Happy Halloween!?!?

I suppose as an American I just grew up thinking of Halloween just like any other holiday, one that is celebrated with family and traditions. Pumpkin carving, cookie making, and time spent together.

Where I grew up people started getting excited about Halloween by no later than October 1.  Decorations were put up, and candy started to get stockpiled in anticipation for the hordes of trick or treaters that were guaranteed to knock on your door.  I always anxiously awaited for the day my mum said it was ok to carve the pumpkin.  Scooping out its guts and saving the seeds to be roasted with salt later that evening.  I would carve eyes, a nose and mouth in my pumpkin. Sometimes making it a silly face and other times giving it a vampire like grin.

As a child of the late 80s/early 90's there was nothing more exciting than the prospect of a bag full of candy and no amount of scaring was going to keep us away.  Growing up in a small town I knew all the best houses to score the most coveted treats.  The enormous brick house at the end of the road that gave out king size candy bars to the first 25 trick or treaters (but you couldn't go before 6pm), the house that created a scary maze in the back yard that had full size candy bars for those brave enough to venture thru the terrifying tunnels of straw with monsters waiting to jump out.  The two houses that gave out homemade popcorn balls, and the house that invited you in for hot chocolate and chili to warm you up before you continued on your way.  No one worried about being kidnapped, or slipped a razor blade in their treats.  It was a night of glowing pumpkins and magic.

Every year my brother and I would start the day off at my aunts house where we decorated Halloween cookies, after it was back to my grandmothers house where we had dinner and then changed into our costumes.  When we were very young my aunt or uncle took us out trick or treating but as we got older we went on our own.  I remember my grandmother, mum and aunts always dressing up and taking turns answering the the door as child after child knocked on the door.  My gram bought bags upon bags of candy and had bowls ready and lined up for the hundreds of children that would knock on the door.  It was a night of magic and memories.

As  I got older and no longer young enough to trick or treat, the responsibility of taking my cousins out to all those houses became my responsibility and joy.  Taking them to the houses I had gone to a child and seeing the joy on their faces when they got the king sized candy bar, the popcorn ball, and all the other halloween treats.  It didn't come without its perks, as the homes we went to were the same I had visited as a child as they always insisted a take a piece for myself as well. 

Living here in the UK for the first time in 2008 I realise that Halloween isn't celebrated like it is in the US.  In fact at the time there was hardly a mention of Halloween.  Something I found incredibly strange as Halloween got its start here over 2,000 years ago with the Celts and the celebration of Samhain.  As a uni student we celebrated halloween the way all students do, with a party.  My second year living here I went back to my roots, carving a pumpkin to place in the window and buying a few bags of candy in hopes of trick or treaters knocking on the door. I turned on the porch light and waited for the first knock.  No one came and I realised that my love of Halloween was not transcontinental.

Here I am living in the UK again 7 years later and I do see a change.  Halloween costumes at Asda, adverts on the t.v. about getting ready for your Halloween gathering, and pumpkins available for carving. There are even events in London to celebrate the holiday.  But living with a family of Brits its just not something they celebrate and so I didn't either this year.  No cookies in the shape of pumpkins, bats and ghosts, no carved pumpkin, no decorations on the door or in the windows, no candy for the trick or treaters that might knock.  Its just a day like any other.

I've told myself all weekend long that Halloween didn't matter, its just a silly holiday and my little traditions won't be missed by me or anyone else. But sitting on the sofa this afternoon watching an old Halloween episode of the Goldberg's I realised that it mattered to me.  I'd grown up with Halloween being a time of family and friends.  Bobbing for apples, cake walks, gold fish ponds, candy, I love all of it, and I miss it.

So Happy Halloween where ever you are! 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

Happy Diwali!

My first Diwali as the newest member of my family was one that I shall remember for all of my days.  For days the house had been filled with the aroma of simmering dal, pertha, chole, and various other dishes (mum had been cooking for 3 days straight!). The evening of our celebration (Diwali was on Thursday, but because of my husbands work schedule we celebrated on Friday) we turned on all the lights, lit candles in the windows, and gathered together for puja.  After which we gathered at the table and began our feast, as you can see from the photo there was a lot of food and all of it was amazing. We talked and laughed and ate until we were stuffed.  What an amazing experience it was and I look forward to celebrating Diwali every year to come.

Nostrovia!!!

Nostrovia!!! For those of you who don't speak Polish, that means Cheers!!! I used this word many a time over while in Krosno Poland this past weekend in the celebration of my dear friends Eshan and Sylwia's wedding.  Vodka, food and dancing were in mass amounts and if you left hungry or full of energy clearly you didn't celebrate properly.  The Polish people love their vodka, but I think they love their food even more. From the moment we sat down as Dwa Cerca until we left there was an endless supply of food.  Soups, potatoes dishes, meat dishes, more potatoes, more meat, it just went on and on. And all of it lovely. Well I say that but there were two dishes I found questionable, the first being a jellied meat and veg dish, and the second a fish fillet (herring I think or mackerel) wrapped around some sort of shredded cabbage or apple and covered in a bright orange sauce.  Neither dish appealed to me, but I did try pretty much everything else.  In between dishes of food and shots of vodka we danced, oh did we dance! Then of course we returned to our chairs out of breath and with tired feet to start the round again.  Food, drink, dance, repeat, food, drink, dance, repeat! Nostrovia!!!

Mendi, Mathai and Marriage, Oh My!!!

As a newly married woman there are many things I am still learning. Yesterday I learned about and  experienced my first Karva Chauth which is celebrated by married women in Northern India.  Women fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husbands.  The day varies from year to year as the festival falls on the fourth day after the full moon in the month of Kartik in the Hindu calendar.  What a wonderful day it was and it was made all the more special by my mother in law, aunties and cousins all there.  I have to admit waking up at 3:20 in the morning to get ready to leave the house for 4 in the morning was not easy.  Breakfast (called sargi on this day) has to be finished before sunrise and no more food or drink can be had until after the evening ceremony.  It consisted of flat breads (which starts with a P but I can't spell it, pronti is how it sounds), gobi aloo and chutney, and then finished with 7 different fruits and 7 different mithai.  After breakfast we sat around the table chatting, and then one of my cousins got out the henna cones and we did mendhi on our hands.

 After, mum and I headed to Wembley for a bit of shopping.  We also stopped to see her sister (my Massi) before getting dressed up for the evening ceremony.

We got back to Hounslow and everyone else who was fasting started as arriving as well.  Once everyone was there we did a few photos and then prepared for the next ceremony.

We all sat on the floor and listened to the story of Karva Chauth (←click to hear the story) with our puja thalis in front of us ready to begin the ceremony.

We then listened to the Karva Chauth song and passed our thalis around 7 times as the song indicated.

For the final ceremony we looked through a sieve at the moon and offered it water (from our thalis) and a bit of mithai, we then ourselves drank the water and had mithai breaking our fast.  After that it was time to eat. The men were very kind and let us ladies eat first.  The food was simple and so delicious. 

 

My mother in law, aunties, and cousins made the day so very special and I felt so lucky to take part in this tradition.  Next week is Diwali which I am also looking forward to celebrating for the first time. I have married into an amazing family with wonderful traditions that I am learning and incorporating into my own life.  Next month I get to introduce them to the American tradition of Thanksgiving, but I might be nice and not make them watch American football, but they have to eat the pumpkin pie! Lol!