What Would Jimmy Do?

Check your doorbell and be sure it’s working — it’ll get a workout tomorrow night. It’s Halloween and, of course, the night for trick or treaters. 

Trick or treating has been around since the time of the Celts 2,000 years ago. Halloween was then known as Samhain, or the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter — the darker part of the year. Trick or treating began as what was called “mumming” or dressing up as a ghost or demon and acting like a fool for food and drinks. That tradition lasted until the ninth century. 

After Christianity arrived in the Celtic lands, Christian customs mixed with old Pagan ones. November 2nd was known as “All Souls Day” back then and people would honor the dead with masquerades and bonfires. Some practiced “souling,” an early form trick or treating, where those without much money would visit the homes of the wealthy. The poor would ask for food in exchange for the promise they would pray for the wealthy family’s dead loved ones. 

In Scotland, children would go door to door just like children do today, only they would perform some kind of an act or trick in exchange for food. This was a practice known as “guising” — a trick for a treat.
The tradition that most resembled modern day trick or treating, originated in the UK in the early 1800s. Children would walk around their neighborhoods wearing masks and carrying effigies, or small sculptures. 

In the US, trick or treating was an annual tradition until World War II (it was suspended during the war because of sugar rations.) After the war, it became popular again, when lots of children came along during the “baby boom.”
The term “trick-or treat” was first referenced in print in 1927 in Canada.
A survey taken in 2006, found that over half of British homeowners turned off their lights and pretended not to be home on Halloween.
Store bought Halloween costumes were first sold in the 1930s, and Halloween is the third best known party holiday on the western calendar — behind New Year’s Eve and Super Bowl parties.
So from the Celtics to Shepherdstown, trick or treating has its origins in multiple cultures and the custom has had many contributing factors to make it what it is today.
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Claire came down this morning wearing a shirt that said “MABUHAY” over a picture and “Philippines” under the picture. That shirt is probably 50 years old. I hadn’t seen it in a long time…
I also hadn’t though about Mabuhay in a long time either. Mabuhay is an official Filipino word, and it’s probably one of the first words you’ll hear if you visit the Philippines. 

It’s one of those words like aloha, when you visit Hawaii — it can have multiple meanings….
The literal meaning, in English, is “live.” But in Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines, mabuhay can mean many different things — like, “welcome,” “ to life,” “ live great,” or “hello.” And to the modern Filipino generation, it probably now means “live long and prosper,” “ have a great life,” or even “may the force be with you.”
Mabuhay is also used as a toast during celebrations — in which case it means “cheers!”
So Mabuhay is a pretty cool word — I’m sorry I forgot about it. I think I’ll start using it more….
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This month’s full Moon occurs tonight, October 28 — peak illumination will be at 4:24 p.m., Eastern time. This month’s full Moon is usually called the Hunter’s Moon and the name makes sense because game animals, especially deer, turkeys and pheasants, are traditionally hunted in mid to late autumn when the animals are fattened on late summer bounty. I mentioned a few blogs ago that while Hunter’s Moon  is the most common name for October’s full Moon, if it appears early in the month and is the closest full Moon to the fall equinox, it is referred to as the Harvest Moon. But this year, it’s the Hunter’s Moon.

Of course these Moon names apply to the full Moon in the Northern Hemisphere — since the seasons are reversed in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s reasonable that the October full Moon would be called something more spring-like. And that’s true — depending on the location and culture of the region, southern names for the October full Moon include Egg Moon, Fish Moon, Pink Moon, Seed Moon, and Waking Moon.
This year, with the full Moon being so close to Halloween, it’s even more special. The first full Moon on or before October 31st is known as the Witches Moon. On this night the veil between the worlds is the thinnest and you can receive prophecy if you are of a lineaged bloodline. If you live in a place or area that is haunted, or if you work in a place where someone has passed, if a ghost wants to materialize, this night will be when it will happen.
So enjoy the full Hunter’s Moon tonight, and if you see any ghosts, they may not be trick or treaters.
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Tonight is the first game of this year’s World Series. I can’t say I’m particularly excited about it, but I’ll probably watch at least some of it — after all, it is the World Series.

The Arizona Diamondbacks vs. the Texas Rangers isn’t a matchup very many people would ever have expected. The Texas Rangers won 90 games and were the fifth seed in the AL. The Diamondbacks won 84 games and were the last team in the playoff field. 

