Day Of The Dead- A Celebration of Life

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 It’s a wonderful tradition and worth learning about- please check out the links and enjoy.

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From The Day of the Dead Blog: 

As in many Latin American countries, Mexico commemorates the Day of the Dead or All Souls’ Day on November 2nd. The legacy of past civilizations is graphically manifested on this occasion through people’s beliefs that death is a transition from one life to another in different levels where communication exists between the living and the dead. This communication takes place once a year throughout the country…for more click HERE

A resource listing of web sites about Day of the Dead:

Ozuna Learning Resource Center/Library, Palo Alto College

Great History ” Why ” and How To ” site

Day Of The Dead

Trick Or Treat?

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What do you get when you cross a vampire and a snowman?
Frostbite…

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Do zombies eat popcorn with their fingers?
No, they eat the fingers separately…

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Why don’t skeletons ever go out on the town?
Because they don’t have any body to go out with…

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And here’s a few Halloween Superstitions…

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  • If a bat flies around a house three times, it is considered to be a death omen.

  • A person born on Halloween can both see and talk to spirits.

  • *You should walk around your home three times backwards and counterclockwise before sunset on Halloween to ward off evil spirits

    HALLOWEEN TRIVIA- HURRAH!

    Halloween was brought to North America by immigrants from Europe who would celebrate the harvest around a bonfire, share ghost stories, sing, dance and tell fortunes. 

    Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the Fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death. 

    There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, the color of pumpkin. 

    According to folklore, the jack-o-lantern got his name from a man named Jack.Turnips and beets served as the original jack-o-lanterns.

    Jack o lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday. Mexico celebrates ‘The Day of the Dead’ instead of Halloween. 

    Pumpkins also come in white, blue and green. Great for unique monster carvings! 

    Pumpkins originated in Central America. When Europeans arrived in the New World, they found pumpkins plentiful and used in cooking by Native Americans. They took seeds back to Europe where they quickly became popular. 

    Growing big pumpkins is a big time hobby. Top prize money for the biggest giant pumpkin is as much as $25,000 dollars at fall festivals. 

    A pumpkin is a berry in the cucurbitaceae family, which also includes melons, cucumbers, squash and gourds. All these plants are native to the Americas.

    Halloween is the 2nd most commercially successful holiday, with Christmas being the first. People spend as much as over $2.5 billion during Halloween on candies, costumes, decorations and parties. Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States. 

    Chocolate candy bars top the list as the most popular candy for trick-or-treaters with Snickers . 

    It is believed that the Irish began the tradition of Trick or Treating. In preparation for All Hallow’s Eve, Irish townsfolk would visit neighbors and ask for contributions of food for a feast in the town. 

    The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween night. They began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human. 

    Black cats were once believed to be witch’s familiars who protected their powers.

    Samhainophobia is an intense fear of Halloween.

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    for some Halloween Reading please visit

    Anita’s Owl Creek Bridge

    or

    Mrs. Parson’s House

    Guess What This Is?

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    WRONG!

    It’s a CAKE!

    It’s Kitty Litter Cake and I got the Recipe and Picture from

    Spooky Times

    So give it a try….it’s YUMMY.

    Ingredients:

    1 German chocolate cake mix
    1 white cake mix
    1 large pkg vanilla instant pudding mix
    1 pkg vanilla sandwich cookies
    Green food coloring
    12 small Tootsie Rolls
    1 NEW kitty litter pan
    1 NEW plastic kitty litter pan liner
    1 NEW Pooper Scooper

    Directions:

    Prepare cake mixes and bake according to directions (any size pans). Prepare pudding mix and chill until ready to assemble. Crumble white sandwich cookies in small batches in food processor, scraping often. Set aside all but about 1/4 cup. To the 1/4 cup cookie crumbs, add a few drops green food coloring and mix using 5. When cakes are cooled to room temperature, crumble into a large bowl. Toss with half the remaining white cookie crumbs and the chilled pudding. (Mix in just enough of the pudding to moisten it. You don’t want it soggy. Combine gently).

    Line new, clean kitty litter box. Put mixture into litter box. Put three unwrapped Tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until soft and pliable. Shape ends so they are no longer blunt, curving slightly. Repeat with 3 more Tootsie rolls and bury in mixture. Sprinkle the other half of cookie crumbs over top.

    Scatter the green cookie crumbs lightly over the top. (This is supposed to look like the chlorophyll in kitty litter.) Heat 3 Tootsie Rolls in the microwave until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake; sprinkle with cookie crumbs. Spread remaining Tootsie Rolls over the top; take one and heat until pliable, hang it over the side of the kitty litter box, sprinkling it lightly with cookie crumbs. Place the box on a newspaper and sprinkle a few of the cookie crumbs around.

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