True Blood Halloween: The Fan Gallery

True Blood fans celebrated Halloween in style this year, and we’ve got the photos to prove it! If you’d like to share your True Blood-inspired Halloween photos with us, send them on over. (Please be sure that you have permission from anyone else in the photo for us to post the picture on our website.)

PHOTOS: Sam Trammell & Rutina Wesley Host Yelloween

True Blood’s Rutina Wesley and Sam Trammell hosted Yelloween last night at Lavo night club in Las Vegas. Rutina dressed as a sexy pirate wench while Sam went as a Viking wizard. Think he’s trying to cash in on the hot Viking vampire/Harry Potter popularity? See more photos in the Gallery.

Happy Halloween!

Happy All Hallow’s Eve, Truebies! We know a lot of you have been planning some True Blood-inspired fun for today and we’re looking forward to seeing your photos and hearing your reports. In case you missed any of our special Halloween series, you can catch our features on True Blood costumes, party ideas, drinks, and more here. Don’t forget to enter to win Kill Hannah’s latest CD (deadline is midnight tonight), too.

Have fun, be safe, and send us your photos for our Halloween album!

Halloween Mythology: Samhain – The Origins of Halloween Part 5

Symbolism in Halloween: Where They Come From

Many of the symbols of Halloween are products of commercialism, but it is also a reflection of the mysteries of Death. Death, for so many cultures and people is a mystery, sometimes a fearful thing and we incorporate the images of horror to do two things: To remind us of our mortality and to face it and know it.

One of the symbols of Halloween is the jack o’ lantern, of course. The black cat is associated with Witches, who were considered the servants of darkness. We have the dead, represented by skeletons and the Grim Reaper, and then we have the Children of the Night, the Vampires, the Werewolves, the Mummy, and Zombies.

The colors of Halloween of course represent the changing of the seasons, the changing of the trees and the land from the brilliant greens to the violent oranges and reds of the autumnal change in nature. Black is of course the staple color of Halloween and represents the night and the mysteries of the night and the creatures that inhabit it. Candles remind us of the tiny light in the dark, creating shadows and making even familiar objects seem sinister and threatening.

And of course, we have things that appeal to our phobias: spiders, bats, snakes and toads, all of those cringeworthy creatures of our natural world.

The treats of course represent the lavish feasts that were shared by families who were remembering the ancestors, inviting them to be among the living once again.

In more modern times, things like costumes have taken on a playful spin. Super heroes, faerie princesses, cross dressing (which is not a modern idea, but an ancient one, confusing the viewer by challenging our understanding of gender roles), and famous people (how many Hannah Montana’s did you give suckers and bubble gum to?) to walk among the myriads of axe killers, maniacs and killer clowns.

Modern Witches and Pagans generally eschew the secular practices we see in Halloween because it is thought that the holiday actually espouses stereotypes that are dangerous to their community. They instead celebrate the more orthodox celebration of Samhain, with rituals, prayers and remembrances of those who have gone into the next world.

Sources: Holidays Around the World by Stephanie Woll and The Ways of People: Celebrating Around the Globe by Daniel Michaels and Celebrating the Seasons: Samhain to Ostara by Ashleen O’Gaia

True Blood Halloween: Fangtasia Themed Party

What is Halloween without a few vampires around? It looks like vampires are the flavor of this year’s holiday, so why not roll with it? Go all the way and throw a Fangtasia themed party for yourself and your friends. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Get crazy with music. Eric Northman often had a ‘live’ band playing at his club. They were pretty much heavy metal and provocative rock sounds that you could dance to. Check out our list from seasons one and two and download and create your own mix. Make sure to clear a spot in your party room for those wild and crazy dancers, though.

Your color theme should be in the reds and black. Replacing your lamp bulbs with red ones would throw a different light on your party. Don’t forget the powder room! Place a black light in there and see what kind of response you’ll get. Take a look at this photo to inspire you.

Many of your guests will dress up as vampires, but for those who don’t, make sure to have a bag full of fangs they can pop into their mouths. Have a Best Vampire contest to liven things up at your ‘club’. Award the winner with a four-pack of Tru Blood! Perhaps a True Blood Who Am I? game is what get your party started.

Don’t forget the Teacup Humans. Set them up at a small table with ready made and frosted cupcakes. Set out Halloween colored sugars and sprinkles, plastic spiders and gummy worms, and let them decorate their own cupcakes. Er, watch out for this guy though:

While it is well known he thinks the tiny humans are cute, we’re not quite sure what will happen if he gets too close to one.

Fangtasia is a club so no need to plan a full dinner menu. Instead, set out trays of carrots and black olives and veggie dip. The colors are perfect! Pretzels and nuts are a must, and red and black Twizzlers Bites add to the fun.

