Do You Believe in Ghosts?

 I have found several studies related to surveys asking people whether they believe in ghosts.  It is surprising to me that a large percentage of people do.  What they admit differs by whether they are asked in a well-lighted room or in a dark room, whether they are asked privately or when others could hear their replies, and whether they are asked around the time of Halloween!  Ph. D. Professor Tok Thompson believes that, "Ghosts have an interesting role in that they are a really well-believed and well discussed, but completely an unofficial part of our culture."  Thompson is not only a professor but also a folklorist, an author, and a professor of anthropology.  

Ghosts play a big role in literature and movies.  I decided to write this blog because of an interview I watched of members of the cast of a tv series about ghosts.  The cast was excited to be preparing for a third season.  Apparently, ghosts are popular!  Of course, they get the most attention at Halloween.  I know of some people who do not allow their children to participate in Halloween activities for reasons of their faith.  I also know of churches who host Halloween parties for children in their congregations.  Different cultures regard Halloween differently.

We associate ghosts with certain places, particularly haunted houses and graveyards.  We have stories about friendly ghosts and evil ghosts, with scarry ghosts someplace in the middle.  People make distinctions between "a" ghost and "my" ghost.

I know people who have attended a seance and believe the spirit medium who delivered a message during the seance could have only known that information through contact with a dead person.  I do not believe in ghosts, and I have never attended a seance, but I must admit that one of my favorite romantic moves is the 1990 film "Ghost."  In that movie, a mugger kills Sam, played by Patrick Swaze.  Molly, played by Demi More, watches as Sam is taken to Heaven by Angels.  As the ghost of Sam watches over Molly, I cry every time...even harder since the death of actor Patrick Swaze.  So, I don't believe in Ghosts, but that doesn't keep me from crying whenever I watch that movie.

Remember my reference to the difference between 'a ghost' and 'my ghost'?  I guess the ghost I allow myself to believe in must be Patrick Swaze!     

Habits at Home during the Coronavirus

Admit it.  Is is sometimes noon before you finally bother to get out of your pajamas to get dressed?  Most people will admit that their usual habits have changed, but what is interesting is how similar our responses to the coronavirus can be.

For some reason, only a few days into the coronavirus interruption of our lives, I decided it would be a good idea to add yeast to the grocery list, so I could bake our own bread.  Guess what.  I was not the only one with that "unique" idea, and the grocery store shelves everywhere had empty spaces where the dry yeast should have been.

Then I decided the time spent at home was perfect for cleaning out closets and organizing shelves, and finding the courage to throw out or give away things we needed to admit we would never use again.  But on face book it seemed that many people had the same idea.

With no one stopping by for a visit it was easy to skip some of the things we might have otherwise done if drop-by guests might appear.  The 4th of July didn't bring any fire works and Labor Day was just another day.

 But now it is Halloween, and I love to decorate for Halloween.  And, so I did!  Here are my Halloween Decorations that I have put out just for you!  Well, really just for me, I suppose.  But my husband seems to enjoy them, and the cat definitely does, although he keeps getting into trouble because he thinks they are toys for him to bat off the table.  Whoever they are for, I hope you enjoy them.  Happy Halloween! 

Halloween in the Southern Colonies

The American tradition of Halloween did not arrive in New England with the Puritans, whose more rigid religious beliefs rejected the Celtic customs.  It is believed that the origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain as practiced in Ireland and Northern France.  Pronounced "sow-in," the festival was intended to frighten away the ghosts of the dead who returned on the night of October 31st to damage crops and cause trouble.  The Celts wore costumes and built huge bonfires, using embers from the sacred bonfire to relight their extinguished hearth fires, a ritual intended to protect them during the coming winter.

 

The tradition of Halloween in America's earliest years was first practiced in Maryland and other Southern Colonies, where customs of different European ethnic groups merged with Native Americans' customs to create what has become Halloween in the United States.

Birthplace of Woodrow Wilson in Stauton, VA

On Saturday, October 27th, we were in Staunton, Virginia, to visit the birthplace and museum of Woodrow Wilson.  As we reached his birthplace and prepared to buy our tickets, we were invited to join a tour of the lovely town by historical society members Jane and Richard Hicks.  Jane's personal focus on her tours is architecture, although other guides may select their own emphasis, but architecture interested us, and off we went.

So, what does our visit to Woodrow Wilson's birthplace and an architectural tour of  Staunton have to do with Halloween?  Every year the merchants of Staunton, Virginia, carry on the traditions of early southern colonists, perhaps modified for modern times but with their origins in colonial time all the same, and costumed children fill the town's streets going from shop to shop to trick or treat.

I confess, Jane's tour was excellent, but the costumed children were a delightful distraction for me, and I paused many times to photograph the adorable kids in their wonderful costumes!  The name Halloween comes from the Christian holy day of All Saints' Day, which is also known as All Hallows.  Two Christian customs may have also contributed to present-day Halloween traditions.

The custom of baking and sharing soul cakes on All Saints' Day may have evolved into the tradition of trick or treat.  In countries from which colonists immigrated, soul cakes were often given to poor children who went door to door asking for them.  Rather than asking for cake, this darling little elf has her eye on a window filled with tiny candy ducks in a confectioner's window.  

Because it was believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints' Day, it came to be believed that All Saints' Eve was the last opportunity for the wandering dead to take revenge on their enemies.  To avoid the vengeance of enemies that had died during the previous year, people wore masks or costumes to disguise their identities.  That custom provides a possible explanation for Halloween costuming.  This young boy's transformation into a tractor is quite an effective disguise!

Isaac Werner had no children, and he does not mention whether the Kansas community where he homesteaded celebrated Halloween.  Neither do I know whether little Tommy Wilson (as Thomas Woodrow Wilson was known in childhood) costumed for Halloween, and perhaps his father, a Presbyterian minister, might not have encouraged that tradition.  However, the present citizens of Wilson's birthplace have a wonderful tradition for the children of Staunton!  Thank you to all the costumed children and their mothers who have allowed me to share their wonderful celebration with my blog visitors.  We fell in love with their beautiful city, set in the Appalachian foothills, with a charming and vital downtown, beautiful architecture, and the birthplace, museum, and gift shop of Woodrow Wilson.

 

It will surprise none of you that the souvenirs I selected in the gift shop were books.  We passed much of the time during our continuing journey reading about the 28th President of the United States, who knew when he was quite young that he had "a very earnest political creed and very pronounced political ambitions" and who vowed with a college friend to "drill ourselves in all the arts of persuasion but especially in oratory...that we might have facility in leading others into our ways of thinking and enlisting them in our purposes."  (Quoted from a letter written by the young Woodrow Wilson)  His path to the Presidency was unusual, achieved not through a succession of political offices but rather through teaching, writing, and becoming the president of Princeton, from which he was recruited to become governor of New Jersey, and then was nominated and elected to two terms as President of the United States.  He served from 1913 to 1921, including throughout the years of our involvement in World War I. 

 

Woodrow Wilson retired from the presidency to a home in Washington, D.C., but I suspect had I been in his place, I might have returned to the beautiful Virginia hometown of his birth.