I know it’s counter to the expectations of the season. Besides Giving Tuesday, many organizations (including our local CBS news) are in the midst of a month of giving. Culturally, giving is a good thing. But it isn’t purely positive.
Giving Opens Floodgates
My motivation for writing this blog is the deluge of text messages, emails, and snail mails asking for money. I’m steeped in the downside of giving: once you are on a list, you are doomed.
The organization or cause you originally donated to seeks more frequent and/or bigger donations.
Selling mailing lists can generate lots of revenue. Once an organization has a list of reliable donors, they often sell that list to other entities. Donors are then inundated with with requests for further donations to entirely new organizations!
Donations to political candidates trigger requests from other candidates in the same party. These can come from all over the country. Supporting a candidate at the national level opens you up to solicitations from state and local candidates—not necessarily your own state or locale!
Some solicitations come with a “free gift” to create guilt or an obligation to donate. Often these gifts are of poor quality or completely useless to the recipient. One organization sent me so many free gifts that I doubted how much of my donation was actually going to forward the stated mission. I stopped donating to that group altogether.
Responding to a mail solicitation can trigger follow-up phone calls as well.
Giving ’til It Hurts!
Once, I volunteered my time and professional know-how for a set number of hours on set days per week. That morphed into requests for special events and monetary contributions. I doubt I’m alone in this experience.
I’m currently voluntarily teaching a memoir class a few times per year. Fortunately, I enjoy it. There is considerable social pressure to continue doing so.
When I searched this topic online, I found that giving can have negative effects on the donor, including financial strain and instability, high tax burdens, loss of personal wealth, emotional guilt and anxiety, burnout and compassion fatigue, and neglect of personal relationships, potentially weakening social cohesion and exacerbating inequality if generosity creates donor-recipient hierarchies. In short, I learned that there are more serious drawbacks than the irritation factor that started me down this path.
According to Charities Aid Foundation 2024 World Giving Index, 76% of U.S. adults helped a stranger, 61% donated money, and 39% volunteered. This gave the U.S. a World Giving Index Score rank of #6 for 2024 (after Indonesia, Kenya, Singapore, the Republic of Gambia, and Nigeria, and just ahead of Ukraine). In short, there’s a lot of giving out there.
Bottom Line: I’d never suggest that people not give, only urge that they consider the unintended side effects.
Whatever your answer, the importance of Artificial Intelligence can’t be overstated. AI is all over print and other media, here to stay. Are we benefitting or suffering?
True confession: I started off feeling negative about AI for purposes other than searching for information.
My knee-jerk reaction was to vow never to read another of her books. In my opinion, her practices were equivalent to plagiarism: claiming another’s thoughts or ideas as one’s own. I didn’t actually read those two books, but I investigated a bit more. Ayala says, “I am a romance author of over 140 books with two additional pen-names ‘Clare Chu’ (Humor) and ‘Bella Vex’ (Horror).” It turns out that Rachelle Ayala is an award-winning USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Should I eschew better-than-average entertainment because I don’t approve of the method?
And going forward, how will I know?
Risks of AI Writing Careers
Looking into AI and writing a bit more, I read a recent Wall Street Journal article (11/22/25) profiling two sisters, an auto mechanic and a struggling writer. AI isn’t threatening the former career. Of the latter, “In moments of doubt, Sophia has considered a fallback plan, which was to get certification in AI prompt writing.” But she might need a fallback for her fallback: that once-hot job has been rendered obsolete as AI has become better at understanding poorly written prompts. She concluded, “I’m not at the point yet where I’m willing to compromise writing full-time.”
In truth, writers can use AI in ways I (for one) consider legitimate.
A brief search online turned up the following suggestions for ways a writer can use AI, allowing more time for the creative aspects of writing:
Automate tasks like research and data analysis
Improve grammar and spelling
Generate word choices
Draft and enhance content
Translate audio to text or vice versa for accessibility
Brainstorm creative ideas
Create personalized or supplementary material such as video content or internal communications
Personally, I doubt AI will ever generate works comparable to Shakespeare (or Jane Austen). But as the father of the daughters profiled in the WSJ article put it, “At my company, they say you won’t be replaced by AI, but you might be replaced by someone who knows AI better than you do.”
Although my focus is writing—creative writing—I’m aware of ways teachers can use AI to personalize teaching plans. In addition, according to my reading, AI can enhance healthcare delivery, improve disaster response, enable predictive analytics for government services to be more efficient, assist in cancer screening, expand access to social welfare processes, and empower underrepresented communities by addressing social challenges and driving targeted, data-driven solutions.
Research also indicates that, while students who rely excessively on AI may “get the right answer” more quickly, they are less likely to remember the rationale over time. I fear over-dependence on AI will dull human problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and creativity.
And my AI generated response to this query: “Possible negatives of AI include bias in algorithms due to human input, high implementation costs and potential degradation over time, unemployment and workforce disruption, reliability and accuracy concerns, misalignment with use cases leading to ineffective outputs, lowered information integrity, risk of misleading results, and broader societal harms if systems are unfair or unsafe.”
Centuries before Europeans landed at Plymouth Rock or Newfoundland, agricultural communities along the Eastern seaboard held annual harvest celebrations every year. Though the details varied among tribes and climates, all involved giving thanks for a successful harvest and making preparations for the coming winter.
People preserved food they’d grown or gathered, such as cattails, corn, pawpaws, pumpkins, and fish. They also repaired and reinforced structures to face the coming winter weather. Festivities included music, dancing, and games.
Puerto Rico
After Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States in the late 19th century, its residents adopted many of the traditions of the American holiday, blending them with Puerto Rican culture. The focus is on a Thanksgiving meal that fuses flavors from both cuisines, with large family gatherings. Puerto Ricans celebrate Thanksgiving on the same day as Americans (the fourth Thursday in November).
But Puerto Ricans have put their own twist on the traditional Thanksgiving Day feast: there’s usually turkey—whether a roasted, seasoned pavochón or a turkey stuffed with mofongo (a mashed plantain dish)—but roast pork is also often on the menu, accompanied with more plantains, rice, and beans. Many Puerto Ricans embrace the same Black Friday shopping frenzy on the following day, and Christmas preparations also start around then.
