WHAT’S INSIDE: • • • • •
APPLE FOLKLORE SPOOKY SNACK CROSSWORD COLORING JOKES
FALL 2021
Some Apples Bite Back Crisp, sweet, and juicy — what’s not to love about apples? Few fruits scream fresh from the Pacific Northwest like Hood River’s finest. This is the perfect time of year to slice up mythology surrounding these seedy characters. Read on to learn some folklore surrounding the harvest season and in preparation for Halloween, when imaginations are known to run wild! • Apples have been called Fruit of the Gods, Fruit of the Underworld, and the Silver Bough. The name “Avalon” is believed to be derived from the old Irish word meaning “the place of apples.”
• Ancient peoples were aware of the virtues of this familiar tree. As early as 8,000 B.C., there is evidence that the apple was highly valued and cultivated in the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates, Indus, and Yellow River valleys. The apple often is associated with magic, paradise, and the gifts of knowledge and experience. • Apples have been used for divination and magic. The blossoms were included in love sachets and used to scent candles to attract love. • To ensure happiness in a relationship, cut an apple in half and share it with someone you love. • Magicians such as Merlin of Arthurian lore were said to carry a silver bough from the apple tree hung with bells and ripened fruits that allowed them to cross into other worlds and to return to this one.
SPOOKY SNACK:
APPLE MONSTER BITES Turn a simple apple into a monster of a snack with these frightful bites! All you need are a few ingredients, some imagination, and a parent to help safely cut your apples. You can even use other ingredients like mini marshmallows for teeth or raisins for eyes. Get creative! INGREDIENTS • Apple • Nut butter or jam • Slivered almonds or sunflower seeds
DIRECTIONS 1. Quarter and core an apple and cut into thin slices. 2. Spread nut butter or your jam of choice on a slice. 3. Push slivered almonds in that slice to resemble teeth, then do the same with another piece. 4. Stick the second slice on top of the first (using the nut butter/jam as an adhesive) and marvel at your monstrous creation!
Share your culinary creations and they might be featured in MAC Halloween posts! Tag @multnomahathleticclub on Instagram or share on MAC Community Facebook pages.
• Unicorns have been associated with the apple tree, the fruit of which they are said to heartily enjoy. • There is symbolism in the apple cycle of life, with the fruit ripening in late summer or fall, just before the frosts of winter. The seeds carry through the dark and cold to take root the next spring. Apples remind people that light will come again, and life can return from death.
• Like the pumpkin, apples can be carved into fun shapes, and baked into delicious pies. Unlike pumpkins, apples can be dried after being carved to create “shrunken heads” that can be displayed around Halloween time to conjure spooky fun without anyone having to lose their head!
HALLOWEEN CROSSWORD PUZZLE
ACROSS 3. The most famous type of squash 5. The rewards for a night of trickor-treating 7. Where dead things are buried 8. A common fruit with a magical history 10. A field that’s easy to get lost in 11. She casts spells and cooks up potions
DOWN 1. An eight-legged creature that spins webs 2. The bones inside all of us 4. A blood-drinking monster 6. A nocturnal, flying mammal 9. A spooky specter
COLOR THE MAC MONSTERS Snap a photo of your artistic creation and tag @multnomahathleticclub on Instgram or share on the MAC Community Groups on Facebook!
HALLOWEEN JOKES What instrument does a skeleton play? A trombone.
Why don’t vampires have more friends? Because they are a pain in the neck.
What is a ghost’s nose full of? Boooooogers!
What do you call witches that live together? Broommates.
How do you fix a cracked pumpkin? A pumpkin patch.
What’s the best way to get rid of a demon? Exorcise a lot.
What happens when a ghost gets lost in the fog? He is mist.
Why do ghosts hate rain? It dampens their spirits.