HP029: Bobby Fischer

HP029: Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer chess genius and paranoid anti-American. This is a request from David Potesta in Chicago, IL.

Links:

Further Reading:

Welcome to another edition of historypodcast. Before I get started I would like to apologize for all mispronounciations within this podcast. I am no history expert just someone who enjoys learning about history and decided to share what I learn via podcasting. I hope you all enjoy this episode. It is a request from David Potesta in Chicago, IL.

Robert James “Bobby” Fischer was born March 9, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois to Regina Wender a naturalized American Citizen of Jewish Polish ancestry who was born in Switzerland and raised in St. Louis Missouri. Regina later became a teacher, registered nurse and physician. Fischer’s father, reportedly Regina’s first husband was Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, a German biophysicist. Regina and Hans married in 1993 in Moscow, USSR. Although, Hans is listed as Fischer’s biological father on the birth certificate, evidence from the FBI and an article from The Philadelphia Inquirer state that Fischer’s real father was Paul Felix Nemenyi, a Hungarian Jewish physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project. Paul paid child support for Fischer from his birth into his childhood. Despite his mother being Jewish Fischer denied being of Jewish decent in several public interviews. In 1945 Regina and Hans divorced and Fischer went to live with his mother and older sister Joan. In May 1949 Fischer, then six years old, learned how to play chess from instructions found in a chess set that his sister had bought at the candy store below their family’s Brooklyn, New York apartment.

At age 7, he joined the Brooklyn Chess Club and was taught by club president, Carmine Nigro. When Fischer was 13 his mother asked John W. Collins, who had taught other professional players like Robert Byrne and William Lombardy. They spent a lot of time together. According to high school records Fischer’s IQ was 180. Despite his obvious intelligence he dropped out of Erasmus Hall High School, where teachers described him as “difficult”.

Fischer’s first real triumph was at the US Junior Chess Championship in July 1956. In 1957 at the US Open Chess Championship Fischer won over Arthur Bisguier. By winning that championship he was invited to the US Championship, which many thought Fischer was not ready for. In 1958 he became US champion. At age 14 he holds the record for being the youngest to hold the title. He would also become the youngest Grandmaster at that time, a title that was taken away from him in 1991.

Fischer won all 8 US Championships he competed in. That string of wins includes one were he had an 11-0 record, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament.

In 1962 Fischer began to listen to The World Tomorrow radio program with Herbert W. Armstrong and his son Gardner Ted Armstrong. Fischer stated in an interview that he had two lives the one devoted to religion and the one devoted to chess.

Fischer finally played Boris Spassky, the then world champion, in a game played July through September 1972. The match took place in Reykjavík, Iceland. Fischer lost the first two games then won seven of the next 19. The final score was 12.5 – 8.5. Fischer had won.

Fischer denounced the World of Tomorrow program and its ideas in 1972 after Herbert W. Armstrongs prophices did not come true and Garner Ted Armstrong was involved in several sex scandals.

In America chess suddenly became cool. Everyone knew the name Fischer even those with no knowledge of chess. In a time commonly called the “Fischer Boom” the membership of the United States Chess Federation tripled. There are several books and a movie pertaining to Fischer. They are listed on the website.

In 1975 the time came for Fischer to defend his title. Before he would play he had several demands. All but two of the demands were met. Fichser refused to compermise and would not play in the championship. Fishcer then dissapeared from the chess world and would not surface for 20 years.

In 1981 Fischer was mistaken as a wanted bank robber and arrested. He wrote a pamphlet under the name Robert D. James entitled I was Tortured in the Pasadena Jailhouse! The pamphlet states that he was handled brutally by police officers and falsely accused of damaging prison property, a mattress.

Fischer emerged from his self-imposed isolation in 1992 to play a revenge match against Spassky. It took place in Yougslovia despite a UN embargo which included a sanction on sports events. The US warned Fischer that if he played he would be arrested. Fischer played and won the event. An arrest warent was obtained for Fischer. Fischer has not played a competitive game since this match.