Canadian Thanksgiving
Like its US counterpart, the first European Canadian Thanksgiving brought Canadian pilgrims together to give thanks for their new lives in the New World. This celebration took place in 1578, when English explorer Martin Frobisher held a feast in what’s now Nunavut to give thanks for the safety of his fleet. This feast actually pre-dated the first American Thanksgiving. (Historians believe that the first American Thanksgiving took place in 1621, over 40 years later.)
Many Canadian communities hold harvest fairs at Thanksgiving.
Today, Canadian Thanksgiving takes place on the second Monday of October. (First officially recognized in 1879 (November 6), it was moved to the second Monday in October in 1957.) Much like the U.S., it’s a time for gratitude, reflection, and delicious food shared with loved ones.
While Indigenous peoples had long celebrated harvest festivals, it was Loyalists who moved to Canada from the American colonies during the Revolutionary War who introduced turkey, along with some of the other customs from the American Thanksgiving we’re familiar with today. Pumpkin pie, stuffing, and sweet potatoes would certainly be familiar, though traditional poutine (french fries topped with cheese curds and gravy) sometimes appears as well.
Many communities in Mexico gather to distribute food on Día de Acción de Gracias
With a regional twist on traditional American Thanksgiving dishes, such as mole poblano and tamales, apple pie empanadas and turkey enchiladas, many Mexicans embrace the spirit of giving thanks while spending time with family and friends. Because Mexico is so close to the United States climate-wise, Día de Acción de Gracias usually occurs on the same day as American Thanksgiving.
While not widely celebrated throughout Mexico, some cities host small community events and tourists-targeted activities, while others observe religious services and harvest celebrations. Traditions may include Mexican elements such as piñatas or pan de muerto, reflecting a non-traditional but increasingly observed blend of customs. As more families travel to and from Mexico during the holiday season, Thanksgiving observances are spreading to more parts of the country.
Brazil: Dia de Ação de Graças
Brazilian Thanksgiving (Dia de Ação de Graças in Portuguese) follows the American tradition of a harvest feast on the fourth Thursday in November. It became a national Brazilian holiday in 1949 as a way to unify the Brazilian people. The Brazilian ambassador to the U.S. saw Americans enjoying a day of eating delicious food and giving thanks and decided that Brazilians should do the same. It’s been an unofficial holiday ever since.
Brazil is the only country in South America that celebrates Thanksgiving.
Though still not widely celebrated in Brazil, Dia de Ação de Graças is catching on each year. A Thanksgiving feast in Brazil includes many American staples, including turkey (known as peru in Portuguese), mashed potatoes (purê de batatas), and apple pie (torta de maçã). Brazilian specialties, such as the country’s national dish, feijoada, might make an appearance as well. Besides food and family, there are parades and church services to give thanks.
Thanksgiving in Barbados
Dancer “wukking up” at Crop Over
The people of Barbados celebrate Thanksgiving with a Crop Over festival at the end of the sugarcane harvest. This is typically held at the end of July through early August. This is a 300-year-old tradition that goes back to those who worked on sugarcane plantations and celebrated the harvest season. The celebrations include dancing, eating, and games.
Crop Over festivities begin with a ceremonial delivery of the Last Canes and crowning the Festival King and Queen. During Cohobblopot, Kadooment bands showcase their skills, and calypsonians perform to huge audiences. Local businesses offer their wares at the Bridgertown Market and sponsor calypso tents. Kadooment Day, the final day of the celebration, culminates in a carnival parade, with huge floats, elaborate dance troupes, and competing calypso bands.
Grenada West Indies
Every October 25, people on this West Indian island celebrate their own Thanksgiving Day, which marks the anniversary of a joint Caribbean and U.S. military invasion of Grenada in 1983. The troops’ arrival restored order after an army coup ousted and executed Maurice Bishop, Grenada’s socialist leader, and put the island under martial law.
While stationed on the West Indian island that fall, U.S. soldiers told local citizens about the upcoming American holiday and some of its traditions. To show their own gratitude, many people in towns and villages hosting the soldiers invited them to dine and celebrate with them, even surprising the soldiers with such non-native island foods as turkey, cranberry, and potatoes. Today, the Grenadian Thanksgiving features formal ceremonies of remembrance in the cities, but largely goes unmarked in more rural areas.
Liberian Thanksgiving
In the 1820s, free Blacks from American purchased Cape Mesurado and settled in the new colony of Liberia. In the 1880s, the Liberian government adopted the first Thursday in November as Thanksgiving, to express gratitude for the year’s blessings. (Unlike Thanksgiving events in other parts of the world, Liberian Thanksgiving isn’t a harvest festival; their harvests are often over by November.) Because English is the primary language of Liberia, celebrants greet each other with “Happy Thanksgiving!”
Students at a religious Thanksgiving service
Liberian Thanksgiving combines American traditions with religious rituals to thank God for blessings from the year, including food, health, and good weather. Today, it’s a largely Christian holiday. After services, churches auction off baskets filled with local fruits like papayas and mangoes.
The typical meal consists of a bird (sometimes chicken) with plenty of spices as well as mashed cassava and other traditional West African foods like jollof rice (similar to Cajun jambalaya) or fufu (cassava dough served with meat stew).
Celebrations are lively, marked by food but also music, dancing, and a deep sense of community.
Bottom Line: As these examples attest, giving thanks isn’t the province solely of the United States. Try pursue the topic of giving thanks in Israel, Ghana, Rwanda, and any other locations that interest you.
Giving thanks is everywhere, even though others call their thanksgiving by other names, and celebrate on different dates. This blog will focus on our European cousins.
Baking, canning, and flower contests at a Harvest Home celebration in Chew Stoke
The UK celebrates a harvest festival, also known as Harvest Home. People, particularly in rural villages, celebrate on the Sunday closest to the Harvest Moon – usually in late September or early October. The tradition dates back centuries, with origins in pagan rituals, when communities gathered to celebrate the successful bringing in of crops. In the past, the timing of the festival varied depending on when the harvest was ready, with the whole community, including children, helping until the last load of crops arrived.
“In 1957, there was 120lb cheddar cheese to be consumed and a 6’ x 2’ harvest loaf, which was borne aloft on the shoulders of six men” in the Somerset village of East Brent.
Modern Harvest Home festivals feature a feast of autumn crops and vegetables, as well as food donations and church services, keeping alive the spirit of gratitude for the season’s bounty.
