Ditto to the anti Halloween, thankfully we live on a hill with quite a long drive so the little darlings don't bother us.

Very interesting. I never heard Halloween called Samhain before. No doubt the time for Harvest end was a time to celebrate. I suppose preserving and guarding foods from animals etc. was a major task at this time of year. I find the " Celtic " definition of Samhain interesting. It is literally our word for 'November'. Even the exact spelling. But it is far removed from " End of Summer", in Irish anyway. That would read Deireadh an tSamhraidh, pronounced something like "Derra on Sowra".

Yes, the harvest but just as importantly, remembering the dead. Here, we have Toussaint on the 1st November when families go and decorate the graveyards and spend the day together. The Bretons have Ankou who is the grim reaper and doesn't exist in most of France. I love these old festivals.

All Saints Day when the Chrysanths are put on the graves here in the Charente

Yes, Bryn. Toussaint

Hey Randa,

Sam Hain, my grandfather had a friend whose name was Hammond Pickles, he had a shop in South Shields with his name over the door!!

Toussaint or All Saint Day the Chrysanths is the speciality

Yes. My first autumn here, I bought some to out in the garden and Yann was horrified lol. I had no idea.

La Toussaint
The 1st November is All Saints day, and it’s a bank holiday. The 2nd of the day of the dead. To celebrate all Saints day, French people put Chrysanthéme flowers (Chrysanthemum flower) on the tomb of their loved ones that have passed away. This tradition started after the first world war when a famous general called Clemenceau ask French people to flower the tomb of the fallen soldiers.
This flower is chosen as it survives frost better than other.
Even know this flower is beautiful, it would be very wrong to offer this flower to someone who is alive!!
Some friends of mine (British) were invited to their French neighbour for dinner and offered some to the lady of the house who was very surprised!!and not amused!