In various intervews Fischer has made his anti-american sentiments clear.

On July 13, 2004 Fischer was arrested for using a revoked US passport to try to board a flight from Japan to the Philippines. Fischer renounced his US citizenship a month later and it was reported that he would be marring the President of the Japanese Chess Association. Japan had an agreement in place with the US to extradite. And they would extradite Fischer, so in January 2005, seeking ways to avoid deporation he wrote a letter to the government of Iceland asking for citizenship. Iceland granted Fischer an alien’s passport, but this failed to satisfy Japanese authorities. In late March the Iceland parliament granted Fischer full citizenship.

While Iceland has a similar extradition treaty with the US it does not include Icelandic citizens.

I hope you enjoyed this episode of historypodcast. Please visit the website to learn more about Bobby Fischer. The site can be found at historypodcast.blogspot.com. And you can email your feedback and show suggestions to historypodcast@gmail.com and don’t forget to visit the forums and participate in the converstations there. I will also post the transcript of this episode there in the members section. Thank you all very much for listening!

Bobby Fischer chess genius and paranoid anti-American. This is a request from David Potesta in Chicago, IL.

HP027: Bloody Mary

HP027: Bloody Mary

Hear about the Queen, the Drink and the folklore.

Links:

Further Reading

In searching for information relating to Bloody Mary I found: The cocktail, Mary I of England, and the folklore ghost.

Lets briefly cover each of these subjects…

The Cocktail

It contains vodka, tomato juice and usually some other additions like Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, consommé, horseradish, celery and the list goes on, but I will stop there. You get the idea. There is no known connection of the cocktail to the other subjects of its namesake.

Bartender, Fernand Petiot of Harry’s New York Bar in Paris claims to have invented the drink some time during the 1920s. Says Petiot, “One of the boys suggested we call the drink “Bloody Mary” because it reminded him of the Bucket of Blood Club in Chicago, and a girl there named Mary.”

Variants of the drink:

  • If the drink is served without the vodka, it is called a Virgin Mary or a Bloody Shame.
  • When tequila is used instead of vodka, it is known as a “Bloody Maria”.
  • When sake is used instead of vodka, it is known as a “Bloody Geisha”.
  • When beer, usually Mexican beer, is used instead of vodka, it is known as a “Michelada”.
  • When beef bouillon is used instead of tomato juice, it is known as a “Bullshot”.

Mary I of England

Also known as Mary Tudor was born February 18, 1516 and died November 17, 1558. She was Queen of England from July 6, 1553 until her death, but in practice she retired from her queenly duties on July 19, 1553. She is often confused with her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots.

Mary, the fourth and next to last monarch of the Tudor dynasty is most remembered for her attempt to return England from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. She earned her name by executing about 300 religious dissenters.

Mary was born to Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. She was the fifth child. Henry and Catherine were lucky that Mary made it through childbirth and childhood as her five siblings either died before birth or very early in the lives. Mary was born at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich. She was a very bright girl, but was plagued by poor eyesight, sinuses and headaches. Some speculate that her sickness may have been a congenital syphilis transferred to her from her mother.

Henry gave Mary her own court at Ludlow Castle and many other allowances that would have normally been given to a Prince. Henry was disappointed that his wife was unable to produce a healthy son for him.

Henry decided to get an annulment from Catherine so he might try to have a child with another woman. In 1533, Henry secretly married Anne Boleyn. Shortly thereafter, the Archbishop of Canterbury formally declared the marriage with Catherine null and void. Henry broke from the Catholic Church and acknowledged himself as the “Supreme Head” of the Church of England.

