Dia De Los Muertos - Day of the Dead

Catrina (above photo) has come to symbolize not only El Día de los Muertos and the Mexican willingness to laugh at death itself, but originally Catrina was an elegant or well-dressed woman, rich person. 

She serves as a reminder that death brings a neutralizing force; everyone is equal in the end. 

Trick or Treat

 

Historians trace trick-or-treating to a few different ancestors. 

One is the Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the transition to the new year, and the end of the harvest and beginning of the winter. 

The ancient Celts believed that during this night, the realms of the living and the dead overlapped and that spirits both good and bad could walk among the living. 

To confuse and ward off the evil spirits, the Celts would sometimes impersonate them with costumes of white clothing and masks or blackface. 

If they encountered a spirit during the feast, the costumed Celts would be mistaken for spirits and left alone.

As Christianity began to influence in the British, the old Pagan customs were Christianized and adapted to help sooth the Celts’ conversion. 

Three Christian holidays—All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, together known as Hallowmas—were placed on the same days as Samhain. 

All Hallow’s Eve eventually got shortened to Hallowe'en, and then Halloween, in conversation.

 

Going around the neighborhood for treats is most likely a form of souling, which started in the Middle Ages, also in the British Isles. 

Soulers, mostly children and some poor adults, would go to door to door during Hallowmas and collect food or money in return for prayers said for the dead on All Souls’ Day. 

A secular version of souling, called guising, eventually sprang up and is first recorded in Scotland in the 19th century. 

Guisers went door to door and earned food treats or money by offering a small performance, like telling a joke or singing a song. 

Some accounts of both these traditions make note of “fantastic costumes” that borrowed both from Samhain and British mummery. 

(They also mention soulers and guisers carrying vegetable lanterns, precursors to the jack-o’-lantern.)

Flying Witch

This flying witch Halloween animatronics will send chills down everyone’s spine during the upcoming Halloween flight.

These flying witches are made form the 3d cardboard cuttings. 

The innovative design and engineering works are done by Otto Dieffenbach. 

The United States based company called Hoosier cutout service create the cutout structure for this remote controlled flying witch. 

They are specialized in 2D and 3D CAD and CNC cutting. 

These cardboard cutouts will make an optical illusion of a real witch flying with her magical broom.

 We want this…

 

Halloween Burger

Halloween Burger is a fun way to celebrate.

Ingredients

4 beef burgers 

4 slices sliced cheese

4 seeded burger buns, halved

2 tbsp mayonnaise

4 romaine lettuce leaves, halved

Tomato slices

4 sliced pickles or 1 large gherkin, sliced lengthways into 4)

2 tbsp ketchup

8 olives stuffed with pimientos

You can add anything you like, we add bacon.

Some people add guacamole.

Method

Preheat the grill and cook the burgers to pack instructions. 

Meanwhile, cut 1 side of each Cheddar slice in a zigzag pattern using the tip of a knife, so you end up with 4 sets of 'teeth'. 

Grill the burger buns, cut-side up, for 1 min until golden.

For each burger, spread the mayonnaise on both halves of the bun. 

On the bottom half, place a piece of lettuce, tomato, then the burger patty. 

Lay a slice of pickle over the top of the patty so it hangs over the edge to resemble a 'tongue'. 

Add a jagged slice of cheese, then carefully squeeze some ketchup over the top of the teeth. 

Position the top half of the bun at a slight angle so you can see the mouth inside.

Skewer the olives on 8 cocktail sticks and push 2 through the top bun to make the eyes. 

Remove the cocktail sticks before eating.

Play around with the ingredients you like and be as creative as you want to be.

If you want to keep it simple, you can do this…