate the new year, if you live in an agricultural community, because it is the end of the summer and the harvest.

October 31st falls exactly between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice and the Celts believed that the 'veil between the worlds' was at its thinnest on that day and that the dead could be welcomed back, briefly, to feast with their loved ones.  Some people put out food for their dead ancestors, some people thought they would be able to talk with them as well. Because it was the Celtic New Year, they also believed that it was also easier to tell the future on that day. Things we now think of as 'games'  at Hallowe'en, such as bobbing for apples, roasting nuts and baking cakes which have lucky charms  or 'fortunes' in them are what remains of the Celtic ways of telling fortunes.

Samhaim was a spiritual celebration for the Celts as well as an agricultural festival. Pagan holidays were disapproved of by The Christian Church and people who continued their old traditions were treated as sorcerers . The rituals the Celts used to practise their Old Religion were considered evil black magic and the beloved ancestors that people worshipped and welcomed with joy were turned into scary 'ghosts' and 'spooks.'  Legends and fairy tales about ugly witches and black cats (their familiars), horrible ghosts and goblins, blood-sucking bats and hags flying on broomsticks were told to frighten people into giving up their beliefs.

WHY JACK-O-LANTERNS?  'Jack-o-Lantern' means 'Jack of the Lantern.'  (jack o'lantern).  The name Jack is used for various sprites and spirits in Celtic legend (for instance, although 'Jack Frost' is a  twentieth century phrase, the man or boy enclosed in a framework covered with leaves in May-day sports is called 'Jack-in-the-Green' ).  Hollowed out pumpkins and turnips were used as make-shift lanterns during  Celtic harvest festivals. At some point, someone may have notice the similarity between the shape of a pumpkin and the shape of a head and decided to carve a face or 'spirit' so that the flickering light from the candle in the hollowed out pumpkin resembled a face. Harvest bonfire celebrations lasted all night and because they had allowed their hearth fires to go out,  people frequently lit their household fires again from the 'Jack-O-Lantern' in the morning. The Jack-o-Lantern is considered good luck because it was good luck that you had something to relight your hearth fire from in the morning.   WHY COSTUMES?  The wearing of costumes is a very old custom. People would dress up as ghosts to escort the spirits of the dead to the outskirts of the village at the end of the night's celebration. WHY CANDY?  There is an old  Scottish and Irish tradition of going door to door asking for donations of money or food for the New Year's feast, which seems to have been carried over to Hallowe'en as well. WHY TRICK-OR-TREAT?  In Scotland, New Years Day (Hogmanay) is celebrated on January 1st. There are records of things which seem like 'trick or treat' customs associated with this festival. Those who gave their gifts from their hearts were blessed, whilst those who did not give as generously as they should have done were cursed.

Hallowe'en is still a spiritual festival for those who follow the Pagan Religion and like Christmas, it is always important to remember it is also a time for reflection as well as fun. Please remember to honour The Dead, even in the middle of all the joy, laughter and festivity.  

ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

Scrape the seeds from the pumpkin and pull off the membrane from the seeds and discard it. Melt a tablespoon of butter or oil for every cup of seeds and mix thoroughly. Spinkike with salt to taste. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet. You can either use the slow method or fast method to roast the seeds. Shake the pan every so often to prevent the seeds from becoming too brown.

SLOW METHOD

250-degree F oven for 60 -90 minutes

FAST METHOD:

317-degree F oven for 15-20 minutes

Store in a covered container in the refrigerator.

KATJA'S 20-minutes-ready-to-eat-gingery-pumpkin-soup

1 middle-sized hokaido pumpkin, washed but not peeled, cut in 3 cm-pieces
some carrots, cut into pieces
some parsley root (preferably) or a bit of chunky white celery, cut into pieces
two onions cut in big pieces
a good piece (probably 8 cm) of fresh ginger, chopped

Stir all of this in a little bit of olive oil to allow the ginger to spread its flavour,
then add water (probably 1 to 1,5 litres) and the necessary amount of dry vegetable stock,
cook until veggies are soft, than "souplify" with a hand-held-blender (watch your hands, arms and face while doing this, the soup-material is VERY hot - somehow pumpkin is very good at storing heat).