Meanwhile, Mary lost her status as a Princess because of the annulment and was reduced to a Lady. The illegitimate Mary lost her place in succession and was replace with Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Queen Anne. The Lady Mary was expelled from the Royal Court; her servants were dismissed from her service, and she was forced to serve as a lady-in-waiting under the Queen Anne’s aunt, the Lady Shelton, to her own infant half-sister Elizabeth, then living in Hatfield. She was not permitted to see her mother Catherine, or attend her funeral in 1536. Her treatment and the hatred Queen Anne had for her was perceived as unjust; all Europe, furthermore, regarded her as the only true heir and daughter of Henry VIII, although she was illegitimate under English law.

Queen Anne was beheaded in 1536 and her daughter Princess Elizabeth was also demoted to Lady and removed from her place in succession. Henry then married Jane Seymour, who died shortly after giving birth to Prince Edward, Duke of Cornwall. In order to regain favor with the Henry, Mary denounced the Catholic church and acknowledged her father as the head of the church of England. In turn, Henry allowed Lady Mary to reside in royal palaces and granted her a household. Henry’s sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, was able to bring the family closer together, again improving the Lady Mary’s position.

In 1544 an act of Parliament returned Lady Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession. However, they were still illegitimate. In 1547 Henry died and Edward took over as England’s first Protestant Monarch. Lady Mary asked to worship privately and was denied, she appealed to Emperor Charles V. Charles threatened war with England if Mary could not practice her faith. Lady Mary was soon able to continue her private worship.

King Edward died in 1553. In his will he had stipulated that Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth should be excluded from the line of succession. This contradicted the 1544 Act that Parliament had passed. Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen on July 6, 1553. This was a very unpopular decision and the masses had to be quieted by force. One small boy was heard hailing “Queen Mary” for this outburst both his ears were cut off. The masses would not have to wait for long for their rightful Queen, on July 19 Jane’s accession was deemed illegal and Mary was crowned Queen.

Mary’s first act as Queen was to release Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk and Stephen Gardiner from imprisonment in the Tower of London (more on who they were on the website).

Mary initially set Jane Grey free as well as her father, Henry Grey 1st Duke of Suffolk. The Duke of Northumberland was not so lucky he was immediately executed for high treason.

Now Queen Mary turned her attention to getting a husband. The Spanish prince Philip was suggested to Mary. Her rejection of this idea started insurrections across the country. The Duke of Suffolk once again proclaimed his daughter Jane Grey as Queen. A rebellion led by Sir Thomas Wyatt was crushed when it reached the gates of London. The Duke and his daughter were both convicted of high treason and executed. If the rebellion had been successful Lady Elizabeth would have been Queen. For this reason she was imprisoned in the Tower of London, then after 2 months she was put under house arrest in Woodstock Palace.

Mary & Philip were wed on July 25 1554. As per the terms of the marriage treaty Philip was written in on all official documents as King of England. However, Philips powers were very limited. Mary fell in love with Philip but he did not reciprocate. After only 14 months he left for Spain under a false excuse. Mary thought she had become pregnant but soon found out it was not true.

With no husband around and no child coming Mary busied herself with her religion again. Edward had established Protestantism and Mary wished to return to Roman Catholicism. She started by promoting her good friend Reginald Pole to Archbishop after executing his predecessor. Many more were to die in the Marian Persecutions. The persecution against Protestants and dissenters lasted almost 4 years. This is when Mary earned the title of Bloody Mary.

Sometime between March and July of 1557 Philip persuaded Mary to join in the Italian Wars. Mary was very disappointed at the loss of Calais a city in Northern France.

Mary died on November 17, 1558 of influenza, uterine cancer or ovarian cancer at St. James’s Palace. Mary is buried in Westminster Abbey beside Elizabeth. The Latin inscription on their tomb translates to “Partners both in Throne and grave, here rest we two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of one resurrection”.

In folklore, Bloody Mary is the name of a children’s game, which a ghost or witch of the same name is said to appear in a mirror when summoned. A common way participants attempt to make her appear is to stand before a mirror in the dark and repeat her name three times. Some include chanting a hundred times, spinning around, or rubbing one’s eyes. In some versions of the legend, the summoner must say “Bloody Mary, I killed your son!” In these variants, Bloody Mary is often believed to be the spirit of a mother who murdered her children, or a woman who was murdered shortly before or after her wedding.