Eric’s objective in opening a club like Fangtasia was to make money by giving humans what they want – a walk on the dangerous side with real vampires. Just keep that in mind as you plan your Fangtasia party, and you’re guaranteed to have a full house this Halloween. Don’t forget to have the camera charged up and ready, and email your photos to us!

True Blood Halloween: Bill & Eric Costumes

The modern vampire has it easy. No more swanning around in capes with slicked back black hair. Nope, the new breed of vampires are decidedly modern which makes dressing as Bill or Eric a lot more comfortable this Halloween. Guys, if you’re hoping to meet up with a Sookie this Saturday, pick one of these costumes and see what happens.

If you’re going for the courtly brunette Southern gentleman who hides a violent streak, take your cue from Bill’s button-down shirts in dark, neutral colors (brown, gray) and either dark jeans or black pants. Finish off with a nice belt and leather shoes, brush your hair forward to create bangs if you don’t already have them, and of course add a pair of fangs. Practice your smoldering gaze for the full effect. If you add a recycling bin with Tru Blood empties to your costume, we’ll give you mad props.

If you’d prefer to go as a blonde, seemingly apathetic Viking who does not hide his violent streak, have a look at Eric’s wardobe. The iconic black racerback tank top and loose pants are probably his most recognizable look. Add a tracksuit jacket and a pair of fangs, slick your hair back and prepare to look sexy/menacing.

See our full series of True Blood Halloween features here and be sure to send us your photos for the True Blood Halloween Gallery coming early next week!

Halloween Mythology: Samhain – The Origins of Halloween Part 4

Some form of Halloween exists in countries all over the world and they each have their own twists on the day.

Austria- Some people leave bread and a lighted lamp on a table on All Hallows. It was a belief that this welcomed the dead into the land of the living for one night of the year.

Belgium- The Belgians believe that it is bad luck for a black cat to cross your path, especially on the night of All Hallows. It is also customary to light a candle in memory of the dead.

Canada- They do what we in America do Grin

China- They have a festival called Teng Cheih. There they honor the beloved ancestors, setting up shrines for them in the home and putting out food offerings. Communities have bon fires and set out beautiful paper boats with candles in them adrift in ponds. The boats are eventually consumed by the flames and release the souls of the ancestors into heaven. The soul in Buddhist thought is called a pretas.

Czechoslavakia- Chairs are put by the hearth on All Hallows and the dead are invited to sit there and visit with the family on their journey through the world on this night of nights.

England- At one time, the night of the dead was called “Punkie Night”. While Irish and Scottish folk used turnips, the English used the beet root and carved them and lit them with candles and went around asking for money. When Protestantism became the ruling faith in Britain, the practice was squelched as a Catholic/Pagan practice and was banned. Later, after the gunpowder plot back fired, Guy Fawkes day was initiated and effigies of Guy Fawkes (the fomenter of the plot) are made and burned (sort like a Wicker Man) and children went begging for a “Penny for the Guy”. In recent years, however, familiar Halloween festivities, including trick or treating has become the vogue and is back to where it has always been. Guy Fawkes day is still a later celebration (Remember, remember, the 5th of November, the gun powder treason and plot) A side note, Dumbledore’s phoenix, a bird who burns up and rises up from it’s ashes is named Fawkes, after Guy Fawkes.

France- France did not really have such a holiday and is one of the few countries who doesn’t, at least not until more recent time. Costumes and parties are quite popular in France and they have adopted the masquerade fete as an excellent opportunity to dress up and party hardy.

Germany- The practice is to secure their cutlery, especially the knives, to keep them out of the hands of mischievous spirits.

Hong Kong- They have the feast of Yue Lan, the feast of the hungry spirits. The people gather at the tombs of ancestors and burn incense, candles, and pictures of food and money to send the essence of the things in the pictures to the afterworld to their ancestors.

Japan- While the Japanese know about Halloween and they are slowly adopting the Western style of celebration, they have a feast called Obon or Matsuri or Urabon and it is dedicated to the ancestors. They wear traditional clothes and have traditional dancing and songs and stories and plays. They have fireworks and candles and flowers and food and celebrate the spirits of the beloved dead who still protect them in the land of the living.

Korea- They have a feast called Chusok and they celebrate it in August, following along the lines many of the same customs of the Chinese and Japanese.

Mexico, Spain and Latin America- They celebrate El Dia de los Muertos. The celebrations start on Halloween (Oct 31) and end on the evening of November 2. They go to the cemeteries and clean and decorate the graves, they set up personal shrines at home. They have picnics and feasts and dancing and make candy of all kinds, especially the Macabre Candy, the skulls and cross bones and small coffins and bake bread and leave them on graves to feed the spirits of the dead.

