If you did not yet decided what to do and where to go for the weekend of All Saints and Halloween, the Marchesa farmhouse offers also to childrens the opportunity to spend a long weekend in a wine estate of 188 acres of untouched nature in Gavi, in Monferrato.
All Saints Do you know its origin?
All Saints Do you know its origin?The feast of All Saints, was born on 13 May 609 AD when the Catholic Church, in an attempt to replace the pagan feasts with Christian ones, decided to dedicate the Pantheon, a temple symbol of the pagan gods, to the Virgin Mary.
Shortly after the festival was moved to November 1 and combined, in the 11th century, with November 2, the day of the dead with the aim of avoiding the remembrance of pagan festivals in memory of the missing persons with rites contrary to the Catholic religion, as in the case of Halloween.
Halloween: what does it mean and where does it come from? Why dead and saints together?
The term Halloween is closely related to All Saints as it derives from the word Hallow which means saint in archaic English.
All Hallow’s Eve therefore is equivalent to the eve (eve) of all saints, it is therefore no coincidence that Halloween is celebrated on October 31st exactly the evening before the All Saints’ Day on November 1st.
The festival has a much older origin that dates back to the world of the Celts in Ireland, a people of shepherds who celebrated New Year’s Eve on October 31st, a date coinciding with the end of summer, the moment in which the flocks left the pastures to face the long winter in the stables.
For this reason the festival was called Samhain, the name of the Celtic New Year. During the night of Samhain the spirits of the dead returned to earth, mingling with the living who lit torches in front of the houses to allow their deceased relatives to return to their hearth.
The Christian church, unable to eliminate the festival that had a very strong popular following, made it a moment of prayer dedicating it to both the dead and all the saints, the name Samhain has disappeared and has been replaced by Halloween.
Halloween from Ireland to the world
In 1800 Ireland was a colony of England and most of the lands were owned by the English aristocracy. The Irish population had grown enormously thanks to the cultivation of the potato which has a much higher amount of calories than wheat. The monoculture of the potato, however, had caused the emergence of a fungus, potato blight, which completely destroyed the crop causing a terrible famine and the emigration of millions of Irish people to the United States. The Irish emigrants had not forgotten their traditions among which the Halloween party which soon became a national holiday in the USA and from the USA spread all over the world.
Halloween why the light in the pumpkin?
According to a legend, Jack, a dissolute sinner who had made a pact with the devil and had cheated him, is not accepted even in hell at his death, and is therefore destined to wander aimlessly with only the company of a burning ember given to him by the devil. To make it last longer, Jack inserts it into a turnip that has become a pumpkin in the USA for easier carving of pumpkins.
The scam to the devil
Jack, while on his way to his favorite inn to drink, meets the devil ready to take possession of his soul, Jack begs him to give him time to drink the last glass and asks him to turn into a coin to be able to pay him since he has no money. The devil accepts but Jack puts the coin in his pocket near a cross thus preventing the devil from resuming his shape.
All Saints’ Day and Halloween on the farmholidays
In 2023 you have the possibilty of two long weekend, from Saturday 28 October to Wednesday November 1 or from November 1 to November 5, time passes quickly at the Marchesa farmhouse in Monferrato; there are many alternatives to pass the time and enjoy the unforgettable colors of autumn by staying in our rooms with bathroom.
All Saints’ Day and Halloween with cultural tourism and shopping
For a cultural experience at the Marchesa you can choose between the Confraternity of the Maddalena in Novi Ligure, the monastery of Santa Croce in Boscomarengo and the Pinacoteca dei Cappuccini in Voltaggio, they are small museums run by volunteers but we can help you to book, an entire article on these fascinating museums was published in the November 2018 issue of Bell’Italia.
For shopping lovers, the Serravalle outlet, 4 km from the Marchesa, is a true paradise !!
All Saints’ Day and Halloween for the visit to the cellar, the villa and a walk to the lake
The experience of visiting the Marchesa winery at a time when the wine is finishinfg fermenting, is a way to immerse yourself in the world of wine and to smell its scent that is almost intoxicating in this season. During the visit to the cellar you can taste our wines from Gavi to red wines coming from native grapes with a scent from white pepper to black cherry to licorice.
The experience of the walk to the Marchesa lake allows you to walk through the vineyards that still have the colors of autumn and discover the woods around the lake while the lotus flowers are now withering and the corollas with seeds remain to remember the splendor of flowering.
The experience of visiting the villa can be booked on a farm even for small groups.
All Saint’s day and Halloween with Piedomont Vaucher
With Piedomont Voucher you can stay 4 nights paying only 2 nights! We will tell you what to do in order to use the voucher.
All Saints’ Day and Halloween at the farmhouse restaurant
the restaurant of the Marchesa farmhouse is open for dinner from Saturday October 28 to Saturday November 4, Sunday October 29 and Sunday november 5 for lunch, we can make additional special openings during the same days on demand.
In addition to the normal à la carte menu, a special pumpkin menu will be available made, as usual, with products from our vegetable garden and our wheat field. You can accompany the dishes with our Gavi or with Albarossa or even with the latest Pelvaro with particular aromas of white pepper and black currant typical of the native Pelaverga grape. As an aperitif, a unique brut rosé sparkling wine born from the marriage between Gavi and pelaverga.
Our start experience for restaurant and farmhouse guests
The guests of the restaurant only can book one of our 7 experiences to be carried out before or after lunch or before dinner at 17.30 / 18.
If with this article we have solved the problem of what to do and where to go for All Saints weekend, fill in the form below and we will do our best to make your All Saints’ Day and Halloween holiday on the farmhouse as pleasant as possible.