Bloody Mary Worth is typically described as a child-murderess who lived in the locality where the legend has taken root about a century ago. There is often a specific local graveyard or tombstone that becomes attached to the legend.

On the other hand, various people have surmised that the lore about taunting Bloody Mary about her baby may relate her tenuously to folklore about Queen Mary I. The queen’s life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies.

HP026: Halloween

HP026: Halloween

Halloween’s orgin’s trace all the way back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain…. Learn more about Halloween’s Origins, Modern Halloween, The Evolution of Halloween as a Holiday, The history of the Jack-O’Lantern, Haloween around the world, Mischief Night, and other random Halloween Facts.

See the script of this show, a recipe for BramBrack, Pumpkin Trivia, and a link to the original War of the World’s broadcast.

This is episode 26 of HistoryPodcast for Thursday, October 27, 2005.

Happy Halloween everybody! And welcome to a very special themed episode of HistoryPodcast. The music you hear in the background is the very talented Kelly Cavagnuolo. Three of her songs will be played during this podcast as well as a song from retail called Halloween. Please check the show notes at historypodcast.blogspot.com for links to the music. If you like this themed episode and would like to hear more please email me at historypodcast@gmail.com. There will also be special information regarding this episode in the members only section of the fourms.

Halloween Origins

Halloween’s orgin’s trace all the way back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1st. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death.

Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundaries between the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to Earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly made it easier for the Druids of Celtic priests, to make predictions of the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints’ Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints’, All Saints’, and All Souls’, were called Hallowmas.

Modern Times

In more modern times, the American tradition of “trick-or-treating” probably dates back to the early All Souls’ Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for their promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives.

The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as “going a-souling” was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money.

The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, for the many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.

The Evolution of Halloween as a Holiday

As European immigrants came to America, they brought their varied Halloween customs with them. Because of the rigid Protestant belief systems that characterized early New England, celebration of Halloween in colonial times was extremely limited there.

It was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups, as well as the American Indians, meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance, and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland’s potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women believed that, on Halloween, they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings, or mirrors.

In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers, than about ghosts, pranks, and witchcraft.

At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season, and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations. Because of their efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.

By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time. By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated. Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6.9 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday.

Pumpkin Trivia

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Pumpkins But Were Afraid To Ask…

– Pumpkins are fruits. A pumpkin is a type of squash and is a member of the gourd family (Cucurbitacae), which also includes squash, cucumbers, gherkins, and melons.

– The largest pumpkin pie ever baked was in 2003 and weighed 418 pounds.

– Pumpkins have been grown in North America for five thousand years. They are indigenous to the western hemisphere.

– In 1584, after French explorer Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence region of North America, he reported finding “gros melons.” The name was translated into English as “pompions,” which has since evolved into the modern “pumpkin.”

– Pumpkins are low in calories, fat, and sodium and high in fiber. They are good sources of Vitamin A, Vitamin B, potassium, protein, and iron.

– The largest pumpkin ever grown was 1,337 pounds. It was grown by Charles Houghton of New Boston, New Hampshire.

– Pumpkin seeds should be planted between the last week of May and the middle of June. They take between 90 and 120 days to grow and are picked in October when they are bright orange in color. Their seeds can be saved to grow new pumpkins the next year.

History Of The Jack-O’Lantern

Pumpkin carving is a popular part of modern America’s Halloween celebration. Despite the widespread carving that goes on in this country every autumn, few Americans really know why or when the jack o’lantern tradition began.

People have been making jack o’lanterns at Halloween for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.” According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.

Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack O’Lantern.”

In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Jack’s lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. In England, large beets are used. Immigrants from these countries brought the jack o’lantern tradition with them when they came to the United States. They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to America, make perfect jack o’lanterns.

