 ~ MRS. SHARP'S TRADITIONS ~  NOTE: The entire text below is taken directly from the book Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions. I cannot take credit in any form for the ideas and creativity on this page unless so noted. The book is written by Sarah Ban Breathnach and is currently out of print. If you can find a copy (the softcover version is called Victorian Family Celebrations), definitely grab it and run…and DON’T lend it to a friend because you’ll probably never get it back! "October arrives bringing with it a wash of wonderful color, fragrant, cool breezes, and a bounty of seasonal pleasures from apple-cider pressing to pumpkin carving. Come with us on a harvest-moon hayride, then help us make masquerade costumes and prepare for an old-fashioned Hallowe’en frolic at home." It has been Mrs. Sharp’s experience that All Hallow’s Eve is a holiday that brings out either the angel in us, dear Reader, or the witch. Whether or not we like it, this is the time we must start planning the children’s costumes or little Johnny will end up a ghost for the 7th year running. Now, armed with a notebook, pen and measuring tape, gather the children over milk and cookies and invite them to confide what they would like to be. Discuss with eachchild what particular items are absolutely crucial for their costume. And please do not fret about buying Hallowe’en costumes. Remember any costume you help your child create will be treasured. The important tradition worth preserving is not the homemade Hallowe’en costume but the special time you set aside to have fun planing costumes together. About a week before Hallowe’en, Father and Mrs. Sharp gather up the children along with assorted cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends for an excursion to our local pumpkin patch where each person chooses his very own pumpkin and then helps search for the official Sharp family Jack O’Lantern. After everyone chooses a pumpking (and mark it please to avoid disputes later on), the collective search for the most perfect, most plump, most round and most orange pumpkin which will be carved and crowned (with a gold foil paper crown) King Jack. When the family returns home, our carving party begins. Mrs. Sharp spreads brown wrapping paper on the front porch and brings out felt-tipped markers and soft crayons so that everyone might design their face before carving. Since only adults and older children are permitted sharp knives, Mrs. Sharp brings out a special basket of gourds, dried wheat, corn husks and vegetables along with acrylic paints, construction paper, yarn bits, fabric scraps and glue sticks for the younger children to use in creating what Victorian children called "pumpkin moonshines." We then arrange our pumpkins on our seasonal table in the dining room. Now it’s time for apple cider, fresh hot popcorn, and taffy apples before everyone departs. How shall we celebrate this year? Of course, your young ones will want to go trick-or-treating, but you can keep this activity a short one both in time and locale – especially if yoiu have an All Hallow’s Eve Home Frolic awaiting them. Mrs. Sharp says it is time to return the focus of this old-fashioned young people’s holiday back to where it belongs: in the home. Mrs. Sharp sends out the following summons: Hallowe’en will Tell you True! Come to Our Home that Night Arrive at Eight Come Prepared to Learn Your Fate! To insure the success of any Hallowe’en party, all formality must be dispensed with; Mrs. Sharp removes all breakable items for her party rooms. These are replaced with nature’s decorations; cornstalks, assorted pumpkins and gourds, Italian corn. Large tree branches are hung with white muslin ghosts (old men’s handkerchiefs or cloth diapers work well, too). To create a magical mood, red or yellow muslin draped over lampshades will cast a harvest-moon glow inside. After our guests have arrived, the games begin. Of course, we bob for appleas, but we also have apples suspended from the ceiling on strings, and the boys and girls must attempt to take a bit out of their apple without touching them with their hands. A gam that never fails to amuse the children is callled Nut Shower. Mrs. Sharp gathers all the children into one room, then scatters large English walnuts on the floor for a general grab (but she keeps some back so that everyone gets the same amount, either two or three walnuts). Nutcrackers are provided and the unsuspecting children sit down to crack open their nuts, then to their surprise discover the nuts contain little charms! Mrs. Sharp has removed the kernels, inserted trinkets and then glued the shells back together. Partners for refreshments are found in this unique way: Each little guest is givena small ball of