countdown to halloween: the peanuts book of pumpkin carols (3)

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Pumpkin Wonderland

While out in the pumpkin patch, you can play fun games involving a dash of romance with other vegetables growing nearby. Take this suggestion from the "Hallow-e'en" chapter of Mary E. Blain's 1909 guide to merriment, Games For All Occasions:

PULLED KALE
All are blindfolded and go out singly or hand-in-hand to garden. Groping about they pull up first stalk of kale or head of cabbage. If stalk comes up easily the sweetheart will be easy to win; if the reverse, hard to win. The shape of the stump will hint at figure of prospective wife or husband. Its length will suggest age. If much soil clings to it, life-partner will be rich; if not, poor. Finally, the stump is carried home and hung over door, first person outside of family who passed under it will bear a name whose initial is same as that of sweetheart.

The Halloween Song

Even with the change of season, it's not the same without the chestnuts roasting on an open fire. I'd suggest roasting pumpkin seeds, but the wrath of the Great Pumpkin might fall on me. Maybe this carol should have been sent back to its original writer, Mel Torme, for revisions.

Also of note: Charlie Brown is depicted in a clown costume, not a hole-riddled sheet. While he hoped this would lead to fewer rocks in his sack while trick-or-treating, the good ol' Charlie Brown luck reared its head again.

To be continued...

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