Professor Butter Beard, Samhain and Daniel Maclise’s “Snap-Apple Night”
“I was born on the night of Samhain, when the barrier between the worlds is whisper-thin and when magic, old magic, sings its heady and sweet song to anyone who cares to hear it.” ― Carolyn MacCullough, “Once a Witch”
My ghosts are checking in. I arrive home at night from campus and I see Bruno’s big brown pumpkin face in the window, waiting for a hip rub and a treat. I’m also pretty sure I’ve recently witnessed private doggie conversations between him and Nellie as she stands and studies his favorite sleeping chair in the corner of the bedroom. I wake from dreams of my Grandma Mac talking to her collection of small wooden carved men and women on her fireplace mantel, and I immediately bake her biscuits – even before coffee. And dear Daryl keeps knockin’ on my noggin, asking if it is time yet for another “Dark Shadows” binge-watch.
It must be Samhain.
Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “sow-win,” as Frankenhendrix lovingly continues to remind me) is a pagan religious festival originating from an ancient Celtic spiritual tradition. It is usually celebrated from October 31 to November 1 to welcome in the harvest and usher in “the dark half of the year.” Celebrants believe that the barriers between the physical world and the spirit world break down during Samhain, allowing more interaction between humans and inhabitants of the “Otherworld.”
Ancient Celts marked Samhain as the most significant of the four quarterly fire festivals, taking place at the midpoint between the fall equinox and the winter solstice. During this time of year, hearth fires in family homes were left to burn out while the harvest was gathered. After the harvest work was complete, celebrants joined with Druid priests to light a community fire using a wheel that would cause friction and spark flames. The wheel was considered a representation of the sun, and the resulting flames were accompanied by the soulful sounds of chanting prayers. Cattle were sacrificed, and participants took a flame from the communal bonfire back to their home to relight the hearth.
As the Middle Ages progressed, so did the celebrations of the fire festivals. Bonfires known as “Samghnagans,” which were more personal Samhain fires nearer the farms, became a tradition, purportedly to protect families from fairies and witches. Carved turnips called Jack-o-lanterns began to appear, attached by strings to sticks and embedded with coal. Later, it was the Irish who modified this tradition and switched to carving pumpkins instead.
As Christianity gained a foothold in pagan communities, church leaders attempted to “reframe” Samhain as a Christian celebration. The first attempt was by Pope Boniface in the 5th century. He moved the celebration to May 13th and specified it as a day to celebrate the Christian saints and martyrs. The pagan fire festivals of October and November, however, survived this decree. In the 9th century, Pope Gregory moved the celebration back to the time of the fire festivals, but declared it All Saints’ Day, on November 1st. All Souls’ Day would follow on November 2nd.
Neither new holiday fully did away with the original pagan aspects of the celebration. October 31st became known as All Hallows Eve, or Halloween, and contained much of the traditional pagan practices. For centuries in Ireland, “mumming” was the practice of putting on costumes, going door-to-door and singing songs to the dead. Home-made honey cakes were offered as payment. The masked participants would return to home and hearth and gather as a clan to celebrate with both the living and the dead. Nineteenth-century Americans adopted the autumnal holiday through the Irish immigrants bringing their traditions “across the pond.”
This week’s artwork, “Snap-Apple Night,” was painted by the Irish artist Daniel Maclise in 1833. Maclise reportedly told his best friend that he had been inspired by a clan’s Samhain gathering he had attended in Blarney, Ireland, in 1832. The caption (written by Maclise) in the first exhibition catalogue read, “There Peggy was dancing with Dan while Maureen the lead was melting to prove how their fortunes ran with the cards could Nancy dealt in; There was Kate, and her sweet-heart Will, in nuts their true-love burning. And poor Norah, though smiling still she'd missed the snap-apple turning on the festival of Hallow Eve.”
I easily imagine Nellie and me donning masks and capes and swirling into the clan’s celebration. Instead of honey cakes, I choose to offer a platter of homemade marshmallows to roast in the large family hearth or outside as the festive bonfires burn brightly and call out to our ghosts, inviting them to dance among us. These marshmallows are much easier to make then you could even imagine and can be enlivened with swirls of colors and enhanced with extracts to match the seasons (much different from the store-bought versions that I am sure were all made in 1912 alongside every package of Easter Peeps). Make a batch before your next bonfire and don’t forget to save a few for your visiting ghosts whose “magic, old magic, sings a heady and sweet song to anyone who cares to hear it.”
Hazelnut Marshmallows
32 large marshmallows
1 Tbsp softened butter (to prepare the pans)
6 envelopes unflavored gelatin
2 cups cold water, divided
3 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 ½ cups light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla paste
1 Tbsp hazelnut extract (or any extract of choice – try peppermint for the winter holidays)
Food coloring (for this version, I used orange)
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1) Use the softened butter to grease two 8”x8” baking pans.
2) In a large saucepan (and using a candy thermometer) cook the sugar, salt, corn syrup and 1 cup of water until it reaches 245 degrees.
3) While your sugar mix rises to temperature, dissolve the packets of unflavored gelatin in the second 1 cup of water in the bowl of your standing mixer (with the whisk attachment).
4) When the sugar mix has reached 245 degrees, turn your mixer onto low speed and carefully pour in the hot syrup along the side of the bowl, being careful that it doesn’t hit the whip attachment.
5) Once all the syrup is in the bowl, turn the speed up to high and let it mix for about 12-15 minutes. The resulting marshmallow will be light, fluffy and now cool enough for you to add in the vanilla paste and any flavoring extracts.
6) Remove the bowl from the mixer and dot the food coloring on the top. Fold in with a spatula to create streaks of color. Divide the marshmallow between the two pans and allow it to sit for several hours, or preferably, overnight.
7) Sift a generous amount of confectioner’s sugar onto a work surface and use the tip of a knife to cut around the edges of the pan to release the marshmallow. To unmold the marshmallow, you will have to pull it out of the pan with your fingertips. It will be sticky, but it will pull out in one piece. Dust the top with confectioner’s sugar. Butter the edges of a long knife and cut each marshmallow into 16 large squares. Toss the squares in a bowl of sifted confectioner’s sugar to cover all the cut edges.
8) The marshmallows will stay fresh for four days in an air-tight container.