yarn in different colors and told to wind it up to discover what lies at the other end. Since Mrs. Sharp has tied together two balls of yarn (in similar colors), what they discover is another child: their supper partner. The yarn should be wound in and around furniture and through two different rooms so that the partners will not meet until some fun has been created by running to and fro. For our buffet, Mrs. Sharp serves hearty autumn-vegetable soup, assorted sandwiches cut in festive Hallowe’en shapes, stuffed baked potatoes with a selection of fillings, popcorn balls, pecan tarts, pumpkin muffins, and Witches’ Brew (mulled cider). Traditional Hallowe’en foods can also be prepared: a delicious fruited yeast bread known as Barm Brack and Colcannon from Ireland, a sweet porridge from Scotland called Crowdie and Victorian ring cake. Charms are tucked into these foods, supposedly to tell the future: a coin for wealth, a ring for marriage, a button for a bachelor, a thimble for a spinster, a wishbone for your heart’s desire. (However, because the charms are made of plastic, do not insert them before preparing the foods!) BARM BRACK 1 pkg active dry yeast 1 ¼ cups, plus one teaspoon, lukewarm milk ¾ cup, plus one teaspoon, sugar 4 cups unbleached flour 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon grated allspice 1 teaspoon salt 1 stick unsalted butter, cut up in small pieces 2 eggs, beaten with a little water 2 cups mixed fruit (sultanas, raisins) ½ cup mixed candied fruit peel (lemon and orange) Glaze: 3 teaspoons of confectioners’ sugar dissolved in 3 teaspoons of boiling water In a small bowl, cream the yeast with 1 teaspoon milk and 1 teaspoon sugar until frothy. In another bowl, sieve together the floor, sugar, spices and salt. With your hands, rub in the butter. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the yeast, the beaten eggs and the milk. Mix the ingredients well with a wooden spoon for about 5 minutes until a good dough forms. Add the fruit and fruit peel and work it into the mixture by hand. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and allow it to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 hour and 15 minutes). Knead again slightly and place in a lightly greased cast-iron skillet, cover, and again allow the bread to rise another 30 minutes. Place in a preheated oven at 400 degrees and bake until golden grown, approximately 1 hour. When done, remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack. Glaze while still warm. FORTUNE-TELLING CROWDIE 1 pint heavy cream, lightly whipped 1 teaspoon vanilla 4 teaspoons of sugar, to taste 2 tablespoons of rum (or ½ tablespoon rum flavoring) 4 tablespoons light toasted oatmeal (toast on a cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven for 7 minutes) Charms: 1 coin, 1 ring, 1 button, 1 thimble, 1 wishbone (all wrapped in aluminum foil) Whip the cream with 1 teaspoon vanilla. As peaks form, add sugar and rum and continue to whip until well blended. Combine with oatmeal. Chill for one hour. Just before serving, stir in charms. When you serve this dish, hae a spoon for each guest. Let them dish out a spoonful of crowdie on their plates. ~ Serves six, adjust proportions accordingly. After supper, it is time for a few more games, all with a fortune-telling theme. Nut Crack is one of the oldest Victorian Hallowe’en games, and for centuries in England, All Hallow’s Eve was known as Nut Crack Night. Two people place either a hazelnut or chestnut side by side on a warm grate in the fireplace. If the nuts burn quietly with a steady glow until they become ashes, it is a sign that a long and happy friendship will continue (or that a suitor will become a sweetheart). If the nuts crack and burst, it predicts the same for the friendship! APPLE PEELING Each guest peels an apple, being careful to keep the paring in an unbroken strip. The fruit should be very smooth and in perfect condition. When all the apples have been pared, each person in turn tosses his or her strip of peel over his or her right shoulder, and on of the company who acts as oracle decides what letter it resembles as it lies. The letter named is an initial of the person’s future sweetheart. KALING This is a Scotch game for Hallowe’en and can only be properly played where there is a garden near at hand. One of the company, having been blindfolded and led into the garden, pulls up the first cabbage stalk he touches and carries it into the house, where a fortune-teller interprets. The comparative size of the cabbage indicates the stature of the individual’s future partner for life; the quanitity of earth clinging to the roots shows the amount of money that will be secured by the match; the taste of the pith tells what the temper