Some say both US and Canadian Thanksgiving have roots in the United Kingdom’s annual Harvest Home. At the least, this tradition has to have influenced the origins of Thanksgiving in both the US and Canada, brought over by British immigrants.
Netherlands: Dankdag
Before leaving for the New World, English immigrants lived and worked for several years in the Netherlands, in the town of Leiden. About 40% of the Mayflower passengers spent over a decade (1609 to 1620) living in this Dutch city before heading to Massachusetts. Some even believe the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving was inspired by Leiden’s annual celebration of breaking the Spanish siege in 1574.
Harvest table at a church in Van Halland
They brought many of their customs to their new (temporary) home, including the practice of expressing gratitude for a successful fall harvest.
While Thanksgiving isn’t an official holiday, many restaurants offer special meals. Dankdag is still celebrated in Leiden. Citizens enjoy an American-style Thanksgiving dinner after a church service at Pieterskerk. The city of Leiden also honors its historic ties by holding non-denominational church services at Pieterskerk every fourth Thursday of November!
And if they live near Beschuitsteeg, they can explore the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum as a tribute to their long friendship with the pilgrims.
Germany: Erntedankfest
Like Britain and many other European countries, Germany celebrates the first major harvest of the season with a big festival. Erntedankfest (“thanks for the harvest fest”) doesn’t have an official date. This religious holiday often takes place on the first Sunday in October, which is often also the first Sunday following Michaelistag (Michaelmas) on September 29. Different places celebrate the occasion on various dates in September and October, but it typically takes place between early October and late November depending on the region, sometimes coinciding with Martinstag (St. Martin’s Day).
Erntedankfest decorations at a church in Oberösterreich
Erntedankfest is a community affair, often held outdoors or in churches rather than homes. It’s a lively gathering filled with parades, music, and tables laden with such hearty fare as die Masthühnchen (fattened-up chickens) or der Kapaun (castrated roosters), geese, hearty stews, fresh-baked bread, and local brews. There are plenty of traditional foods and seasonal produce. Colorful decorations like cornucopias are typical. There are also church services to begin the celebration, with lantern parades planned for the evening.
Though rural areas tend to take the harvest festival more literally, many churches in German cities also join in on the celebration, giving thanks for the good fortune their congregations experienced that year. During a typical Erntedankfest, celebrants carry an Erntekrone (“harvest crown”) of grains, fruit and flowers to the church in a solemn procession.
Though it’s more common in rural areas, many Germans observe Erntedankfest through televised events, connecting to their agricultural roots from afar.
Other German-speaking countries, such as Austria and Switzerland, also celebrate Erntedankfest to observe the autumn harvest. Erntedankfest traditions include parades, church services, concerts, fireworks, and a harvest feast, where turkey (Truthahn) is a holiday dinner favorite.
Poland: Dożynki
Harvest wreath parade in Milówka
The Polish harvest festival, Dożynki, dates back to the 16th century when landowners shared the bounty of the harvest with the land’s workers. The historical celebration included dancing, feasting, and crafting harvest wreaths to ensure fertility for the next harvest.
Today, the festival still includes feasts and harvest wreaths. Modern Dożynki celebrations incorporate religious elements, including a pilgrimage to Jasna Góra in Częstochowa. Many Polish celebrants dress in traditional outfits as they share in the harvest.
Thanksgiving in Rome
Italians do not have a national holiday that celebrates American Thanksgiving. However, plenty of Italians toast the holiday with their expat friends and family at a home or restaurant.
Not a modern depiction of Cerealia, but the sentiment is the same!
In addition, Rome celebrates a harvest festival known as Cerealia. This honors Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, grain, and the love a mother bears for her child. (FYI: In ancient Greek religion Demeter is the goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains, food, and the fertility of the earth. She also appeared as a goddess of health, birth, and marriage.) Cerealia occurs every year on October 4th. Roman custom is to present fruits, grains, and animals to the goddess in appreciation. Parades and music are also part of the celebration.
Bottom Line: Celebrations of giving thanks in Europe share roots of giving thanks for food, much like our Thanksgiving.
In the United States, Thanksgiving is a significant celebration. But we are far from alone, even though others call their celebration of giving thanks by another name, and celebrate on a different date.
Mid-Autumn Festivals
Many countries in Asia have a harvest celebration in the autumn, such as Cambodia (Bon Om Touk), Laos (That Luang), and Vietnam (Tết Trung Thu). The lunisolar calendar determines the precise date every year, setting it on the 15th day of the 8th month. This corresponds to mid-September to early October of the Gregorian calendar. When the Harvest Moon appears in the eighth month of the lunar calendar, it’s time for giving thanks.
Giving Thanks in China
Chinese Thanksgiving, the Chung Chiu Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, lasts 3 days. In parts of China and other countries, celebrants mark the Mid-Autumn Festival with feasts, parades, and family celebrations.
Food is a major focus, especially mooncake, a round pastry that typically contains duck egg yolks, lotus seed paste, and sesame seeds. The yolk represents the full moon, and the cakes usually have the baker’s logo embossed on top. Sometimes, mooncakes (made with sweet dough) have fillings of lotus seed paste, red beans, or ice cream. Family and friends share mooncakes with one another to signify unity and peace to come.
Lanterns and moonlight also are a big focus of the Mid-Autumn festival. People write wishes on decorative lanterns and float them in the air or display them in their homes.
Giving Thanks in Korea
Food, family, and tradition are the focus of the Korean thanksgiving festival, known as Chuseok (autumn evening). The origins of this three-day holiday celebrating family, food, and ancestors traces back to ancient Korean celebrations of Chuseok (often called Hangawi or Korean Thanksgiving). South Koreans travel to their ancestral hometowns to perform charye, a memorial ceremony offering newly harvested foods like rice and fruit to honor their ancestors.
The night before Chuseok, families often gather to prepare songpyeontogether. Together, people form finely ground rice flour into small balls, fill them with sesame seeds, chestnuts, red beans, and other ingredients, and shape these into cakes. The traditional cooking method includes steaming songpyeon on pine needles. This time-honored tradition fills homes with the fragrant smell of autumn.
Gift-giving is a modern tradition, with exchanges of fresh fruit, beef, and even Spam gift sets! Crowds pack the roads and crowd stores in the days leading up to this important holiday.
