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Halloween – A Little History

October 3, 2014

Also known as Hallowe’en, a contraction of “All Hallows’ Evening“, also known as All halloween or All Hallows’ Eve or All Saints’ Eve is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day. It initiates the triduum of Allhallo tide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed believers. Within Allhallowtide, the traditional focus of All Hallows’ Eve revolves around the theme of using “humor and ridicule to confront the power of death.”


According to many academic scholars, All Hallows’ Eve is a Christianized feast initially influenced by Celtic harvest festivals with possible pagan roots, particularly the Gaelic Samhain. Other academic scholars maintain that it originated independently of Samhain and has solely Christian roots.


Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related “guising”), attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted house attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of All Hallows’ Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, remain popular, although in other locations, these solemn customs are less pronounced in favor of a more commercialized and secularized celebration. Because many Western Christian denominations encourage, although no longer require, abstinence from meat on All Hallows’ Eve, the tradition of eating certain vegetarian foods for this vigil day developed, including the consumption of apples, colcannon, cider, potato pancakes, and soul cakes.

A group of elderly women are sitting around a table with plates of food

Toddlers and Centurions – Intergenerational Activities

April 1, 2021
They say “It takes a village to raise a child”; Knowledge, wisdom, and unconditional love by seniors have a lasting effect on children. Children can also bring happiness and smiles to seniors. We can reminisce about the past when extended families lived close together on the same street or in the same town and interacted frequently. Manor on the Hill (pre-pandemic) had a “Adopt a Grandparent Program” where preschool children came every month to do activities with the residents. This was the most popular activity for both generations. Meaningful activities between seniors and children can be fun and educational. Here are examples of things that the seniors can talk about bringing back nostalgic memories and educating the children at the same time: Tin of Spam: Most children will have no idea what it is however seniors will have memories of tinned meat that could be transported and stored without refrigeration. Rotary phone: Dialing numbers one-by-one, one mistake or busy line and had to start all over again Payphones and a dime in their penny-loafers to call home. Many may have used their dime for a treat at the corner store. Printed references like the phone book, TV Guide and an Encyclopedia set Gramophone records; Side A & B with a handful of songs Silent movies & news reals Rationing during the wars Games they played
A woman in a wheelchair is holding a certificate on the front page of a leominster champion newspaper

107 Year Young Manor Resident in Leominster Champion News

September 26, 2019
Norma Schofield, a resident of Manor On The Hill, celebrating her 107th birthday with family and friends. She also appeared in Leominster Champion Newspaper. Click here to read what her son has to say.
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