I got an email from Jeanne Flemming today. Since I'm receiving a press pass for the Parade (I wrote about it earlier), I got press information, too. Let me use this to put you a bit more into Halloween mood. But first my German readers need to learn some uncommon vocabulary. At least this is what I had to look up. You cannot get into Halloween mood when searching a dictionary, you learn this first! :-)
ember - gluehende kohle
hearth - feuerstelle
rekindle - wiederaufleben
gourds - kuerbisflasche
This year's theme is:
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The Village Hearth
In Celtic times, folks celebrated the last night of Autumn by gathering around a communal fire and then carrying home embers from that fire to rekindle each hearth in the village. Villagers carried the glowing embers in hollowed gourds. From this rite of renewal was born the enduring symbol of Halloween, the Jack-O-Lantern.
Today, the Villagers of the Halloween Parade still take their coals from its communal fire, The Parade, to rekindle its spirit in their own hearths throughout the year. Each improbable story, each other-worldly mask, costume, and each spontaneous step of the dance is an ember, a piece of the collective made personal.
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The Official Village Halloween Parade Puppeteers--Superior Concept Monsters- have created a Giant Cauldron attended by Jack-o-Lantern Giant Puppets and hundreds of smaller Lanterns to enact this ritual of the communal made personal.
Another picture from last year.