Chuseok predates the division of Korea, but people in North Korea celebrate a little differently. Rather than gathering with family, North Koreans try to visit the gravesites of their ancestors. Those who are able might also visit the graves of founding members of the Kim dynasty.
Giving Thanks in Japan
The Thanksgiving holiday known as Kinro Kansha no Hi (Labor Thanksgiving Day), takes place on November 23rd each year. But even though it’s close to American Thanksgiving on the calendar, it dates back much farther—over 2,000 years!
Historians date the first Japanese Thanksgiving celebration to the 7th century B.C.E. It began as a harvest festival known as Niiname-sai (新嘗祭 Imperial Harvest Ritual) that celebrated the first rice crop of the year.
The modern tradition of Labor Thanksgiving Day began in 1948. After World War II, people dropped the imperialist roots of Niiname-sai, and the holiday became Kinro Kansha no Hi. Today, the holiday expresses gratitude toward Japan’s laborers, focusing on honoring workers’ rights and contributions (similar to combining Thanksgiving and Labor Day in the U.S.).
Today, the holiday means a day off work or school, writing thank-you notes to laborers, and crafts from schoolchildren for community workers such as policemen, firefighters and other municipal workers. There are no big meals or parades except the Nagano Labour Festival. Local organizations sponsor the Nagano Labour Festival to bring awareness to environmental and human rights issues. Such events are meant to encourage citizens to celebrate the principles of hard work, unity, and community involvement.
The Tamil people in South India hold a four-day festival called Pongal to thank the sun god, nature, and humans and animals that support agriculture. This is usually held in January or during the Tamil month of Thai. People get together with families and friends to decorate, offer prayers, hold craft fairs, and enjoy traditional foods.
The holiday features Sakkarai Pongal, a traditional Pongal dish made with milk, ghee (clarified butter), and rice. The Tamil culture regards it as a symbol of prosperity, connected to abundance and wealth.
Many people use rice flour to makekolam decorations. They mix it with dyes and draw complex geometric patterns on the ground. A kolam in front of a home’s entrance serves as a welcome sign and invitation to enter.
Giving Thanks in Malaysia
In Malaysia, several ethnic groups celebrate the Kaamatan harvest festival, a two-day public holiday on 30 and 31 May.
The festival is in tribute to the goddess Huminodun, who was sacrificed to save people from famine. Rice is the main ingredient in dishes served during this festival, along with rice wines. The festival ends with a Humabot ceremony complete with games, songs, and dance.
Celebrations include symbolic decorations, family and social gatherings, and activities such as beauty pageants (for both women and men), dance performances, singing competitions, and other art and craft performances.
Giving Thanks on Norfolk Island
New Zealanders and Australians don’t typically celebrate Thanksgiving—unless they live on Norfolk Island, a small Australian territory northeast of Sydney. This remote island is a former British penal colony.
Thanksgiving on Norfolk Island is a holdover from 19th-century American whalers who celebrated the holiday during their stay on the island. In fact, this Thanksgiving tradition dates back to the mid-1890s, when the American trader Isaac Robinson decided to host an American-style Thanksgiving service in the All Saints Church in Kingston in order to attract some visiting American whalers to the celebration. Thus the American roots.
Today, the people of Norfolk Island celebrate the holiday on the last Wednesday in November. People bring fruits, vegetables, and cornstalks to decorate the church and sing American hymns. After the Thanksgiving Day church service, people enjoy a lunch of American Thanksgiving dishes, plus banana pilaf and fish salad.
Celebrants often decorate with corn stalks, pumpkins, and other items reminiscent of American fall, even though November is springtime in their part of the world.
Bottom Line: Giving thanks is everywhere! Look for more next Tuesday.
Halloween spending was expected to reach a record $13.1 billion in 2025, according to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) annual consumer survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics.
Halloween By the Numbers
Why a record-breaking year? For one thing, more people are celebrating. Katherine Cullen, vice president of consumer insights at the NRF, said, “Whether it’s dressing in costume or carving a pumpkin, more consumers plan to take part in Halloween activities and traditions.” In fact, 73% of consumers are celebrating Halloween in some form, a slight bump from last year.
In addition, per-person spending will reach a record high of $114.45, nearly $11 more than last year and up from the previous record of $108.24 in 2023 (NRF).
What isn’t clear is whether individual people are buying more, or paying more for what they do buy. For example, chocolate prices have surged nearly 30% since last Halloween due to inflation, tariffs, and a global cocoa shortage. Most Halloween shoppers (79%) anticipate prices will be higher in 2025 specifically because of tariffs (NRF).
Consumers are paying more across every category, with nearly 8 in 10 saying they expect higher prices due to tariffs.
Candy: $33 per person; total spending on candy: $3.9 billion; 66% will hand out candy Decorations: $45 per person; about $4.2 billion total; 51% will decorate their homes or yards Costumes: $51 per person; $4.3 billion total; 71% planned on buying costumes Greeting cards: $21 per person; about $0.7 billion total; 38% buying cards
Like last year, consumers continue to gravitate toward early shopping. More than 49% of shoppers began buying Halloween items in September or earlier, a slight increase from 47% last year. Enthusiasm, careful budgeting, or both? Self-reported reasons consumers are shopping early are because they are looking forward to fall (44%), Halloween is one of their favorite holidays (37%), they do not want to miss out on desired items (33%), and they want to avoid the stress of last-minute shopping (33%).
Beware that shrinkflation and ingredient costs continue to affect package sizes and prices. Overall Halloween costs have trended up in recent years and are unlikely to roll back meaningfully.
Putting Halloween Spending in Perspective
Yes, those are really big numbers, but a few comparisons provide a gut punch. In a Boston University paper about Halloween spending in 2024, “That [$11.6 billion] is roughly the same amount of money as Americans spend on children’s books each year. It’s also about half the amount spent annually on dental care for children under age 17.”
Halloween Trends in 2025
Some Halloween traditions have withstood the test of time, such as carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating. However, some interesting trends have emerged to celebrate Halloween in 2025!
Toilet Papering
This according to a CBS news cast 10-31-25. Every Halloween season, when the sun sets in Heflin, a small Alabama town, students from Cleburne County High School toilet paper a few houses. A few years ago, they upped their game, and toilet papered just about every business in town, too. It was “funtastic” … until they hit the Heflin Police Department headquarters.
