• The Little Match Girl - Hans Christian Anderson
  It was very, very cold. It snowed and it grew dark. It was the last evening of the year, New Year's Eve. In the cold and dark a poor little girl, with bare head and bare feet, was walking through the streets. When she left her own house she certainly had had slippers on, but what could they do? They were very big slippers, and her mother had used them till then, so big were they...
  
  
• The Twelve Months Alexander Chodsvko - Slav Fairy Tales
  There was once a widow who had two daughters, Helen, her own child by her dead husband, and Marouckla, his daughter by his first wife. She loved Helen, but hated the poor orphan because she was far prettier than her own daughter.
  
  
• The Little New Year  by Ellen Robena Field
  One cold morning Maurice awoke from his dreams and sat up in bed and listened. He thought he heard a knock at his window; but though the moon was shining brightly, Jack Frost had been so busily at work that Maurice could not see through the thickly painted panes. So he crept sleepily out of bed, and opened the window, and whispered: "Who is there?"

• The Kwanzaa Story
  Each evening a family member, usually the youngest child, lights candles in a special candleholder (kinara) and discusses one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa.
  
  
• Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba
  A message from the founder of Kwanzaa
  In its most essential understanding and ex-pression, Kwanzaa is a celebration of family, community and culture with each providing a context and commitment of common ground, cooperative practice and shared good...
  
  
• Kwanzaa meditation
  Let us not engage the world hurriedly.
  Let us not grasp at the rope of wealth impatiently.
  That which should be treated with mature judgment,
  Let us not deal with in a state of anger...
  
  

Seven African Folktales for Kwanzaa

• UMOJA (Unity):
  Anansi and his Sons
  When Anansi's first son was born and Anansi and his wife, Aso were ready to name the child, the baby spoke up and said, "I have brought my own name with me. It is See Trouble." Their second son also announced his name in this way. He was Road Builder...
  
  

• KUJICHAGULIA (Self-Determination):
  The Three Tests
  Once, long ago three tigers came to Africa. They went to the country of the animals and made this terrible announcement.   "From now on, this land will be ruled by the Tigers. We are, after all, the strongest, fastest and wisest of all animals. Therefore, we are the only fit rulers." they claimed...

   
• UJIMA (Collective Work and Responsibility):
  The Great Drum
  The lion sent out a message for all the animals to come to a very special meeting.  Messengers went far and wide to spread the news of this meeting. As soon as the animals heard the message, they hurried right away to the council circle. It was about three weeks before they were all gathered. The lion was very disappointed...
  
  
• UJAMAA (Cooperative Economics)
  The Feast
  There was a once chief who decided that he wanted to give a party for his entire kingdom. Everyone was invited. He would provide all the food and entertainment. The only thing he asked was that each family brings a gourd of wine. This would be poured into a huge pot from which all would be served. All the villages were buzzing with excitement. People were deciding what to wear and wondering what dances and stories would be performed. It promised to be a fabulous party...

• NIA (Purpose)
  The Name of the Tree
  Once there was a terrible drought in the land of the animals. A kindly king came from over the mountain and planted a special tree. He told them that this tree would bear fruit all year round in any kind of weather. All they had to do to get the fruit was to speak its name. The name of the tree was Oowungalema...
  
  

• KUUMBA (Creativity)
  Anansi Writes a Song
  A lion named Simba was ruler of a small kingdom called Korro. A traveling griot* came to his village to give a performance. He played the Kora and sang stories about great men and women and the deeds they'd done. He sang about things going on all across the wide world. The king and everyone around enjoyed the music very much...

  
  
•   IMANI (Faith)
  The Collared Crow
  Once upon a time there were a man and his wife who had lived together for years, but they had no children to look after them in their old age. This was very sad for them, but they had no idea what to do about it. You can neither make nor order children, nor do they grow on trees. So, the only answer was to wait for a miracle which, in stories, still may happen...

Hanukkah Stories

• The Hanukkah Story
  The story of Hanukkah begins in strife. Antiochus, a Greek who was king of Syria, marched with an army of soldiers into the kingdom of Judea, home to many Jews. He insisted that the Jews worship the Greek gods rather than the one God they worshipped. When the Jews refused to worship the Greek gods, the soldiers attacked the Temple in Jerusalem and killed countless Jews...
  
• The Hanukkah Lights Tale - Narrated
  

  Many years ago, began the First Hanukkah Light, the Jews lived in the Land of Israel. They had no king at that time, for their king was G-d, the King of kings. Unfortunately many Jews stopped serving G-d, and so they soon found themselves in the servitude of a human king.
  

• A Special Gift
  On the third day of Hanukkah, there was a bris in Boro Park, Brooklyn. The Bobover Rebbe was the sandak—being honored to hold the baby on his lap—and he told this story at the bris.

• Hanukkah Stories
  Humerous stories written by Yoni Brenner and published in the Shouts and Murmurs section of the New Yorker. 
  

• The Tree that Absorbed Tears
  A daughter married and moved to a distant village to live with her husband. The life of the girl was very bitter. She had no luck and what luck does not give also mind cannot change. Once the mother visited her daughter. She saw how terrible her life was. She wanted to talk with her, but was afraid to do it at home in case the husband will hear. So, she asked her daughter to go out with her. They went and went until they arrived at the nearest forest.
  