Around The World

Halloween, one of the world’s oldest holidays, is still celebrated today in several countries around the globe.

The autumn rite is commemorated in the United Kingdom, although with a surprising and distinctive British twist. In Mexico, Latin America, and Spain, All Souls’ Day, the third day of the three-day Hallowmas observance, is the most important part of the celebration for many people. In Ireland and Canada, Halloween, which was once a frightening and superstitious time of year, is celebrated much as it is here in the United States, with trick-or-treating, costume parties, and fun for all ages.

El Dia De Los Muertos

In Mexico, Latin America, and Spain, All Souls’ Day, which takes place on November 2, is commemorated with a three-day celebration that begins on the evening of October 31. The celebration is designed to honor the dead who, it is believed, return to their earthly homes on Halloween. Many families construct an altar to the dead in their homes to honor deceased relatives and decorate it with candy, flowers, photographs, samples of the deceased’s favorite foods and drinks, and fresh water. Often, a wash basin and towel are left out so that the spirit can wash before indulging in the feast.

Candles and incense are burned to help the deceased find the way home. Relatives also tidy the gravesites of their departed family members. This can include snipping weeds, making repairs, and painting. The grave is then decorated with flowers, wreaths, or paper streamers. On November 2, relatives gather at the gravesite to picnic and reminisce. Some gatherings even include tequila and a mariachi band! Celebrations honoring departed loved ones and family members are found as far back as ancient Egyptian times.

Guy Fawkes Day

On the evening of November 5, bonfires are lit throughout England. Effigies are burned and fireworks are set off. Although it falls around the same time and has some similar traditions, this celebration has little to do with Halloween or the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The English, for the most part, stopped celebrating Halloween as Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation began to spread. As followers of the new religion did not believe in saints, they had no reason to celebrate the eve of All Saints’ Day. However, a new autumn ritual did emerge. Guy Fawkes Day festivities were designed to commemorate the execution of a notorious English traitor, Guy Fawkes.

On November 5, 1606, Fawkes was executed after being convicted of attempting to blow up England’s parliament building. Fawkes was a member of a Catholic group who wanted to remove the Protestant King James from power. The original Guy Fawkes Day was celebrated right after his execution. The first bonfires, which were called “bone fires,” were set up to burn effigies and symbolic “bones” of the Catholic pope. It was not until two centuries later that effigies of the pope were replaced with those of Guy Fawkes. In addition to making effigies to be burned in the fires, children in some parts of England also walk the streets carrying an effigy or “guy” and ask for “a penny for the guy,” although they keep the money for themselves. This is as close to the American practice of “trick-or-treating” as can be found in England today. Guy Fawkes Day was even celebrated by the pilgrims at the first settlement at Plymouth. However, as the young nation began to develop its own history, Guy Fawkes was celebrated less frequently and eventually died out.
Where It All Began

In Ireland, where Halloween originated, the day is still celebrated much as it is in the United States. In rural areas, bonfires are lit as they were in the days of the Celts, and all over the country. The next morning Druids would give an ember from their fires to each family who would then take it home to start a new cooking fire. These fires were intended to keep the homes warm and free from evil spirits such as “Sidhe” (pronounced “shee,” most notable of which are the beán sidhe or banshees).

Children there dress up in costumes and spend the evening “trick-or-treating” in their neighborhoods. After trick-or-treating, most people attend parties with neighbors and friends. At the parties, many games are played, including “snap-apple,” a game in which an apple on a string is tied to a doorframe or tree and players attempt to bite the hanging apple. In addition to bobbing for apples, parents often arrange treasure hunts, with candy or pastries as the “treasure.” The Irish also play a card game where cards are laid face down on a table with candy or coins underneath them. When a child chooses a card, he receives whatever prize is found below it.

