I love Autumn. It is my favourite of all the seasons. It's not yet extremely cold, but there is a slight nip in the air. The air smells of burning wood and leaves. And the colours of the trees are extraordinary.
Halloween is also one of my favourite celebrations, followed by Christmas. Halloween or All Hallows' Eve is celebrated in many countries on the evening of 31st of October, just before All Hallows' Day. It is considered partly an old Celtic holiday called Samhain. The days are growing smaller and the nights longer. At Samhain, the Goddess becomes the Crone or wise one and the God lies in her womb waiting for the time of his rebirth at Yule.
Samhain is also the Celtic New Year and at this time it is believed that the connection between the living and dead is very strong. The veil between the worlds is thinning, and goblins, ghouls and witches roam free in our world.
Since coming to the UK it is only in the last 3 years that I have actually celebrated Halloween properly. Usually, I always used to work Halloween day/night, so didn't really have the time to celebrate as I should. A few years back, working at English Heritage we were also allowed to dress up for Halloween. I have been a witch, a creepy doll, a strange cat and a weird vampire.
Two years ago, I finally got one of my most ardent wishes come true, and went to Hogwarts at Harry Potter Studios London, for Halloween.
This year was a distinct Halloween as I celebrated 10 years of being in the UK, so I decided to make this Halloween extra special. There was a wonderfully cute pumpkin I carved myself, and named him Jack, loads of scary movies, and lots of food and sweets.
I made some wonderful fresh pumpkin seed bread with pumpkin cream soup and, a favourite in our household, a Romanian apple pie.
Apple pie didn't last very long. I think it lasted maybe until the next day in the afternoon. The bread was eaten that day, just the soup survived two more days.
If you are interested in the recipes, they are just below. It's the first time I made this type of bread and it came out really yummy.
The pumpkin cream soup is an Austrian recipe, from a book called Figgemüller. It is really easy to make, and absolutely wonderful in taste.
The pie is something my mom used to make often. In our house it wouldn't really last a day. I love the combination of apples and cinammon. The house smells lovely and the man always knows what I am making and comes out of his room in search of treats.
This Halloween has been a blast and am excited to see what next Halloween brings.
Comments