The Rangers are making their third trip to the World Series. They played the Giants in 2010 and the  Cardinals in 2011. The Diamondbacks have only been in the World Series once before — that was in 2001, but they won, beating the Yankees in seven games.

I mentioned that rangers have never won a World Series. How many other teams can claim that honor? The list is pretty short — the Mariners, Rockies, Brewers, Rays, Padres, and of course, the Rangers. 
So this year, the Rangers have a chance to get their name off that “never-champs” list.
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Well, it’s that time of year again — time for the World Series! As I’ve mentioned before, when I was a kid, the World Series was a big deal. Most everybody talked about it and all the radios were tuned to the World Series — there was no TV back then. Most people had a favorite team, and even if their favorite team didn’t make it to the World Series, they picked a favorite of the two teams that were playing. 
Baseball was the sport back then — I never heard of the NFL when I was young. Even high school and college football wasn’t all that popular…. sports was all about baseball.

Now, in 2013, baseball has lost a lot of its popularity — football and basketball and maybe even soccer are more popular spectator sports these days.
But tomorrow night’s first game of the World Series will be played between Texas and Arizona. Yea, you heard me right — Texas and Arizona. 
So how many people — even baseball fans — would have picked these two teams to be in this year’s World Series? Somehow, it just doesn’t seem right — World Series teams should have names like the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs — or White Sox. Not the Arizona Diamondbacks or the Texas Rangers. 
I guess if you’re from Arizona or Texas, you may be excited…. for the rest of us, not so much.
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Watching TV a few nights ago, we saw someone wearing an áo dài (“owzeye”) — the native dress of Vietnamese women. It caught our eye because it had flowers, or some design on it — we both remembered them  usually being a solid color. Claire has an áo dài — as a souvenir of Vietnam. So I thought that it might be a good day to talk about the áo dài and how it came to be…..

The story starts in 1744, when Vietnam was divided into two territories, the Inner Land (Dàng Trong) and Outer Land (Dàng Ngoài.) To distinguish his people, Lord Nguyēn Phúc Khoát of the Inner Land asked his subjects to wear a front-buttoned gown, with trousers. This five-part dress (áo ngū thãn) was the inspiration for the modern áo dài. Royals and elites made their dresses from the finest silk, with intricate details and vibrant colors to represent rankings in court.

In the 1930s, the dress was simplified into two parts by Vietnamese artist Le Mur Nguyēn Cát Turòng. The front flap was extended to reach the ankle, and the form became more fitted. Like many “westernized” ideas, the style was only reluctantly received at first. But after Le Mur designed an áo dài collection for Queen Nam Phuróng, wife of Vietnam’s last Emperor Båo Dai, urban women started to embrace and popularize the more contemporary style.

After the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Hō Chi Minh wrote an essay, in 1947, noting that the áo dài was not fit for the fields or the factory, asking Vietnamese to adapt their attire to be more efficient for work. As a result, the áo dài became a dress saved for professional appearances and special occasions. 

When choosing an áo dài, each color has meaning. In Imperial times, gold was a royal color and reserved for kings and queens. Red áo dài are worn during Tét for luck and prosperity. Brides may also wear red on their wedding day, so it’s a good idea to wear a different color if you’re a guest. White symbolizes purity and innocence, and black is most often worn at funerals. Some Vietnamese women also choose áo dài colors based on their zodiac sign element (metal, wood, water, fire, or earth) taken from their year of birth.
Today, Vietnamese usually wear the áo dài for culturally significant events including lunar new year ceremonies/celebrations, weddings and other special occasions. 

I always thought the áo dài was attractive, refined and a bit elegant looking — one of the more attractive native costumes from the places I’ve visited….
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United Nations Day, on October 24, marks the anniversary of the day — in 1945 — that the UN Charter went into force. The charter was ratified by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council. So, on October 14, 1945, the United Nations officially came into being. The aim of the organization was to encourage co-operation between all the governments of the world after the failure of the League of Nations. It was a consolidated effort to prevent another war, like World War II from breaking out.

There are six official languages for the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. Why these six? Besides Spanish, all of these languages can be matched directly to permanent members of the Security Council with veto power — the U.S., Britain, China, Russia and France. So the languages that became official were the languages of the the most politically influential nations in the Post World War II period. They are also probably the most widely spoken languages in the world.