Sources: Holidays Around the World by Stephanie Woll and The Ways of People: Celebrating Around the Globe by Daniel Michaels

True Blood Halloween: Merlotte’s Party Theme

So you want to plan a themed Halloween party and you really don’t have a clue what theme to use? Fortunately, True Blood is loaded with ideas for this Halloween’s festivities. Why not go for a Merlotte’s theme!

Start by creating your Merlotte’s Bar & Grill atmosphere. You’ll want music and decorations to reflect a Louisiana bar and grill. Check out our list of songs featured in seasons one and two of True Blood for ideas and downloads, and create your own playlist. They are mostly rockabilly and down home country, so have fun with it!

For decorating ideas, head over to our gallery for the photos Mel and I took on our set tour of Merlotte’s back in April. We were so impressed with the attention to details that we saw there, we grabbed some high resolution shots that should help you out. Grab some bottles of
Tru Blood for your guests and store them in a bucket full of ice to keep them chilled. And don’t forget to include some Louisiana Hot Sauce scattered about on some tables.

Do you need some ideas for your menu? A couple of those photos from Merlotte’s in our gallery include a nice big shot of Sam’s menu behind the bar. We’ve already given you some ideas on drinks that are sure to delight and entertain.

For costume ideas for Sookie and Lafayette, check out Mel’s articles posted here. Don’t forget to have the camera charged up and ready, and email your photos to us!

True Blood Halloween: Sookie Costume

Still looking for the perfect Halloween costume? We’ve got you covered! Today’s True Blood costume suggestion features our girl Sookie Stackhouse, with three different options to inspire you.

The most popular Sookie costume is her Merlotte’s waitress uniform: white Merlotte’s t-shirt, black shorts, green apron, black sneakers and a side ponytail. HBO has an ‘Inspired by Sookie’ set that includes the t-shirt and apron, then add your own shorts and sneakers.

Another easy option is Sookie’s post-Maenad recovery outfit: red Fangtasia t-shirt, sneakers, and a (toy) gun. Leave your hair down in waves and channel some righteous indigination for the full effect. (We also recommend wearing some shorts under the t-shirt, because you may be a waitress, but you’re still a lady.)

Want to go as a slightly more sophisticated Sookie? Break out the sundresses and cardigans! Sookie’s wardrobe, especially in season 2, boasts sundresses in several colors with matching cardigans, a warmer option for those of us North of the Mason-Dixon line this October. She typically pairs them with sandals or white Keds. Loose, wavy hair and some cubic zirconia studs for earrings finish the look.

Are you dressing up as Sookie or anyone from True Blood this Halloween? Send us your photos!

Halloween Mythology: Samhain – The Origins of Halloween Part 3

Tricks, Treats, and Jack O’Lanterns

The most common tradition in the celebration of today’s Halloween has a wonderful history and tradition. In the days of early Christianity, after the Pagan Holiday was transformed into Christian feast day, it was a common practice of the poor to beg for alms or food in exchange for prayers for their beloved dead. Gift givers who gave with a cheerful heart were blessed, those who gave grudgingly or not at all were likely to be beset by a number of mean spirited tricks.

As the holiday became even more secularized, that is the religious meaning was lost or put aside, young people, mostly young men, would the night of All Hallows to play pranks and do mean spirited treats like deliver a light beating to the master of the house who did not supply them with food and drink or small coin. This slowly became less threatening as the tradition became simply playing pranks on fellow revelers on their way to All Hallows celebrations.

The Trick or Treating that we are most accustomed to has it’s roots in rural America in the late 19th and early 20th century. After trick or treating, the people would gather together to celebrate the end of the hard work of plant, harvest and storing goods for the winter with games, dancing, feasting, story telling, mild forms of divination (fortunetelling) and contests.

Trick or Treating declined in the 70’s and 80’s with the fears of tainted candy and foreign objects found in treats that were home made. These stories became so prevalent that hospitals offered to xray Halloween candy for free to relieve worried families. These stories appear to be more urban legend than real fact and Trick or Treating is beginning to make a comeback.

Jack O’Lanterns also come to us from the Celts. According to the Celto-Christian myth, Jack was a miserly man who tricked the Devil into not taking him to hell. Problem was, Jack was not a good Christian, either and when he died, St. Peter refused him entrance into heaven. So Jack is doomed to roam the earth, holding in his hand a candle sitting in a turnip bowl, looking for a place to rest. When Irish immigrants came to America, they discovered that the pumpkin was a lovely substitute to the turnip and christened the pumpkin “Jack Of the Lantern” or Jack O’ Lantern, the Spirit of Halloween.

In addition to the Celtic influences of the Jack O’Lantern story, it may also have Roman influences too, as Halloween corresponds with the Roman festival honoring Pomona, the goddess of fruit, and it was a practice to make lanterns of apples to light the goddess’ way to the orchards for her blessings.

Sources: Why Do We Do That? by Father Simon McNarry, QuestMagazine.com Feature story by Hal Seimer

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