“It was up on the roof, the spare cars we had in the parking lot … We had to do something,” Heflin Police Chief Ross McGlaughn said. So the Heflin Police Department then got to work, supported by officers from multiple jurisdictions, all well armed with toilet paper.
The police “rolled” the students’ homes (having received permission from the students’ parents).
The Heflin toilet paper war has become popular all over town. Businesses are now offering support by putting out free toilet paper.
“As long as they’re doing this, they’re not getting into trouble doing something else,” McGlaughn said. “I haven’t seen any types of drugs or alcohol involved. You know, I think they’re spending all their money on toilet paper.”
After that news cast, maybe rolling will become a big trend.
Skeletons
In recent years, life-size (or larger!) skeletons have become a noticeable addition to outside decorations. According to sources across the internet, skeleton sales are in the multi-million dollar range. Home Depot’s $299 12-foot skeleton has attracted viral fame every year since it was first put out by the company in 2020. Some lucky people—I assume really fast people—got a “a special” discount on this skeleton, which sold out at $74.98.
Tater-or-Treat
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal recounted the story of a midwestern farmer who decided to offer potatoes as Halloween treats. As I recall, the trick-or-treaters could choose candy or potatoes. His intended joke went viral, and is spreading across the U.S. At least one household in Richmond, VA, made that offer this year. Children have been known to decorate their potatoes, or keep them for a year or so as “pets.”
My guess is that those adopting the potato option will spend even more for treats than they would have spent on individual pieces of candy.
Bottom Line: There’s a lot more to Halloween than candy corn and things that go bump in the night. It’s big business—and getting bigger!
***The NRF survey which was the source of most of the above data asked 8,045 consumers about their Halloween shopping plans. It was conducted Sept. 2-9 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.
Several professions, including—but not limited to—doctors, trainers, physical therapist, dancers, and athletes are hyper aware of bones. But bones are important to everyone for simply living and functioning. So let’s show bones a little love!
Basically, a metaphor is when the meaning isn’t what the words literally say. Writers are very aware of the value of metaphors, but they are more prevalent in our everyday lives than we might think. Bones are very useful this way!
Skeleton authors are especially appreciative of bone-y metaphors
No backbone/spineless: lacking courage or willpower
Boneheaded: a stupid person, a dunce
A bone to pick with you: wanting to discuss a problem or grievance
Bone of contention: a point of disagreement, matter of dispute
Bag of bones: very thin, skinny
Bone weary: extremely tired, exhausted
Sawbones: a physician, especially a surgeon
No bones about it: to speak frankly or directly, no hesitation or evasion, to emphasize certainty
Funny bone: a point on the elbow, nerve close to the surface, which when struck produces a tingling sensation; sense of humor (as in, that joke tickles my funny bone)
Bare bones: essentials, basic elements, no details
Bone chilling: extremely cold, causing feelings of fear or terror
Boner: embarrassing mistake, an erection
And One Step Removed:
The original knuckle-dragger
Jawing: scolding, clamorous, or abusive talk
Knuckle-dragger: strong but dimwitted
Glass jaw: vulnerability physical (e.g., a boxer easily knocked out) or more metaphorical (a public figure’s vulnerability to destructive criticism)
Weak-kneed: lacking willpower, strength of character, or purpose, timid
Functional Bones
Functional can still be fancy!
Bones are absolutely essential for survival, movement, and health.
They protect internal organs from impact injury, especially the brain and heart.
Bones can also store necessary minerals when their blood levels are too high. They release these minerals when the body needs them. Examples include calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D.
Arthritis. A painful condition where the joints wear down, causing inflammation in the joints.
Scoliosis. This is when the bones in the spine are no longer straight. Sometimes called curvature of the spine.
Cancers. Unfortunately, there are certain cancers that can form inside of your bones and impact your skeletal system.
Breaks. Bones can break — sometimes very badly. Although your bones can heal breaks on their own, people typically need medical help to help a broken bone heal properly.
Osteoporosis. Bone resorption disease characterized by thinning of bone tissue and decreased skeletal strength. It is the most common reason for broken bones among the elderly.
Healing Bones
Even bones need to rest
A broken bone can seriously hinder one’s ability to function, particularly a broken arm or leg. Fortunately, our bones can almost always heal themselves.
Bones repair themselves so quickly that you have a new skeleton about every seven years.
Arms are among the most commonly broken bones, accounting for almost half of all adults’ broken bones.
The collarbone is the most commonly broken bone among children.
Most broken bones heal on their own — blood vessels form in the area almost immediately after you break it to help the healing process begin. Within 21 days, collagen forms to harden and hold the broken pieces in place. A cast or brace only ensures the bone heals straight to avoid more problems in the future.
Fun Facts About Bones
This section is included because it is just so interesting—at least to me!
Technically, tooth enamel is bone, the strongest in the body.
A 13th rib is rare — only 0.2% to 0.5% of people are born with it. This extra rib, called a cervical rib, can cause medical issues like neck pain, so people born with this extra rib often have it removed.
More than half the bones in the body are in the hands and feet. Each hand has 27 bones, while each foot has 26. Together, that’s a combined 106 bones.
The femur, or thighbone, is the longest and strongest bone of the human skeleton.
The stapes, in the middle ear, is the smallest and lightest bone of the human skeleton.
Bones stop growing in length during puberty. Bone density and strength will change over the course of a lifetime, however.
The upper arm bone is called the humerus, which gives the “funny bone” its name. In reality, anytime you bang your elbow, it’s the ulnar nerve causing the tingling feeling.
The only bone in the human body not connected to another is the hyoid, a V-shaped bone located at the base of the tongue. It anchors the tongue and helps you speak and swallow. It’s held in place by ligaments, muscles, and cartilage
Bottom Line: There are things about bones that anyone can and everyone should appreciate.
My first experience with fortune telling bones was wishing bones: making a wish while breaking the turkey wishbone (the breast bone) with my sister, hoping for the longer piece and the wish fulfillment it would bring.
It turns out that the tradition of breaking a wishbone dates back over 2,400 years. Back then, the Etruscan people believed that chickens had all sorts of powers, including predicting the future and ensuring good fortune. The Etruscans thought that the collarbone of a chicken was sacred. After leaving it to dry in the sun, people would hold the unbroken bone and make a wish for good luck. The “wishbone tradition” originated in this early practice.