Today isn’t a public holiday, but people come together and celebrate the day in various cities in different countries. National costumes, flags, speeches, slogans and parades are organized to mark the day and promote the idea of diversity and unity. 

United Nations Day is an official day to appreciate the diversity of cultures, religions, and languages all over the world, and today the urgency for all countries to come together, to fulfill the promise of the nations united has never been greater.
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The subject of weddings has come up recently, and I got to wondering about wedding rings. I’ve worn mine for more than 50 years — Caire lost hers a number of years ago, and it was replaced with other rings, so I guess she has multiple wedding rings. She didn’t get an official engagement ring until a couple of years after we were married.

But anyhow, wedding rings are a tradition that historians have dated back to Egypt almost 5,000 years ago. In a lot of cultures, rings have been, and are, used to symbolize love because the ring is a symbol of eternity. It has no beginning and no end and is a symbol of love and dedication usually exchanged during a wedding ceremony.

An engagement ring is a fairly new development that is a means for a couple to showcase their commitment to each other. It used to be a tradition that the male in the couple would propose to the female, with the woman wearing the engagement ring. But today, it seems that sometimes women propose to men and with the same sex marriages, I’m not sure what the correct procedure is, or if there even is one.

When we got married, it was traditional to place the wedding ring on the ring finger of the left hand. That tradition goes all the way back to the days of Ancient Rome — the Romans believed that a vein ran directly from the fourth finger on the left hand to the heart. The vein was called Vena Amoris, which translated to “vein of love” because of the belief that the heart is the center of our emotions. 

Even though wearing the wedding ring on the left hand is traditional in America, many countries traditionally wear their rings on their right hand — countries like Russia, Germany, Norway and India, as examples. This tradition comes from the Latin adjective “sinister” which originally meant “left” before it came to be defined by evil. And —the majority of the population of the world is right-handed and the Christian cross is made using the right hand, so the left came to be understood as anti-christian, and the right-handed engagement/wedding ring gained popularity. 

So I guess not matter what hand you wear your ring, the symbol pretty much remains the same. Times and customs have changed, but rings still seem to a part of all of them…..
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I was throwing away a couple of old books that had been in our basement for I don’t know how long, and as I flipped through one of them — it contained article from, I think, an old Readers Digest, but I’m not sure. Anyhow, it was a quiz about articles of clothing and where they came from or how they got their name. I thought it might be interesting to list a few of the item here — and I’ve even included the answer…..

SOCK
a. The first were woven from fine Egyptian linen called “sax.”
b. The Latin Word “socks,” a shoe made of thin leather.
c. Named for Sir Williams Roxbury, who first wore them in public.
The ancient Greeks wore them first; they were made of a light leather and called “sykhos.” Roman soldiers used them as boot liners and wore them to Britain, where the name “socks” was clipped to “socks.”

SHOE
a. From the practice of hurling footwear at undesirable critters while “shoo!”
b. The Anglo-Saxon “sceo,” pluralized to “schwas,” meaning “to cover.”
c. It was popularized by Japanese leather merchant Shu’ Ze.
Egyptian sandals of woven papyrus were the first footwear, worn as early as 2000 B.C. Greeks fashioned fitted footwear from leather by 600 B.C., followed by the Romans who added rights and lefts around 200 B.C. But out word for shoe comes from the Anglo-Saxons.

GLOVE
a. From the Anglo- Saxon “folm,” meaning the palm of the hand.
b. The oldest pair came from King Tut’s Gluvril Chamber.
c. Named after Sir Galveston, a knight of the Round Table.
Men have been wearing gloves for 10,000 years. Women didn’t get in on the fun until 1550, when France’s Catherine de Medici stunned the fashion world with her hers — lavishly embroidered and richly jeweled.

TUXEDO
a. It made its debut at a country club in Tuxedo Park, N.Y.
b. Its resemblance to Aptenodytes tuxidos, the tuxedo penguin.
c. Mark Twain, who ridiculed formalwear as “tailored & tucksied.”
Heir to the tobacco fortune, Pierre Lorillard IV, a blue blood New Yorker set the fashion world on its ear in 1886. His family commissioned and wore the first of the future prom rentals to the Autumn Ball at his exclusive country club in the village of Tuxedo Park.

