Tales From Burkeland: Tale 10
Stories are built on what-ifs. Those niggling little questions glided through my mind like ghosts through a haunted house as I researched this month’s Myths and Magic newsletter segment on Halloween folklore. Is it such a surprise? History and Halloween are rich soil for fantasy authors.
Pumpkin Spice Flavored History
This time of year, you can’t walk into a store without seeing pumpkin spice something for sale. The mixture of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger has become a staple of cozy fall nights. But during the Middle Ages those spices drove forces reshaping the world.
Native to Southeast Asia and the Spice Islands—now part of Indonesia—the ingredients to pumpkin spice powered trade that began in Asia, travelled to the Middle East and North Africa, then into Europe. Demand for the flavorful botanicals exploded. Monarchies and the wealthy funded seafaring expeditions to find the best trade routes and, if they were lucky, new sources of flavor.
It went far beyond food. The spice trade wove its way through the politics of European colonization. Desire for spices ran so hot that during the 1600s, the Dutch traded their American colony New Amsterdam to the British in exchange for Pulau Run, the spice island that grew nutmeg. The British agreed and renamed the colony New York.
This got me thinking about Arribia, an island nation in my Heirs Saga world. Arribian society is built around piracy, but what if the Arribians had products like nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger? How might the other nations’ desire for those products add another layer to my worldbuilding?
Halloween Pranks in the Gilded Age
During America’s Gilded Age, Halloween looked less like innocent fun and more like chaos.
Bands of rowdy boys stalked the countryside, stealing livestock gates, tipping over outhouses, and trapping livestock on barn roofs, to name a few of their antics. As the population shifted into cities, Halloween pranksters became more destructive. They set fires, broke windows, and tripped pedestrians.
Pranks could become elaborate, sometimes with deadly consequences. One account tells of boys waxing streetcar tracks in Kansas City, causing one car to slide backward into another, killing a conductor.
Society mostly saw the pranks as harmless. A way to blow off steam during the vast economic inequality and societal conflict of the Gilded Age. But as the violence and destruction increased, people’s views shifted. By the early 1900s, newspapers called for the pranking to end. Some editors even advised residents to take up arms against the teenage havoc seekers.
The situation came to a head in 1933 with Black Halloween.
It was the Great Depression. Families across the country were stretched to the breaking point. All the strain fueled the chaos of Halloween. Across the country, bands of teenage boys descended on American cities. They flipped cars, sawed off telephone poles, and vandalized.
Society had had enough. Some called for banning Halloween out right. Others found more creative solutions. Rather than end the festivities, neighborhoods hosted activities. One house would offer face paint or fabric for costuming. The next would offer candy and cakes. The next, a creepy activity. Now, rather than pranking, kids could go door to door under the watchful eye of parents. It was the start of trick-or-treating and haunted house attractions in the United States.
What-ifs niggled at the back of my mind as I read this history.
What if the Halloween pranksters were young monsters using the holiday as a cover for hunting?
What if a witch coven or vampire nest had to participate in a Best Haunted House competition or risk blowing their cover?
Indeed, stories are built on what-ifs, and the what-ifs are built on research.
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What you missed in this month’s newsletter:
From the Drafts — Writing Tool Review: Secrets to Writing a Series by K. Stanley and L. Cooke
Remember You Shine — Quotes of Courage
Myths and Magic — Folklore of Halloween
From My Shelf — Faerie Market Mysteries Series by Julia V. Ashley