Pumpkin Heads and Witch Hats for A Hat-ish Halloween
It’s that time of year again— the time of year when ghosts and goblins show up at front doors looking spooky and demanding candy. Personally, I love everything about Halloween, including the candy corn( but that is another story for another blog)
Nobody seems to know how the tradition of witches wearing high pointy, cone-shaped, brimmed hats came from. It’s as much a mystery as broomsticks and black cats.
Some internet sources theorize that in Medievil times wizards wore conical hats and that somehow witches took to wearing them too ( just how remains murky). Other sources postulate that the classic Halloween witches hat is related to the Dunce cap. Whatever!
The example above sits on the head of one of the cutest, non-scary witches I have ever seen.
A Bit About Pumpkins
Pumpkins, on the other hand, are newcomers to Halloween celebrations and very American. In Ireland and Scotland, where memories of the old Pagan times still exist, Halloween grew out of the Celtic celebrations of Samhain.
Since this was the time when the ancient Celts believed that the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead was at its thinnest as well as a time when ghosts and goblin roamed the land, there was a tradition in Ireland and Scotland of hollowing out turnips and carving faces on them to keep bad spirits at bay. Scottish and Irish immigrants to America brought the custom with them, but found that in North America, the native pumpkin was not only cheaper and more plentiful, but easier to clean and carve. Now the custom of carving pumpkins at Halloween is firmly established all around the world.
So grab a pumpkin and put on your witch hat and have a happy and hat-ish Halloween