North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Suzi Teghtmeyer <srt175f@smsu.edu>]

Howdy All,
This is a snippet from the History Channels' website on Halloween and just 
had to pass it on.
http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/hallowmas.html

"By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the 
course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two 
festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic 
celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when 
the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second 
was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol 
of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into 
Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is 
practiced today on Halloween. "


(p.s. For a bit of fun here at the office, today I dressed up a "fruit" 
bat! Trick or treat!)
----Suzi T.

Librarian, Paul Evans Library of Fruit Science
Southwest Missouri State University Mtn. Grove Campus and Missouri Fruit 
Experiment Station
9740 Red Spring Rd, Mountain Grove, MO 65711
Phone: 417-926-4105, Fax: 417-926-6646,  email: srt175f@smsu.edu
URL: http://library.smsu.edu/paulevans/
AgNIC Viticulture site: http://library.smsu.edu/paulevans/viticulture1.shtml
Member: CBHL, USAIN, ALA, ACRL, IAALD