DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

    The large white church at Portobelo is the Iglesia de San Felipe, which is still in use. It dates from 1814, but its tower wasn’t completed until 1945. It’s famous as the home of the life-sized effigy of the Nazareno of Portobelo, better known as the Black Christ. The effigy, depicting Christ carrying the cross, normally resides on a podium to the left of the altar, but it is brought out to the center of the church for the Black Christ Festival, by far Portobelo’s biggest event. The handsome altar of the church is adorned with gold images depicting various emblems of the crucifixion, including nails, instruments of torture, and the dice the Roman soldiers cast for Christ’s robe. Small wooden carvings ringing the walls depict the stages of the cross.    Behind this church is the recently renovated Iglesia de San Juan de Dios, home to the new Museo del Cristo Negro de Portobelo, which now displays 63 of the robes donated by Panamanians for the festival,...

   This was found at  www.craftycrafty.tv  .  Pretty cool stuff!! Halloween: how to make spider web balloons If you're planning a halloween party to remember, now's the time to get making props and decorations for the event. One of the coolest ideas I've seen is balloons filled with 'spider webs' (right), which makes for a really spooky effect. You'll need access to some helium, and ideally a substance like  hi-float  which will allow for the heaviness of the balloon's contents. But once you've collected these together, this is a really quick and easy project. Follow the jump for instructions. What you'll need: -  HI-FLOAT - 11-inch clear latex balloons - Small rubber spiders Instructions - Inject a little less than the usual amount of Hi-float into an clear balloon and rub it around to coat the inside. - Put a small rubber spider inside the balloon. - Inflate the balloon to about 75% of the full-size with air. - Sea...

    Known variously as  Samhain, Summer’s End, All Hallow’s Eve, Witches Night, Lamswool , and  Snap-Apple night , Halloween is among the world’s oldest holidays. Rooted in ancient pagan and Christian festivals that celebrated the inextricable link between seasonal and life cycles, Halloween has transcended its cultural roots and is currently celebrated in various forms all over the modern world. Halloween as it exists today is an exciting array of dichotomies as it delights both children and adults, prompts private religious observance as well as public exhibitionism, and blends personal imagination with mass marketing. A day full of magic and mystery, Halloween has not only survived, but it has thrived during epic cultural, religious, economic, and industrial changes throughout its long history. Roots in Ancient Celtic Festivals     The essential elements of Halloween, such as costuming, trick-or-treating, lighting bonfires,...

  This recipe comes from  www.tasteofhome.com  .  A really, really great looking cake for the Holidays. Halloween Layer Cake Recipe P rep: 20 min. Bake: 30 min. Yield: 12-16 Servings 20 30 50 Ingredients 1 cup  butter, softened 2 cups  sugar 4 eggs 3 cups  all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon  baking powder 1/2 teaspoon  salt 1 cup  milk 1/4 cup  baking cocoa 1/4 cup  water 1/2 teaspoon  vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon  orange extract 1 tablespoon  grated orange peel 10 drops  yellow food coloring 6 drops  red food coloring GLAZE : 3 ounces  semisweet chocolate 1/3 cup  heavy whipping cream Candy corn for garnish Directions In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add alternately with milk to creamed mixture. Mix...

   The history of  Halloween costumes  ~On November 1st over 2000 years ago, in what is now known as the United Kingdom, Ireland and northern France, the Celts celebrated their new year. This date marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the cold, dark winter season, often associated with death. It was Celtic belief the on the night before the New Year the veil between the land of the living and the land of the dead because blurred. This night they celebrated Samhain. Celts believed ghosts haunted the land and damaged crops. This night was also thought to allow the Druids and Priests to possess a heightened ability to predict the future. For the commoner, these predictions would be a comfort and an insight into the coming dark winter that lie ahead.    Druids built large bonfires where the people would gather to sacrifice crops and their animals to ancient deities.    The Druids also wore costumes consisting of anima...

Making a Witch Broom In the spirit of Halloween I thought I'd repost this! In the woods behind our home we have a clump of twining vines that grow and twist and slither round the trees. The vines are Asian Bittersweet which is a pest plant, not native to our area. It's very invasive and smothers the host plant it grows on. The vines mangle and mutate the branches and trunks as they grow and while it might not be good for the woods, it's a great place to find strange and creepy sticks. This is what inspired us to make the Witch's Broom. We started by finding a good gnarly branch that had spiraled as it grew. Then we collected lots and lots of little vines. We hauled it all back to the house to make our broom. We took the twisted stick and cut it at a good handle's length. Then we started wiring the small vines onto the handle a bunch at a time. When all the vines w...

 This recipe comes from  www.barbarabakes.com  .   I truely unique take on candy corn.  These days, macaroons are all the rage too, give them a try. I got a little carried away at the store today. I had this idea to make candy corn macarons for this month’s  MacTweets  and I went to the store to buy candy corn to dress up the pictures. When I got there, they had ordinary candy corn of course, but this year Bach’s also had Caramel Candy Corn, and Chocolate Caramel Candy Corn, and Caramel Apple Candy Corn. All of which I decided I should take home and try. But I didn’t stop there – no of course not. There were also candy cane flavored Dots and candy corn Kisses and I thought I should sampled those as well. (Let’s not talk about the two cute packages of Halloween Lindor Truffles that I bought and have hidden in my closet.) The reason for my apparent current obsession with candy corn is that I hate them. I think they have a ...