of the expected spouse will be; and when the stalk is placed over the door, the first name of the first person entering thereafter is that of the prophesied husband or wife. LAUNCHING WALNUT SHELLS Split a number of soft English walnuts exactly in half, remove the kernels, and clear away the small partitions that may remain in the shells. Place a bit of heavy cotton string in each piece of shell and pour melted beeswax around it, shaping the wax into a cone or little hill, with the string protruding from the top. All the shells being prepared, the wicks of several are lighted, and the frail craft are launched simultaneously by their owners upon the "sea of life" – in other words, a tub of water. When a light burns steadily until the wax is melted, and the little boat safely rides the waves made by slightly stirring the water or by gently shaking the tub, a happy and long life is assured the owner. When two boats collide, it means that the person who launched them will meet and have mutual interests at some period of their lives. If two boats cross each other’s course, their owners will do likewise. If two boats come together and continue to sail about side by side, those whom they represent will pass much of their lives together. When a boat clings persistently to the side of the tub, refusing to sail out into the center, the owner will surely be a stay-at-home. Touching frequently at the side of the tub indicates many short voyages, but when a boat sails boldly to the center, seldom touching the sides, a life filled with long journeys may be predicted. The actions of the little fleet will prove of absorbin interest to imaginative minds. All the supernatural elements that give Hallowe’en its potent magic can linger long after the holiday is over, frightening very young children, even it they do not admit it. There should be a children’s holiday devoted to make-believe, mischief, mystery, and magic. But of the right kind. What is needed, then is a plan that provides the children with a festive holiday but one that offers a comforting sense of balance and harmony, such as our All Hallow’s Eve Home Frolic. But Mrs. Sharp’s favorite tradition for children who have had too much Hallowe’en is our family celebratoin of Harvest Home. This adapted tradition grew out of Mrs. Sharp’s desire to reassure the children that, indeed, all ghosties and ghoulies had gone away the morning after the night before. When the children persisted they could still see "skeletons and other horrible things" hiding behind their eyes, Mrs. Sharp told them not to worry, for she had invited all the good spirits to a Harvest Home dinner that evening in honor of their day – All Saints’ celebrated on November 1st. Harvest Home was the traditional Victorian English celebration after all the gathering in the fields had been completed. Over a community feast, families would come together to rejoice in their bounty of blessings. A Harvest Home festival for the family is similar in that we rejoice in reaping the rich harvest that love has sown. The giving of equal attention to good deeds as well as ghoulish pranks confirms a young child’s instinctive sense of justness. Furthermore, by having a family party that celebrates our harvest of home blessings, we are able to pass on to the children the emotional security of loving, faith-building rituals that will ward off Evil – real or imagined – better than any magic charm. For our purposes, a saint is anyone who has lived an inspiring life. Although Mrs. Sharp’s Harvest Home festival has evolved into quite an elaborate family affair, the first year it simply involved setting an empty place next to each child at the table, and during dinner, conversing about what personal saints, heroes and heroines we would invite to dinner if we could and why. Today the children look forward to selecting their "saint" each year and learning as much about them as possible. The identity of everyone’s guest is also a closely guarded secret, and happy hours are spent fashioning their "saint’s" fancy dress. Then on All Saints’ Night before dinner, we have a little masquerade parade throughout the house to the tune of "When the Saints Go Marching In." Father and Mrs. Sharp then have to guess which "saint" each child is. Finally the family sits down to a festive autumn supper. Mother lights the candles, Father (or the oldest child) pours the wine and cider, and we hold hands and invoke blessings on the meal. The family tells stories, sings the old songs, and basks in the healing power of hearth and Harvest Home. Outside, winter’s darkness begins to close in. Inside, we have found our own light. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?
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