With the trees full of golden leaves and a cold chill in the air, it must be fall.
That means Halloween! Since this great day is just around the corner Id like to
relate what I can of Humphrey Clinker to autumn.
On page 233 Humphrey encounters “The Admiral” who is described as atleast
ninety, deaf, but still incredibly spry. Humphrey thinks the old man is some sort
of monster or witch and runs back to the house as fast as possible, and is only
able to explain the whole thing after a bit of whiskey.
Halloween is Scotland was orginally known as Samhain, or summers end, and
was celebrated for three days after sunset October 31st. Fire was a dominant
feature and the individual house fires would be put out and relit from communal
bonfires. Time and the normality of our world was supposedly changed allowing
faires and mysical creature to interact on our plane of existence. When the
Romans arrived the two traditions began to merge. Late it merged with
christianity and was called All Hallows’ Day or All Souls’ Day.
Naturally a land that provided the world one of the scariest days of the year
would probably scare anyone let alone a rather simple Humphrey Clinker. Now
Im reevaluating my costume- all I need is a long beard and a creepy plaid
nightgown.
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
The Edible Eighteenth Century 
With the trees full of golden leaves and a cold chill in the air, it must be fall. That means Halloween! Since this great day is just around the corner Id like to relate what I can of Humphrey Clinker to autumn.
On page 233 Humphrey encounters “The Admiral” who is described as atleast ninety, deaf, but still incredibly spry. Humphrey thinks the old man is some sort of monster or witch and runs back to the house as fast as possible, and is only able to explain the whole thing after a bit of whiskey. Later on 241-242 Winny describes ghost, faires, and other traditions. Then finally there is the Duke’s Dinner party with the whole Lishamahago ghost whipping affar.
Halloween is Scotland was orginally known as Samhain, or summers end, and was celebrated for three days after sunset October 31st. Fire was a dominant feature and the individual house fires would be put out and relit from communal bonfires. Time and the normality of our world was supposedly changed allowing faires and mysical creature to interact on our plane of existence. When the Romans arrived the two traditions began to merge. Late it merged with christianity and was called All Hallows’ Day or All Souls’ Day.
Naturally a land that provided the world one of the scariest days of the year would probably scare anyone let alone a rather simple Humphrey Clinker. Now Im reevaluating my costume- all I need is a long beard and a creepy plaid nightgown.
After reading your comment I was constantly thinking of taste (preference) and how materialistic things can determine ones personal judgement of another. We can relate to this even with swifts opinions on all these materialistic things a woman does to be beautiful. But this also makes me think of beauty , doesn’t if something is beautiful depend on the person who is making this observation and their Taste? Humphrey to tabitha was completely disgusting and judged who he was based off it. I was watching taboo the other day and there was an episode where in china people were experimenting by putting insulin in their foreheads until they had a huge ball on their head. The insulin would go away after a day but it made me wonder just like Halloween , do we alter ourselves in particular bcs normally people are too scared too?