Celtic Attic Halloween Newsletter Update Not sure what is new at the Attic? Visit our new product page! We will be adding all the new ornaments, holiday items and our new line of jewelry and home décor to these pages in the next two weeks. We are in full swing for the upcoming holidays! Join us online or in the store in downtown Bremerton WA. Don’t want to head downtown, we will be in a craft store in the Kitsap Mall for the entire holiday season – Oct. 18th thru Jan. 15th. Join us for some fun shopping, celtic life path coaching (by yours truly) and some great crafts, products, food & entertainment at the store. Want a great savings on your order? Use code Tenp to get 10 percent off your order now at the Celtic Attic… You can also use 5off if you want to get $5 off your $25 or more order. Free gift with every order, we have some great free goodies to add to your order, so shop now and get your surprise free gift. Tasty Foods & More Irish Potato Dumplings 4 tablespoons minced salt pork 2 tablespoons onion 2 cups mashed potatoes 1 egg & 1 egg yolk Salt & fresh ground pepper Dash of ground cloves 1 cup sifted flour Brown onion & pork Combine potatoes, eggs & seasons. Mix in flour & blend. Warp a little pork on onion center at each potato ball size of a walnut Roll balls in seasoned flour. Drop in rapidly boiling water. Cook 10-12 minutes & serves with minced parsley Irish Wit & Whimsy – All about Halloween The ancient Celts celebrated Halloween as Samhain, All Hallowtide - meaning The Feast of the Dead, when the dead revisited the mortal world. The celebration of this event marked the end of Summer and the start of the Winter months. During the eighth century the Catholic Church designated the first day of November as All Saints Day (All Hallows) - a day of commemoration for all of those Saints that did not have a specific day of remembrance. The night before was known as All Hallows Eve which, over time, became known as Halloween. There are many Irish Halloween Traditions: The Barnbrack Cake: The traditional Halloween cake in Ireland is the barnbrack which is a kind of fruit bread and will certainly evoke great memories among those who grew up in Irish households in the 60s, 70s and even the 80s. Each member of the family was given a slice of the cake. Great interest is taken in the outcome as there is a piece of rag, a coin and a ring to be found - watch your teeth! If you get the rag then your financial future is doubtful. If you get the coin then you can look forward to a prosperous year. Getting the ring is a sure sign of impending romance or continued happiness. Colcannon for Dinner: Boiled Potato, Curly Kale (a cabbage) and raw Onions are provided as the traditional Irish Halloween dinner. Clean coins are wrapped in baking paper and placed in the potato for children to find and keep. The Pumpkin: The tradition of Carving Pumpkins dates back to the eighteenth century and to an Irish blacksmith named Jack who colluded with the Devil and was denied entry to Heaven. He was condemned to wander the earth but asked the Devil for some light. He was given a burning coal ember which he placed inside a turnip that he had hollowed out. Thus, the tradition of Jack OLanterns were born - the bearer being the wandering blacksmith - a damned soul. Villagers in Ireland hoped that the lantern in their window would keep the wanderer away. When the Irish emigrated in their millions to America there were not many turnips to be had so pumpkins were used instead. Celtic Candy Quotes Anti-Fairy Precautions: Fairies and goblins try to collect as many souls as they can at Halloween but if they met a person who threw the dust from under their feet at the Fairy then they would be obliged to release any souls that they held captive. Always plant Rosemary at your Garden Gate for good luck - from the movie Practical Magic Plant Mint at your home’s entry points to keep the ants at bay, the smell causes confusion and they just scurry away. Just a little bit about Ireland…. BRAM STOKER - THE IRISH CREATOR OF DRACULA ============================================ It is only quite recently that the little know fact that the creator of perhaps the worlds most famous villain was an Irishman from Clontarf in Dublin. In 1847 Bram Stoker was born to Dubliner Abraham Stoker and Donegal native Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornley. He was the third of seven children and was bed-ridden for much of his first seven years, a period that certainly gave him much opportunity for reflection and creative thought: I was naturally thoughtful, and the leisure of long illness gave opportunity for many thoughts which were fruitful according to their kind in later years. Having recovered from his ill-health he went on to excel as an athlete at Trinity College from where he graduated with honours in the field of Mathematics in the year 1870. As president of the University Philosophical Society his first paper was on Sensationalism in Fiction and Society. He became the Theatre critic for the Dublin newspaper The Evening Mail, which was co-owned by the famed author of many Gothic tales, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, and who was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century. Bram Stoker married Dubliner Florence Balcombe in 1878, the lady having previously been courted by Oscar Wilde. Stoker knew Oscar Wilde from his College days and even visited the exiled author on the continent after his release from prison. The family moved to London where Stoker became manager of the Lyceum Theatre, a position he held for 27 years. The Theatre was most associated with Henry Irving who was a very famous actor of the classical variety. Stoker was very active in the literary and artistic community in London at the time, meeting with the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to whom he was distantly related. But it was to Irving that Stoker was devoted and it is thought that it is upon this man that he based his most famous literary creation, and perhaps the greatest villain the world has ever known: Count Dracula. Stoker travelled the world with the now internationally famous acting company and even attended the White House with Irving, meeting Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, such was his employers fame. His experience as a newspaper writer stood him in good stead when he began his work on Dracula. Stoker was already a published writer when he began researching ancient stories about Vampires. The style of the book is very much in keeping with his previous experience as a news reporter with diary entries, newspaper clippings and telegrams all adding to a sense of realism. The fact that there were so many contributors within the story added to the sense of reality. Stoker is also said to have been inspired in part by a visit to St. Michans Church in Dublin, the vaults of which contain many mummified remains. [Bela Lugosi as Dracula] The original 541 page Dracula manuscript from the year 1897 had been thought to be lost forever but, like the subject of the novel it too had to make an epic journey. From Transylvania to Pennsylvania, the US State that is home to many a desperado in hideaways like Allenport, Seneca and Doylestown, the manuscript remained hidden for decades before being amazingly uncovered in a barn there in the early 1980s. The original title of the novel The Un-Dead was clearly marked on it. It was later bought by the co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen. It was in London in the year 1912 that Bram Stoker died. While well regarded as a ghost-writer in the Victorian age it was not until the first cinematic production of a vampire in 1922 that his legacy was set forever. Stokers widow actually sued the German film-makers who produced Nosferatu, the first vampire movie with Count Orlock being substituted for Count Dracula in an attempt to breach the copyright. She won the case in 1925. The first authorized version of the story was released in 1931 with Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula and caused a sensation. Newspapers reported that members of the audiences fainted in shock at the horror on screen! The film became a box office smash and is regarded as the first full length horror movie. It is estimated that there have been at least 200 movies featuring Dracula while a vampire subculture has blossomed among young people in particular, fuelled by countless television and silver screen productions. In the last decade a fuller appreciation of the work and impact of Bram Stoker has occurred in Ireland and beyond with Stoker set to take his place among the lauded pantheon of great Irish writers. Contact Information 360-531-1107 celticattic acelticcalling vikingattic cafepress/celticatticart https://twitter/celticattic Celtic Attic Facebook Celtic Attic Facebook Fan Page - Like Us!
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 22:01:49 +0000
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