Subsequently, the people of Rome adopted the wishing tradition along with other Etruscan customs. They fought over the unbroken bones of chickens. It may be that the phrases, “I need a lucky break,” or “I never get a break,” came from the loser in the tug of collarbone contest.
The wishing bone tradition spread throughout England. When the Pilgrims arrived in the New World, they brought the custom of breaking the wishbone with them. Although there were no chickens in North America then, turkeys were abundant. European settlers transferred the custom from chickens to turkeys.
Painful Fortune Telling Bones
Some people have weather bones. I.e., they can predict changes in the weather by “feeling it” in their bones. Is this a real thing? Yes. Changes in barometric pressure and temperature can dramatically affect arthritic bones.
As many as two-thirds of people who live with chronic joint pain believe there’s a connection between their pain and changes in the weather. In a 2007 study, researchers at Tufts University found that for every 10-degree temperature drop, there was a corresponding increase in arthritis pain—i.e., the colder the weather, the greater the pain. They also reported that increasing barometric pressure increased pain, which makes sense because colder air is heavier. So, for (at least some) people, joint pain is a predictor of colder weather.
What about other methods of bone divination? I don’t have the space to discuss them all here, but manyresourcesonline provide more details and examples.
Osteomancy
Osteomancy is an ancient form of predicting the future by tossing a set of animal bones onto the ground and interpreting their positions and orientations. A set of bones for divination can be used repeatedly.
Modern practitioners of osteomancy say one should either use bones found in nature or purchase an ethically sourced set. The ideal bones for osteomancy come from animals who died of natural causes.
Scapulimancy
Deer scapula
Scapulimancy is divination using scapulae (shoulder blades). It is/was most widely practiced in China as oracle bones, but has also been independently developed in other areas, including the West.
Generally, people used scapulimancy in predicting future weather events and personal health status. Some religious practices also required fortune telling through bones.
Historically, scapulimancy has taken two major forms. In the first, practitioners simply examined the scapula of a slaughtered animal. This form was widespread in Europe, Northern Africa, and the Near East.
The second form involves the heating or burning of the bone and interpretation of the results. People practiced this form in East Asia and North America.
Rituals surrounding the reading of scapulae varied widely, and I don’t have the space to go into many details here. Suffice it to say the practice is ancient.
Scapulimancy in East Asia
Mongolians were one of the earliest peoples to use scapulimancy, according to archaeological digs in Inner Mongolia dating scapulae to approximately 3322 BCE. Diviners referred to divination manuals to guide their interpretation of the animal remains, reading the color of the bones and formation of cracks.
Archaeological sites along the south coast and off-lying islands of the Korean peninsula show that people used deer and pig scapulae in divination during the Korean Protohistoric Period, c. 300 BCE – 300/400 CE.
Archeological discoveries in China have yielded many specimens from a period spanned from 1250 to 1046 BCE. Ancient diviners likely exposed the bones (pig, sheep, cattle, and deer) to heat, deriving meaning from cracks that formed. The reading provided predictions for agricultural and health purposes.
Chapter 5 of the Kojiki, the Japanese Record of Ancient Matters, also mentions fortune telling bones. The heavenly deities used this process of scapulimancy during a consultation by lesser gods.
Scapulimancy in Europe and the Middle East
Scapulimancy is a method of divination among Greek and Serb farmers, even today. The memoirs of several warriors who fought during the Greek War of Independence include references. After feasts of roast lambs or kids, anyone who knew how to “read” a scapula would clean it of any remaining flesh and, lifting it up to the light, interpret the various shadowy bits showing on the transparent part of the bone.
Evidence of Arabic scapulimancy is sparse. A Florentine manuscript dated to the 1600s is currently the most referenced source and attributes the practice of scapulimancy in medieval Western European civilizations to the migration of traditions and ideas from the Arabic world. Historians have proposed trade across the Silk Road as a medium through which scapulimantic practices pervaded medieval European traditions from merchant trade with Arabic nomads.
Scapulimancy in South Africa
Zulu diviners in South Africa, known as izangomas, traditionally used bone reading in conjunction with other rituals involving herbal concoctions to communicate with spirits and those who have passed. The izangoma placed treated bones into the medicine, then interpreted aspects of the scapula floating above the liquid as spiritual communication. People within the community will seek out an izangoma if they would like personal questions answered or to communicate with the deceased. Witch doctors in many African communities still use scapulimancy and other bone reading rituals in a wide array of traditional healing ceremonies.
Astragalomancy
Mongolian astragali
Astragalomancy (also known as cubomancy) is a form of divination that uses dice specially marked with letters or numbers. Historically, the “dice” were usually knucklebones or other small bones of quadrupeds.
Each face of the die bears a symbol to convey meaning either to the reader or the divine powers. The diviner interprets this sequence according to certain rules – usually rules related to a religion (e.g.Tibetan Buddhism and the Mo system of cubomancy).
The practice of determining divine truth via random castings of dice or bones stretches back before recorded history. The Metropolitan Museum of Art displays bone “dice” (hakata) used by the Shona people of southern Africa for thousands of years.
Greek women playing knucklebones
Archaeologists have found marked astragali at many digs around the Mediterranean, including a site in Athens, Greece, dating to about 500 BCE. The Ancient Greeks performed astragalomancy by rolling dice and then consulting “dice oracles”, tables of divination results carved into statues or monoliths. In addition to matching the numbers on the astragali to the dice oracles, practitioners also held that certain numbers corresponded with particular divinities and would bring divine blessings.
The huayruis a dice game people play in South America at funerals. The game is traditionally played with llama bones, as they are believed to have a special power to attract the soul of the deceased. Reasons for playing this game revolve around divining the will of the recently deceased, often to communicate and receive guidance. The players of the game try to influence the results of the dice by offering prayers or pouring libations. (To me, this seems similar to blowing on dice before a roll for luck.)
Today, many people still call dice “bones”—whatever their material—because they were originally made of bone, as outlined above. If you want real bone dice, they are readily available online.
When everything rides on the roll of the dice, it reminds me of the wishbone tradition I started with.
Bottom Line: People have used bones to predict the future since time out of mind. Should you wish to try your hand, you can still acquire the bone ‘tools’ you need.