STETSON
a. In prairie pidgin, to “stet” means to “stay,” and this hat “stay’s on.”
b. Alteration of “State Son,” honoring Texams who died at the Alamo.
c. Named for its creator, Philadelphia haberdasher John Stetson.
John Stetson worked in his family’s Philadelphia hat business as a boy. He traveled out west in the 1860s to improve his health. When he returned to Philly, he started making hats that were suited to the needs of the Western cowboys. The hats soon became the most popular  cowboy headgear in the west. Buffalo Bill, General George Custer, Annie Oakley, and Calamity Jane all wore them.

TROUSERS
a. Leather garments first seen on Nordic fishermen, on River Trow.
b. After French Prelate Henri Trouseut, who wore them under his robe.
c. The Gaelic “trews” for “leg covers.”
I guess anyone can wear the pants in your family, but only men can wear trousers — when women wear them, they’re “slacks (from Latin, “maxus,” for “loose.”) Answer is “c”

UMBRELLA
a. It was patterned after the Alaskan “umbriak,” a round canoe.
b. From the Latin “umbra,” which means “shade.”
c. For Londoner Ed Umber’s, its inventor.
In London in the 1750s, a British merchant named John Hanway, popularized th umbrella. Before that, anything more than a casual attempt to avoid the rain was considered unmanly — the umbrella was for women to escape the sun. 

PAJAMAS
a. Their Central American town of origin, Pajama (near Panama.)
b. The Farsi “pau” for “leg,” and “jam” meaning “garment” because they started out as pants.
c. It was developed and marketed by flannel baron Sanjib Pajima.
From late in the 16th century, both men and women wore nightgowns (really.) Two hundred years later, as women’s nightgowns got flimsier , men’s got shorter, and turned into nightshirts. The loose pants called “pajamas” were worn on the bottom. The two didn’t match, of course. But eventually they did, and — they became the pajamas that we know today.

So the next time you’re going through your closet, you’ll know where some of this stuff came from — historically, at least.
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A friend of ours is a fan of bluegrass music, and it came up in a discussion a while back that bluegrass is mostly associated with the Appalachian region. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but he mentioned that the banjo was an important part of bluegrass music and that most people think that banjo players are complete and utter morons. I don’t know if that’s true either, but I guess that the banjo probably doesn’t get the “respect” of most other musical instruments.

So why the bad press for the banjo? Unlike other instruments like violins or guitars, the sight of a banjo seems to trigger ridicule in many, otherwise kindly, people. This might be due to the banjo’s early history in American entertainment as a prop for stage comics that strummed on the old “banjar” during their routine. 

But it turns out that the banjo wasn’t born in America. Drums with strings stretched over them (which is what a banjo is) can be traced throughout western Africa as well as the Far and Middle East almost from the beginning of recorded history. Those primitive instruments could be played like the banjo, with a bow like a violin, or plucked like a harp — depending on the style of music.  

The banjo as we know it most likely began in southwestern Africa. The original instrument is thought to have been called an “akonting,” but scholars and historians have found countless entries in diaries of 17th century British explorers that refer to instruments with names surprisingly close to the modern word “banjo” — like banjar, banza, and banshaw.

The earliest African version of the instrument was a gourd sliced in half, with an animal skin membrane stretched tightly across the opening to which a wooden neck and twine or animal gut for strings were attached. It might have had as few as two or as many as ten strings, depending on local custom. Westerners were first exposed to the banjo through the slave trades, beginning in the 1600s.

In the 1830s, minstrel shows featured banjo-playing whites in blackface. The minstrel show first developed as a way for whites to explore what they perceived to be the “mystery” of African-American culture. When they began, minstrels weren’t the mean-spirited, racist parodies they became by the 1890s and early 1900s. They were billed as “Ethiopian (African) characterizations” and the performances of music, dance, and comedy were based more on whites’ perceptions of Africans than on the reality of African-American slave life. 

The mistral show’s comic descendant continued the tradition of the witless banjoist into the 20th century. I’m old enough to remember a TV show called Hee-Haw and comics like Grandpa Jones popping out of the cornfield, plugin’ away on the old banjo.

So for these, or maybe some other reason(s) the banjo has become associated with the whole Appalachian hillbilly image that is — deservedly or not — a bad image in in the more “advanced” areas of the country, where rap music and hip hop is “respected” for its intellectual content and artistic quality that banjo music lacks. 

So if you like banjo music, or play the banjo stick to it — it could be worse…. you could be playing a ukulele — or an accordion.
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