SCABs

I take my potatoes mashed – By @laurenbodiam

By Lauren Bodiam

 

I take my potatoes mashed

I have never understood or enjoyed Halloween. Its the holiday where people murder apples with caramel and stab them with sticks. Kids are let loose on neighbours demanding sweets, or anything that will make your teeth decay.

Coming to SCA we have been told to question everything with the whys, wheres, whats and how and while I liked to think I wear the white hat the most. I actually know nothing about the holiday I hate the most.

The compulsion to collect and re tell is complex and fundamentally human. We tell stories and sometimes lies, we manipulate and alter things for ourselves and others, sometimes to the point where we forget where it all came from.

I always saw halloween to be American tradition, come about from Americans lack of history. But to my surprise while the holiday is big in the states, it It originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, (Ireland) sorry America.

This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. They believed this was the time where the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. It was this day that spirits could return to earth without the help of teenagers with OUIJI boards.

Each year on the 31st Celts would appease the spirits by giving them treats. These treats were not like the snickers or dairy milks seen on the hallows eve today. Spirits, as the Celts found, were more mash potatoes lovers like myself. Mash potato became a pinnacle around this day. Great bowls of mash would be made and guests would gather around the dish, turn the lights off, and dip their spoons inside to find out their fate for the year.

For many people halloween is an excuse to dress up, for them it is meaningless and thought of as fun but going back the wearing of costumes for halloween can be traced back. it was thought that the souls of the dead were out and about, along with fairies, witches, and demons the masks and costumes were used as a way to confuse unwanted spirts. People used Offerings of food and drink were left out to placate them which has now evolved in to the modern Trick or treat.

A lot of the time we accept things as the status quo never really questioning why things are a certain way and what caused it to be. Questioning allows us to discover beneath the surface, change our method of thinking and truly get down to the core.

A lot of my hatred towards halloween has been because I have convinced myself I have a curse on halloween its the day of the dead, satan and all that would haunt me. I have never had a good halloween from not being allowed to light the pumpkin to breaking my left Anke 3 years in a row. Learning that halloween, traditionally ,is rooted in the natural world. A holiday where we acknowledge death is a natural thing. I can safely take my broken ankles down the the amount of Gin and tonics I consume.

Maybe Halloween isn’t so bad at all.
And maybe this SCAB has inspired you to eat potatoes this halloween.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

(I also made a buzzed quiz on your halloween fortune based on your potato choice) https://www.buzzfeed.com/laurenbodiam/find-your-halloween-fortune-by- choosing-your-favou-3nsxa

Related SCABs

Go back

Student Application

  • Fill out the Application Form below to be a part of our next Award-Winning intake.

  • MM slash DD slash YYYY
image