In October, my thoughts turn to skeletons. But there is much to bones beyond Halloween decor. In this second bone blog of the month, I turn to food, eating bones to keep body and soul together.
Humans have always consumed the marrow found in the long bones of animals. (Long bones are those that are longer than they are wide. For example, animal legs.) Today, marrow is found in bone-in cuts of meat from butchers or supermarkets.
European diners in the 18th century even had a specialized implement for removing marrow from a bone: a marrow scoop (or spoon), often of silver, with a long, thin bowl. Bone marrow’s popularity as a food is now relatively limited in the western world, but it remains in use in some gourmet restaurants and is popular among food enthusiasts.
Bone marrow brings a wealth of health benefits to the table. There are two types of bone marrow: yellow and red. Yellow bone marrow is located in the hollow cavities of the long bones. It is usually found at the center, surrounded by red bone marrow. Red marrow contains more nutrients than yellow marrow. But both contain many essential nutrients that boost the immune system (zinc and vitamin A), promote heart health (Omega-3 Fatty Acids and collagen), enhance skin health (collagen), support digestive well-being (because the gelatin in bone marrow has soothing properties) and support joint health (collagen). Bone marrow can even give you an energy boost: high in vitamin content and healthy fats, it provides a steady source of energy throughout the day.
Besides the above, collagen is especially important because, (according to WebMD) it also:
Helps your blood clot
Helps replace dead skin cells
Creates a protective cover for your organs
Allows new skin cells to grow
While bone marrow offers many benefits, it’s essential to be mindful of its source. If it’s from healthy, well-raised animals, the risks are minimal. However, bone marrow from animals treated with antibiotics or hormones poses potential health risks. Always opt for high-quality, grass-fed sources to ensure the best nutritional value.
Eating Bones and Marrow Around the World
International cuisine is rife with recipes using bone marrow:
Nalli Nihari
Vietnam: the soup base for the national staple dish, phở.
Philippines: the soup bulalo, made primarily of beef stock and marrow bones, seasoned with vegetables and boiled meat. Kansi, or sinigang na bulalo, is a sour variation of bulalo flavored with jackfruit.
Indonesia: bone marrow (sumsum) is especially popular in Minangkabau cuisine. Cooks often prepare sumsum as soup or as gulai (a curry-like dish).
India and Pakistan: slow-cooked marrow is the core ingredient in the dish nallinihari.
China: pig tibia (with one or both ends of the tibia chopped off) make slow-cooked soup. Diners scoop out the marrow with chopsticks or suck it out with a drinking straw.
Hungary: tibia, chopped into 10–15 cm pieces, is a main ingredient in húsleves beef soup. Cooks cover the ends with salt to prevent the marrow from leaking from the bone while cooking. Diners often spread the marrow on toast.
Germany: thick slices of whole beef shank with bone and marrow, available in grocery stores, supermarkets, and butcher shops. Cooks use markklöβchen marrow balls in beef soups or beef in horseradish cream sauce.
Italy: ossobuco (braised veal shanks); cross-cut shanks served bone-in, with the marrow still inside the bone.
French: pot-au-feu, a traditional dish of cooked bone marrow on toasted bread, sprinkled with coarse sea salt.
Iran: lamb shanks are usually broken before cooking to allow diners to suck out and eat the marrow when the dish is served. Many South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines have similar dishes.
Native Alaskans: the bone marrow eaten here is of caribou and moose.
Kathmandu, Nepal: a buffalo leaf tripe bag stuffed with bone marrow (Sapu Mhichā) served during special occasions. Diners eat the entire boiled, fried bag.
United States: pemmican (which I think of as the Native American version of jerky).
Bone Meal/Bonemeal
Historically, people have used bone meal as a human calcium supplement. Research has shown that calcium and lead in their ionic forms (Ca 2+ , Pb 2+) have similar atomic structures and so create a potential for accumulation of lead in bones, sometimes leading to death.
An accumulation of lead in the human body causes lead poisoning (plumbism, saturnism). Researchers believe lead poisoning is behind 0.6% of the world’s disease burden. Symptoms of lead poisoning include abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, irritability, memory problems, infertility, numbness and/or tingling in the hands and feet. In the 1970s, the EPA developed more stringent importation rules for bone meal.
Many farmers still use bone meal, and a variety of other meals, as a dietary/mineral supplement for livestock. However, the improper use of bone and meat meal products in animal nutrition can contribute to the spread of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known in cattle as Mad Cow Disease. Proper heat control can reduce salmonella contaminants.
Bone Broth
If you research bone broth online, you will find claims such as, “Bone broth is the ultimate solution to holistic health. Learn more about the reasons why you should incorporate bone broth into your daily routine. Collagen-Rich. High Protein. No Preservatives.”
Or, “Bone Broth Protein is a nourishing, concentrated bone broth that is 3x as potent* as homemade broth and makes it easy to get healthy gut and joint support. Beauty, Joint Support, Gut Support.”
The current popularity of bone broth is sometimes attributed to celebrity and other popular online influencers.
“Bone broth is a traditional nutrient revered by different people from ancient times to the modern era as a remedy for various illnesses. This review investigates the nutritional components of bone broth…
“Through comprehensive reviews of animal and human studies, this research highlights that bone broth includes amino acids (glutamine, glycine, proline, histidine, arginine), minerals (Ca, P, K, Mg, Zn) that are beneficial…
“The benefits documented for components in bone broth support the enhancement of gut health, alleviate inflammation in the intestinal barrier, improve intestinal barrier function in health and disease states, particularly in inflammatory bowel disease, as well as enhancing nutrient absorption. Bone broth offers a nutrient-dense option for enhancing overall health and may offer an alternative to dietary supplements with claims for enhanced gut health. We aim to foster interest in and provide evidence to substantiate claims for bone broth as a potential remedy, particularly for maintaining remission in conditions like IBD [inflammatory bowel disease] and possibly functional diarrhea and to encourage further research.”
In short, it’s a great source of nutrition. But is there a down side?
Dangers of Eating Bones
According to medicinenet.com, bone broth, if not prepared with standard manufacturing protocols, may contain heavy metals and harsh chemicals that can harm the body.
