Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 113
Halloween
Hello Everyone
You may not know this, but in the era before 1752, the first day of the year was not 1st January but 25th March. The beginning of spring was the beginning of the year.
ln ancient times (before the Mediaeval Era), the New Year started on 1st November and the Pagan festival to celebrate the New Year was called Samhain (pronounced Sow-een). lt is now more commonly called Halloween. This Celtic word meant ‘summer’s end’.
This was the time when summer ended and winter began and it was thought to have been a special and magical time. When the transfer took place it opened the door for spirits, ghosts and fairies to slip through into the world of humans.
This also happened on 1st May when the winter turned into summer. This festival was called Beltane and is now called May Day.
A lot of people nowadays have costume parties at Halloween when they like to dress up in disguises. Are they pretending to be ghouls and ghosts – or are they hiding from them?
lt was important to these ancient people to think about and honour their ancestors at this time. They believed on this night the veil between the world of nature and the world of spirit became so thin that it was possible for the ghosts and spirits to come into the world of humans – and then cause havoc if they wanted to.
This is where the idea of trick or treat came from and originated in Scotland and lreland where it is called guising.
Bill and Bob love Halloween because it is so spooky and they celebrate it by carving out pumpkin, swede or turnip heads. They also like apple bobbing. But most of all they like telling ghost stories.
Pumpkins are easier to hollow out than turnips, but were not available in Britain until recent decades.
These lantern heads were traditionally left at the front door to ward off any evil spirits that walked around that night. lt is a similar idea to the gargoyles that were later put high up on church walls.
Halloween is popular in all the English speaking countries but not so much in Europe.
Personally, l think it is always a nice thing for children to have something to enjoy! 
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Thank you!
And see you again next Fun Friday!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bill: When do ghosts usually appear?
Bob: l don’t know. When do ghosts usually appear?
Bill: Just before somebody screams!
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
Picture Gallery
Modern day Witches
Maypole dancing at Beltane
A church gargoyle
Modern day Halloween symbols
Besoms are associated with witches
Samhain means summer’s end
Halloween is an autumn festival
Bill and Bob took this Halloween picture in 2014 – the hottest ever Halloween
Sometimes ghosts are captured on camera
Orbs are said to be the first signs of the manifestation of a ghost –
this one is hovering above the floor between the notice and the box
(There are many ghosts at Hampton Court Palace they say)
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
Bill and Bob have so many Halloween jokes that they asked for another slot on the News Desk as well this week so that they could tell you even more jokes than usual.
Of course, I had to give in to them.
Here are some of them:-
What is a vampire’s favourite dance?
The fangdango
How do vampires cross the sea?
By using blood vessels
What did the witch say to the zombie?
Get a life!
Why is Dracula so thin?
Because he eats necks to nothing
Do you know who drives ghost trains?
A skeleton crew
Who was the best dancer at the Halloween party?
The boogieman
What was the ghost doing at the party?
He was having a wail of a time!
Have you heard there is a new book out called Ghost Hunting by Count Meout. But I don’t think it is as good as The Haunted House by Hugo First orThere’s a Ghost in my House by Olive N Fear.
And
Did you hear about the monster who sent his photo to a lonely hearts club and they sent it back – they said they weren’t that lonely!
If you get to the supermarket and there are no pumpkins left for your Halloween party; I have seen it happen – don’t panic!
You can draw faces on satsumas or oranges or ornamental gourds or swedes or turnips using black felt tip pen.
You could even make some pumpkin cup cakes.
November, at the beginning of winter, was once the beginning of the year, then several hundred years ago, March, at the beginning of the spring, was the first month of the year, and now it is January.
At the beginning of this year, I made a New Year’s Resolution to keep writing my blog for all the little (and big) children who wanted to read it.
What was your resolution? Have you kept it?
Writing my blog
And before l leave you, l should say
Happy Easter to all my readers
and give you a word of advice –
don’t eat all your chocolate eggs in one go!
And l shall end the News Desk this week with one last joke – this time an Easter joke –
Why do we paint Easter eggs?
Because they are too difficult to wallpaper!
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Crafty Tip
lf you want to draw a really neat face on your pumpkin, you can use a stencil to draw on the skin before you start cutting. (See Blog Post 97)
Get an adult to cut the top off the pumpkin so that you have a hole big enough to get your arm into it.
Scoop out the flesh and put it into a bowl so that you can use it to make a pumpkin soup or pie or something like that.
Draw the face on the pumpkin with a soft pencil and when you are happy with it go over it in felt tip pen.
Get an adult to cut the face for you and let them deal with the candle or night light you want put inside – or you could use a battery powered light.
No, not like that!
BLOW MY FOGHORN!!!
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lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE A WARM WlNTER OUTFlT
FOR YOUR TWELVE lNCH DOLL
This is a lovely warm outfit for when those cold nights begin to draw in.
*Slip the first stitch of every row instead of knitting it for a smoother edge unless it is on an increasing or decreasing row.
DRESS FRONT AND BACK (KNIT 2)
Using 3½mm knitting needles and dk yarn cast on 20 stitches
Garter stitch 2 rows
Change to 4mm knitting needles
Knit 40 rows in stocking stitch
Cast off 4 stitches in the next 2 rows of stocking stitch
Change to 3½mm knitting needles
K3 p2 k2 p2 k3
P3 k2 p2 k2 p3
Repeat the last 2 rows 4 times
Cast off loosely rib-wise
SLEEVES (KNIT 2)
Using 3½mm knitting needles and dk yarn cast on 16 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Change to 4mm knitting needles
Knit 20 rows of stocking stitch
Cast off loosely
TO MAKE UP
With right sides together sew along the sides of the cowl neck and shoulder seams.
Sew along the tops of the sleeves attaching them to the body.
Sew under arm and side seams.
The dress should pull over the doll’s head.
LEGWARMERS (KNIT 2)
Using 3½mm knitting needles and dk yarn cast on 8 stitches
Knit 2 rows of 1 x 1 rib
Change to 4mm knitting needles
Casting on 1 stitch at each end of the next row (10sts) –
Knit 16 rows of stocking stitch
Change to 3½mm knitting needles
Knit 2 rows of 1 x 1 rib
Cast off
Sew up back seam and neaten loose ends of yarn
SCARF (KNIT 1)
Using 3¼mm knitting needles and 4ply yarn cast on 70 stitches
Knit 1 row, purl 1 row, purl 1 row, knit 1 row
Repeat these last 4 rows once
Knit 1 row, purl 1 row
Cast off purl-wise
Run the ends of the yarn through the ends of the scarf to make them neater and sturdier.
If you want to, you can pull the ends in to scrunch them up and attach bobbles to decorate.
HAT (KNIT 2)
Using 3¼mm knitting needles and 4ply yarn cast on 18 stitches
Knit 4 rows of 2 x 2 rib
Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch
Decrease 1 stitch at each end of the next 8 rows of stocking stitch (2sts)
Knit 2 together
TO MAKE UP
Sew up side seams leaving two strands to tie under doll’s chin and sew a bobble to the top of the hat.
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
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