hat can be more exciting than
the beginning of Autumn, and what can be more fun than Halloween?
C
ertainly Middle Earth is full of monsters, demons, goblins,
undead spirits, barrow wights, ghosts, and many other dreadful
and frightening things. So before we go any further, let’s take
a look at what Halloween is - and what it isn’t.
In the Shire, “Halloween”, which we call Trolling Day or
Stone-Turning Day, is a pleasant harvest festival when pumpkins,
apples, and corn are ripe and ready to pick. Autumn leaves are
falling in bright, beautiful piles of gorgeous color, and
kitchens begin to fill up with the wonderful aromas of hot
apple pies and corn fritters, pumpkin pies, pumpkin soup,
ginger and nutmeg and other things so delicious that my tummy
rumbles even as I think about them. The last day of September
is the start of a six week Autumn festival that is looked
forward to by every Hobbit of all ages.
When the leaves are at their brightest, and the moon is round
and full, we begin the time of parties and fairs with Trolling
Day. Hobbit children dress up in costumes, running from Hole to
Hole, gathering a harvest of treats and mathoms, crying out,
“Treats for the Trolls!” And they sometimes even dress like
little trolls--as well as pumpkins, corn cobs, forest animals,
haystacks, leaf piles, and sometimes even spookier things like
wights and goblins and the scary trees of the Old Forest.
Their baskets are always filled to overflowing with good things
to eat and lots of small surprises. Many a youngster goes to
bed with a tummy ache, too.
Trolling Day is always ended with bonfires and bedtime stories,
and of course with the very special Stone-Turning Festival that
takes place at the Three-Farthing Stone. We even have a little
story for you to enjoy, all about the adventures of some rather
famous young Hobbits had one year. You may want to visit some
of these frightfully fun websites.
Be sure to click this little picture of the market stall below
if you want to read the story. It's fun.
It is widely agreed that the best trolling Day stories come
from Buckland, which is right next to the spooky Old Forest.
They burn the bonfires all night long, all up and down the
forest borders, because there are so many frightful stories of
monsters and spooks that live there.
As you can see, many of your Halloween traditions are borrowed
from ours--except that your Halloween has a very different
history.
Once upon a time, when the Celtic tribes lived in Europe,
what you would call October 31 was the eve of the new year. The
Celts believed that this was the night that all "magical"
things came out of hiding--such as faeries, goblins, ghosts,
demons, vampires and werewolves. It was a dreadful night of
fear when people hid behind closed doors. In the morning, they
would inspect the burial mounds to make sure that the dead were
still where they ought to be.
When the Catholic Church came to Celtic lands, they could
not completely stamp out these ancient practices, so they
simply decided to call the first morning of the new year "All
Saint’s Day" (or All Souls’ Day) and encouraged people to pay
homage to their dead friends and relatives instead of
inspecting the graves for signs of the supernatural. The dark
night before became “All Hallow’s Eve” to make people feel as
if the spooky night was hallowed, or made holy, and therefore
they would be safe indoors.
BUT...
This is the Shire, and not the world that you live in. We
Hobbits have long loved this wonderful holiday, and we celebrate
it every year, without fail.
The Shire is beautiful at this time of year.
Here are some of the lovely scenes you will see if you explore.
These peaceful walkways can be found all over the "Woody End" of the Shire.
There is an Elven quality about this grove.
Doesn't this make you love Autumn?
This lovely pathway is in Buckland.
This beautiful bridge crosses a little creek in the
East Farthing.
This is on farmland owned by the Took family.
This splendid red tree grows right here in Frogmorton.
And of course, this is sunrise, the morning
after the big festival.
These spooky pumpkins were carved
at the most recent Stone-Turning Festival,
by some eager young Trollers.
See if you can guess which one was the winner.
This one was carved by Froggy Proudfoot
This one was carved by Arlo Brickle
This pumpkin ate too much candy.
This one was carved by my own son.