Lead is a heavy metal that may settle on vegetables and plants grown on lead-contaminated soil. Cattle may graze on such contaminated vegetables or plants. Therefore, there is a danger of lead contamination in several varieties of bone broth, as well as a risk of lead poisoning. Lead build-up in the bones may leach into the bone broth.
According to some studies, bone broth may be high in glutamate, which may cause adverse effects such as anxiety, restlessness, low energy, mental exhaustion, sleeplessness, and concentration problems, although there is no scientific evidence to prove this.
Surprise! (Or maybe not.) Most gelatin is made from the byproducts of meat and leather industries, usually bones and skin. In its purest form, it’s 98 to 99% protein, tasteless and odorless. Gelatin was around as far back as the Middle Ages. Because it was hard to make, it was reserved for the wealthy.
Though making gelatin is still a complicated endeavor, modern industry has streamlined the process. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, making gelatin from cattle bones is a 20-week process: bone crushing, cooking, spinning in a centrifuge, drying, degreasing, treating with a weak hydrochloric acid solution, several water washes, treatment with a lime slurry to remove everything that isn’t collagen, more washing, filtering, neutralizing the pH, sterilizing, cooling, and hot air drying.
Who created this process anyway?
Besides candy and supplements in gummy form, gelatin stabilizes, thickens, and adds texture to a wide variety of foods.
Eating utensils: No doubt our long-ago ancestors made them, but today you can buy bone place settings (knife, fork, and two-sizes of spoons), as well as bone spoon/fork serving utensils and miscellaneous bone spoons in various shapes and sizes. Bone handle flatware is more common now.
Bone china: Unlike porcelain, which contains only minerals, bone china includes bone ash. It originated in England in the 1700s. For a long time, virtually all bone china was made there. Historians generally recognize Josiah Spode I as the one who standardized bone china production. The Spode family’s business—Spode—is still making bone china. Today, bone china is made around the world by companies such as Lennox, which has made numerous pieces for presidents since 1918.
Bottom Line: From ancient times to today, bones have nourished people, often with the aid of bone eating utensils.
In October, I think of bones. And what uses might bones have besides holding up human and animal bodies? This week’s blog is the first of my October bone series.
Archeological evidence of wind chimes dates back almost 5000 years. They were first used in Asian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian civilizations. In South East Asia, historians have found remains of wind chimes made from bone, wood, bamboo, shells, jade, and bronze in about 3000 BCE. Ancient peoples may have thought chimes warded off evil spirits. A more practical use in Indonesia was to scare birds from crops.
Wind chimes at Chandigarh
Different cultures attribute unique meanings to wind chimes:
Today, you can still buy bone wind chimes, for example, on Etsy at prices ranging from $30 to $300.
Musical Rasps (Omichicahuaztli)
Close-up of the skull resonator, femur rasp and bone implement which Castañeda & Mendoza suggest is a shoulder-blade, from the Codex Vindobonensis
The musical rasp originated in Mesoamerica. It consists of a dried, striated deer bone or human femur that is scraped by a smaller bone to produce doleful sounds for the accompaniment of funeral dirges. Musicians sometimes held them above a resonating chamber, such as a conch shell or a skull, to amplify the sound. Amazing, what people will do to make music!
Some might quibble over calling it music. According to anthropologist Walter Krickeberg, Nahuatl people may have restricted funeral ceremonies to a sung dirge and the bone music of the omichicahuaztli, which he argues does not qualify as music.
What is not in dispute is the use of these instruments prior to the Spanish invasion.
“Several commentators have noted that instruments similar to the omichicahuaztli have continued to be used in modern times amongst the indigenous peoples of NW Mexico and SW United States, such as the Tarahumara (Rarámuri), Huichol, Pima, Hopi…), in some cases as magic instruments for bringing success in hunting, in others as medicinal tools used by shamans to speed a person’s recovery from illness.”
Flutes, made of bone and ivory, represent the earliest known musical instruments, clear evidence of prehistoric music. Archaeologists have discovered several such flutes in caves in Germany, dating to the European Upper Paleolithic, products of the Aurignacian culture.
This Aurignacian flute began life as the radius bone of a vulture. Between 35,000 and 43,000 years ago, a craftsman carved five finger holes into the hollow bone, allowing people to make music.
The vulture bone flute was not alone in Hoel Fels Cave. Specifically, archaeologists have also found two flutes made of mute swan bone and one made of wooly mammoth ivory.
Flutes made of bone, horn, ivory, etc. are available today online.
Mostly made of wood today, in their most basic form, bones are sections of animal rib bones—usually sheep or cow—between 5 and 7 inches long. Players hold them between their fingers, curved sides facing each other, and knock them together with flicks of their wrists. Experts can create a vast range of percussive sounds. You may have heard bones without realizing it.
In 1949, Freeman Davis, known as “Brother Bones,” recorded a version of the Jazz Age standard “Sweet Georgia Brown,” which became famous after the Harlem Globetrotters picked it up as their theme song three years later.
The bones have their roots in traditional Irish and Scottish music, and immigrants from those countries brought them to America, where they found a home in bluegrass and other folk genres. They’re similar to other clacking percussion instruments like the spoons, the Chinese paiban, and castanets.
Fun fact: Don’t confuse playing the bones with Bones playing! Nah’Shon Lee “Bones” Hyland, a former star of the VCU basketball team, plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves!
Jawbone (Quijada, Charrasca)
The jawbone as a musical instrument originated in Africa. It’s usually the jawbone of a zebra—or donkey, horse, mule, or cow—stripped of all flesh and dried to make the teeth so loose that they rattle around in their sockets. The jawbone came to the Americas along with the slave trade and was historically used in early American minstrel shows.
But it’s more than a simple rattle — players can create other sounds by striking the jawbone with a stick or rubbing wood across its teeth. Suz Slezak demonstrates several of these techniques here. Musicians use the jawbone throughout most of Latin America, including Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Cuba.
Fun fact: Martin B. Cohen designed the vibraslap to sound exactly like actual jawbones but with sturdier materials. He patented his design in 1969.
Bone Guitar
Artist Bruce Mahalski and guitar maker David Gilberd teamed up to build a bone guitar that features about 35 skulls. Super metal, yes, but not quite bony enough. It’s still, at its heart, a guitar. As far as I know, no such instruments are available for sale!
Bottom Line: Your skeleton does more than hold up your body. Human ingenuity has led people to create bone music!
