PAU.ER.AU SKA
Dorothy M. Bell, Editor
Published cvory Thursday at Palmor, Alaska, for the Matanuska Valley Farmers’ '
Cooperating Association for the purposo of giving news of tho Associations Work,
Probloms and Accomplishments.
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10/
HALLOWEEN
Today Halloween is a rollicking playtimo, but it has not always been so; The cvc of
Ha11oweon had its origin with the eve of "All Saint’s Day," The mystic rites with
vihich it is now observed originated with the Druids, Holy -.vc, the /Igil of oamhain,
or Celtic Lord of Death, is still celebrated in Ireland on October 31, According to
an old legend, an assembly occurrod of the wouls which had boon condemned to assume
animal forms during the year. It was also believed that the goblins and fairies be
come visiblo to man on this eve as they roamed through the dark night.
This was the time when the Druids’also celebrated their harvest festival and they
performed many strange ceremonies. Some of tho ritC3 associated with the Homan Festi
val of Pomona, Goddess of the Harfrost, were added lator. Many of these rites are
still in practice as for instance, tho custom of bobbing for applos, roasting chest
nuts, the pumpkin’s place in Halloween festivities.
During tho Middle Ages, the idea developed that Iiallowocn was tho time when ghosts and
witches were abroad. Tho idea was that on this occasion, the human spirit was enabled
by supernatural power to dotach itself from tho body and wandor through the realms of
spaoc. The witch and tho black cat became traditional companions of the night. Tho
witch also hnd t’he power to turn herself into a black cat nine time\ hence tho legend
of bho nine lives of a cat. This time of the year becamo the most opportune time for
fortune tolling or looking into tho future. This was especially held true in the ease
of one’s love affairs and mystics of tho unknown.
Just how the jacR-o-lnntcrn carved from the-pumpkin came into the1 picture is unknown.
There is a story,howovor, of a miser named Jack, who was condemned to walk the earth
with a lantern until the Day'of Judgment, and it ifc thought that this nay in some way
be tho origin of this custom.
This descriptive lore dates back to tho seventh century and has served as a rich back
ground to cxcito and stimulate tho imagination for tho weird and grotesquo creations.
Imagination is said to be one of'man’s greatest assots and it would be a drab world
if we lost this youthful instinct. Imagination is the ono thing that nakos the world
progress. It is called the soul of'•creation. In tho past it created for man an in-'
numerable amount of suporstitutions, but as civilization'has increased its knowledge,
it has served as a guido to the progress of civilization, Tho old suporstitutions
arc carried over only as emblems for fun making and entertainment in man’s busy world.
It would be tragic if man lost this part of the old civilization which today has be
come a rollicking playtirfo in a busy and scientific world.
T.TLL WE HIVE ENOUGH POOD FCIl TIE ".'INTEH?
It hr.s always boon the custon in Alaska to keep a goocl,supply of foodstuffs in' the
warehouses, but there is still a llnit*‘to her' long these supplios cm hold out, When’
v:c had One strike a yoar rith a duration of one to two noftths,..this, supply was ample,
Ilowovcr, when every two or three months sees a strike of either the shipping companies
or the longshoremen, it is rather hard to catOh up on supplies in between strikes, We
have no argument with labor’s right to strike, but it would seem that some satisfact
ory agreement could bo reached in much less time thaO it usually takes. This might
be'true, if there were other means of transportation'between here and Seattle, As it
is, the airplane freight is not sufficiently developed to offer strong .enough compe
tition, We have no railroads connecting us with the Sta'tos, and the Highway has not
been established long enough to havo developed trucking bn a largo scalo. Those arc
all possibilities for the not too distant futuro. Whon one shipping company no longer
holds a monopoly'on the transportation, things might be a little different for the
people of Alaska. ■„
The Valley Settler received-this week a copy of a letter written by the Fairbanks
Chamber of Commerce to: J.A. Erug, Soc. of tho Interior;'E.L. Bartlett,Del, to Congress:
Ernest Gruoning, Governor of Alaska; and Edwin G, Arnold,Director of Territories,
Cont, on page 5