Then add some milk, honey (about one big tsp), lemon-juice and pepper to taste. If you would like a more gingery taste, you can add some ground dry ginger. I do not bother with sieving. It's a nice, nourishing orange delight as it is!

2oz  finely grated carrot

6 oz. finely grated pumpkin chunks

2 eggs

4 oz / 100 g raw brown sugar

3 fluid oz / 75 ml oil

4 oz / 100g wholemeal self-raising flour

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp freshly ground salt

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 oz / 50 g desicated coconut

2 oz / 50 g raisins

Whisk eggs and sugar together until thick and creammy, whisk oil in slowly, then add remaining ingredients and mix to evenly combine. Spoon into greased base-lined 7 inch square tin and level surface. Bake 20 - 25 minutes 190 C/ 375 F Gas 5 until firm to touch and golden brown. Cool on wire tray. Spread with orange icing when cold

ORANGE ICING:

1/2 oz butter beaten together with 3 oz pale sugar and orange rind grated. Sprinkle with walnuts.

H-Pod, Cumberland Market
Hallowe'en Party
organisers: Urmi, Josie, Saede, Kim
27.10.2009
2 - 4 p.m.

REGISTRATION:
Give each child a triangle which will be used  in the first game,  as they come in, and ask the children to write their own names on the triangle. (and ask for everyone's name for the registration list).  Once they have filled in their triangle, give them a second name tag (either another  triangle or a pumpkin) to fill in, and put on, so everyone can see everyone else's name. Give each child a raffle ticket, for the raffle. Give the adults recipes for pumpkins and an information sheet about Hallowe'en, explaining the history, the custom, etc.



GAMES

PIN THE NOSE ON THE JACK O' LANTERN
(a game for small children)

needed:
Either a large picture of a Jack o'Lantern pumpkin
OR
paper for the children to draw a large pumpkin
orange crayons or markers or orange paper
black marker

blue-tac or double sided tape to stick each triangle nose on pumpkin

Have the children make a paper pumpkin for the wall,  and have them draw the eyes, mouth and pumpkin stem, but without the nose.
Make a black bordered orange triangle nose  for each child, and attach some blue tac to the back of it (or sticky-back paper). Give each child a triangle 'nose' with the name written on each.

Then blindfold each child in turn, spin them round, and then point them in the right direction and have each child try to 'pin the nose on the Jack O' Lantern.  Put all the triangle noses up on the wall, as each child has a turn, with the nose that was closest  the right position on top. You need the name of each child on each triangle, so you can award the prize to that child.

MUSICAL CHAIRS

If you have many children, do the game in several sessions (7 children is the maximum number).

Seven children, Six chairs. While the music plays, the children march around the chairs.  When the music stops, each child tries to sit on a chair. One child to a chair. The child who doesn't have a chair goes out. A chair is taken away. remind the children there are 6 children and 5 chairs, and the children march again to the music, and continue. Finally, there will be only one chair, and when the music stops you will have one winner.

PASS THE PARCEL(S)

If you are expecting more than 7 children, prepare two parcels to circulate at the same time.

To Prepare the Parcel. Wrap your small gift (we used a Hallow-en Mask for each parcel) in brightly coloured paper, with a sweetie. Then wrap the brightly coloured parcel in newapaper, and include a sweetie. Wrap the parcel again and include a sweetie. Carry on wrapping, so that every unwrapping gives the child a sweetie prize.


While the music plays, the children pass the parcel. When the music stops, the child who is holding the parcel unwraps one layer. The game continues until all the layers of the parcels have been unwrapped.

This game needs several children, two blindfolds, and absolute silence.

Have one child be a hunter and one be a hunted. The rest of the children join hands and form a large circle. The hunter and hunted are blindfolded and placed inside the circle. Then the hunter tried to find the hunted, by sound alone. When either hunter or hunted reach the circle, they are gently pushed back into the circle by the other children. the game ends when the hunter touches the hunted.

This is an educational site.
© resides with the author. All rights reserved.

Kim Morrissey.
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please contact the  Purple Poets
poets AT purplepoets.com