This one was carved by my neighbor's children.
This one was taken over by a cat!
These pumpkins were carved by each member of the Tunnelly family.
This is how they looked lit up at night!
Here are some of the latest pumpkins to be found at other
Stone-Turning festivals. Definetly interesting.
This one was carved by a local fisher-hobbit
This one was carved by a very smart hobbit-lass
This one was carved by one of the Bracegirdle lads.
This one sat in the fridge too long
No comment on this one!
Looks like someone's lunch, I think.
Oh my, this one looks ferocious!
This one is supposed to make us laugh - I hope..
This one is very sweet, guarding a hobbit's door.
This pumpkin is not sweet at all!
And this is where most of the pumpkins come from.
Hobbits just love pumpkins, as you can see.
A delightful Autumn Puzzle for you to try.
...And a very good Game you can play, too.
You may want to visit some of these frightfully fun websites.
THE REAL ADDAMS FAMILY: Who can be more halloweeny
than the famous Addams family? Learn all about the TV show,
the movies, and the great cartoonist who created them
60 years ago, Charles Addams.
THE SHADOWLANDS: A more serious side to the paranormal,
loaded with hundreds of ghopst stories, even helps you learn
to be a ghost hunter or ghostbuster.
DRACULA'S HOMEPAGE: The Prince of Transylvania himself!
Here is a modern day tour of his castle in the Borgo Pass.
Halloween would not be the same without the Master of the Night.
THE DARKSIDE OF CLOWNS: Killer clowns, man-eating clowns,
fiendish alien clowsn, and nightmare clowns. If you belong to this
small group of people who find clowns the scariest thing since
Dracula, you'll love this!
HALLOWEEN WHIPNET: Nice site with Halloween history,
projects, and other things of halloween interest.
GHOST STORIES: 560 ghost stories from haunted New
Orleans and the surrounding area. Lots and lots of good,
spooky stuff to entertain you on dark nights.
OLD WIVES TALES: The return of a great favorite.
Full of folk tales, ghost stories, and fun.
BLUE LIPS: A truly comprehensive online halloween
store. Has everything, including chocolate brains.
365 HALLOWEEN: This has got to be the coolest, most
useful Halloween website online. It has crafts, costumes,
recipes, great ideas of every description, and something new
for every single day of the year. This is a must-visit!
A CAT NAMED HALLOWEEN: This site is absolutely precious,
especially if you are a cat lover!
THE BONE GARDEN ESTATE: Visit this virtual haunted house.
HALLOWEEN GHOST STORIES: What would halloween be
without 'em? A great collection of...everything.
SLEEPY HOLLOW: Before there were Nazgul, there was the
Horseman. This is the ultimate Headless website.
SPOOKMASTER PUMPKIN CARVING: Excellent pumpkin carving
patterns and techniques.
AUTUMN COLORS: Nice site showing the science of how
autumn leaves turn color.
AUTUMN LEAF SCRAPBOOK: Charming site for everything
autumn.
HALLOWEEN IS HERE: A delightful source of history &
customs. Visit their haunted house and enroll in the "Ghoul
School".
HALLOWEEN CENTRAL: Classic halloween website of online
resources. An invaluable tool
Here is a forest of Halloween Ents.
I don’t know if I would want to meet up with them
on Stone-Turning night, would you?
But they say that the Old Forest is especially creepy
on the night that Hobbits go trolling...
...and we still have to pass through the Forest
to reach all the treats that are in store.
Maybe if you gently click on the trees above,
they will let you pass - but beware...
The Old Forest is full of scary things!
All this month I shall be doing my own Trolling,
so please be sure to click the jolly pumpkin above
and find your own Treat!
...Daisy
Click this Hobbit-in-the-pumpkin and get a treat.
If you've enjoyed this site so far, VOTE
for it here:
hat can be more exciting than
the beginning of Autumn, and what can be more fun than Halloween?