A traditional food eaten on Halloween is barnbrack, a kind of fruitcake that can be bought in stores or baked at home. A muslin-wrapped treat is baked inside the cake that, it is said, can foretell the eater’s future. If a ring is found, it means that the person will soon be wed; a piece of straw means that a prosperous year is on its way. Children are also known to play tricks on their neighbors, such as “knock-a-dolly,” a prank in which children knock on the doors of their neighbors, but run away before the door is opened.

Mischief Night

The night before Halloween, known in some areas as “Mischief Night”, “Gate Night”, “Cabbage Night”, “Goosie Night (Goosy,Goosey)” or “Devil’s Night,” is often associated with pranks or destructive activities performed by adolescents. A dialect survey begun in 1999 by Harvard University indicates that there are a number of terms for this particular day of the year, but that the vast majority (70.38%) have no special word for it.

Perhaps the most elaborate example of a Mischief Night prank was Orson Welles’ radio dramatization of The War of the Worlds, originally aired on October 30, 1938. Welles’ broadcast, which purported to be a live newscast detailing the invasion of the United States by Martians, was accepted as real by many listeners and created a public panic in some areas of the country.

Random Facts

Anoka, Minnesota, USA, the self-proclaimed “Halloween Capital of the World,” celebrates with a large civic parade.

Halloween is also called Pooky Night in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the púca, a mischievous spirit.

In Scotland, children or guisers are likely to recite “The sky is blue, the grass is green, may we have our Halloween” instead of “trick or treat!”, they will then have to impress the members of the houses they visit with a song, trick, joke or dance in order to earn their treats.

Before indoor plumbing was so widespread, tipping over or displacing outhouses was a popular Halloween prank.

In an interesting19th-century Ireland game, young women placed slugs in saucers sprinkled with flour. The wriggling of the slugs and the patterns subsequently left behind on the saucers were believed to portray the faces of the women’s future spouses. Ewww.

In North America, unmarried women were frequently told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror. However, if they were destined to die before they married, a skull would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards from the late nineteenth century.

Well, that is all we have for this episode. Please let me know what you thought of this special themed episode at the forums or via email at historypodcast@gmail.com. Also, I’m try to put together a Christmas list for history nerds. Please submit what is on your christmas list to our email address or in the forums. Thank you all very much for subscribing to this podcast and making it so much fun for me to produce. I will see you all in a week if not before.

Links

BramBrack Recipe – http://www.barrys-tea.com/recipes/bread/barm_brack.html

Orson Welles – War of the Worlds http://www.z000.org/Daten/TRANSPORTER/fo….he%20Worlds.mp3

Music Played on this Episode:

Kelly Cavagnuolo – Convicted

Kelly Cavagnuolo – Limbo

Kelly Cavagnuolo – Haunted

retail – halloween

Further Reading:

HP025: Shanghai Ghetto

HP025: Shanghai Ghetto

In the late 1930’s German Jews were trying to escape Nazi persecution, but country after country closed its doors to them. The only place in the world that didn’t require entrance visas was the international city of Shanghai. Fleeing for their lives, Jewish refugees journeyed to the exotic city, arriving penny-less and unprepared for life in the Far East. They thought that soon they would find a way to go back to the world they had left. Little did they know that WWII would change their lives forever.

Links:

HP022: Balkans Part I

HP022: Balkans Part I

It is a family Event, as My brother-in-law provides the content and since I am sick my wife fills in her voice which you might recognize from the intro music.

Batakovic, Dusan T. The Balkan Piedmont: Serbia and the Yugoslav Question. Institute for Balkan Studies Belgrade. Available: 24 February 2000.

Fay, Sidney. After Sarajevo: The Origins of the World War. Vol. II. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1966.

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HP021: Fukuzawa Yukichi

HP021: Fukuzawa Yukichi

Another guest podcast from Tom Barker. Fukuzawa Yukichi was an author, motivational speaker, and political theorist whose enlightened ideas about government and social institutions made a lasting impression on a rapidly changing Japan during the period known as the Meiji Era. Please send your feedback about this episode to HistoyPodcast@gmail.com

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