Pumpkins, ghosts, witches and apples

Halloween is fast approaching and ghosts have begun to practice their materializing skills, witches are dusting off their brooms, and vampires are pulling their capes out of mothballs.

Halloween is a tradition that originated with the Celtic festival of Samhain. Many Celts settled in this area of the Carolinas where they continued the old custom of lighting bonfires to ward off ghosts. Samhain marked the end of summer which also meant the end of the bountiful harvest season and the beginning of the cold, dark winter season. But that was more than 2,000 years ago and Halloween has evolved into a fun-filled holiday that no longer resembles the ancient Celtic pagan festival.

Children dress in scary costumes and go from house-to-house-shouting “trick-or-treat.” We would always trick-or-treat in groups and when the homeowner opened the door would chant: “Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat.” I know it sounds silly, but it was Halloween and we could have been possessed by some kind of demon. Everyone knows that if the homeowner didn’t have a treat, the little monsters could “trick” you by soaping your windows, stringing toilet paper on your trees, or make you smell their feet. Fortunately, most homeowners knew the routine and would stock up on candy.

Halloween is a time to tell ghost stories, watch scary movies on TV, and listen to some Halloween music — like “The Monster Mash.” Bobby Pickett’s song, released in 1962, continues to be “a graveyard smash.” Twenty-two years later, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” won eight Grammy awards. There is something thrilling, indeed, about all those zombies dancing in unison.

Grab that bag of Halloween candy and some of those popcorn balls and settle in for a night of terror on TV. Almost every channel is participating in Halloween movie month. One of my favorites is Ghostbusters. “Who you gonna call?” Other movies are just too terrifying to watch, like those “Chucky” doll movies.

There are all kinds of superstitions attached to Halloween. If the flame on a candle turns blue, it means a ghost is nearby. Want to know who your future husband will be? Put a silver coin, along with a sprig of rosemary, under your pillow, on Halloween, and you will dream about your future husband. Be careful not to dream about Frankenstein.

Another superstition declared that if you eat an apple, under an apple tree, at midnight on Halloween, wearing only a bedsheet, you will never catch a cold, however, it is highly likely that you would catch pneumonia. I remember one old lady would always drop a large apple in my bag, crushing fragile cookies and smashing my chocolate bars. It never occurred to me that she was trying to protect me from a cold.

People put jack-o-lanterns on their porch to ward off evil spirits. When your pumpkin is finished protecting you and the ghosts have all disappeared until next Halloween, you can drop your uncarved pumpkin at a wild life animal rescue center in your area. While you’re at it, you can scoop up those sweet-gum balls and acorns, a few leaves in the mix doesn’t matter, the recovering raccoons and other animals like to forage for them.

Americans are planning to celebrate a hauntingly, spooky Halloween this year. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), consumer spending on Halloween items is expected to reach more than $10 billion. It’s time to get those pumpkin lights up and spray the bushes with cobwebs.