  
• The Purse of Gold 
  A beggar found a leather purse that someone had dropped in the marketplace. Opening it, he discovered that it contained 100 pieces of gold. Then he heard a merchant shout, "A reward! A reward to the one who finds my leather purse!"
  
  

• Defending His Property
  One day, an innkeeper came to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev. "Rabbi," he said. "Is a man permitted to defend his property?"  The rabbi said, "Of course. What needs defending?"  "My inn," said the man. "So you'll give me your blessing?"  "That depends. Who are you defending it against?"  "Rabbi, the local peasant boys break into my kitchen at night, to steal the food that I keep for my customers."

• The Three Laughs
  Once, the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov decided to prepare him a special Sabbath. They worked for days to make sure that everything would be just as it should be, so that the spirit of the Sabbath would descend as it never had before.

• The Clotheslines
  This tale is about a woman who lived in the Old City of Jerusalem about a century ago. Washing clothes for a family then was a chore of almost unimaginable difficulty. So after six hours of backbreaking labor, this pious housewife hung her laundry out to dry in the sun, on two clotheslines that were stretched between poles and went the whole length of the courtyard.
  

• Loosening the stopper
  Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev's grandchild married the grandchild of the famous rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi. “Now that we are related by this marriage,” said Rabbi Schneur Zalman, “let us join in performing a good deed. An innocent Jew is being held by the local authorities. Let us take up a collection, to give the officials the sum they demand for his release.”
  

December 25–Christmas Day–has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1870.  Christmas is both a sacred religious holiday and a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon. For more than two thousand years, people have been observing Christmas Day with traditions and practices that are both religious and secular in nature. Christians celebrate Christmas Day as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, a spiritual leader whose teachings form the basis of their religion. Popular customs include exchanging gifts, decorating Christmas trees, sharing meals with family and friends and waiting for Santa Claus to arrive.

Christmas Stories

• A Baker's Dozen
  Saint Nicholas visits a baker who was curse by a witch Back in the old days, I had a successful bake-shop in Albany. I had a good business, a plump wife, and a big family.  I was a happy man.  But trouble came to my shop one year in the guise of an ugly old woman.  She entered my shop a few minutes before closing and said:  “I wish to have a dozen cookies.”  She pointed to my special Saint Nicholas cookies that were sitting out on a tray.  So I counted out twelve cookies for her... 
  
  

• Saint Nicholas Day
  December 6th is St. Nicholas Day, the day designated by the Catholic Church in its Calendar of Saints to honor the man named Nicholas who was Bishop of Myra, which is now a part of Turkey, and noted for his saintly life.
  
  

• Saint Nicholas Celebrations in the USA
  Bishop St. Nicholas is celebrated by many churches and by communities which have a Dutch, German, or Ukrainian heritage. On the Advent Sunday closest to St. Nicholas Day, December 6, churches may have St. Nicholas festivals, large or small, with the good saint himself appearing to greet children, give instruction and encouragement, and hand out treats for children of all ages.
  
  
• Der Belznickel
  My sisters and my baby brother danced about the house, whispering to each other excitedly about the coming of der Belznickel on that snowy December 5^th evening, the day before the Feast of Saint Nicholas.   According to the stories, the good Saint Nicholas chains up the Devil on the eve of his Birthday – December 6^th -- and makes him visit all of the children in the village to see if they have been behaving themselves and deserved the attention of Kirstkindel.  Those who are good will receive gifts, but those who are naughty….
  
  
• Saint Nicholas and the Merchant's Daughters
  Many centuries ago in the ancient port city of Myra in Asia Minor there lived a rich merchant named Demetri.   Demetri owned six sailing ships which he would load with merchandise and send out to trade for spices, silks, perfumes and other precious goods available from traders the Mediterranean Sea...
  
  

This Halloween, you may want to check out some of these haunted spots throughout New Jersey.   

Ringwood Manor
If you wander the halls of the Manor House at night, you might meet the ghost of a housemaid who haunts a small bedroom on the second floor. They have heard noises coming from the empty room - footsteps, sounds of heavy objects dropping, soft crying. And they keep finding the bedroom door ajar and the bed rumpled.

Behind the Manor pond is the grave where General Erskine is buried. The local people are afraid to come to this place because at dusk General Erskine can be seen sitting on his grave gazing across the pond.

And it is said there is an unmarked grave filled with the remains of French soldiers who fought with Rochambeau during the Revolutionary War. During the day, all you can see is a depression in the grass near the General's grave. But after dark, the dead come to the Manor pond to walk along the shore. Sometimes, you can hear soft, sad voices speaking in French.

Washington Rock
The car reached the top of the hill and started around the long C curve that took them through one end of the Washington Rock State Park. The park was dark and still. The whole family automatically looked to their right, out over the gorgeous view of the New York City skyline. They all saw the small park cart, sitting next to the road just inside the park boundary. It was parked directly underneath the only streetlight, where you couldn't fail to see it. And inside the vehicle....

The girl started trembling fiercely. Inside the vehicle was a tall, handsome blond man with eyes full of ferocious anger, terrible evil, and malevolent malice. It was the man from her dream. The man everyone said was the Devil!

Read the Story: The Devil on Washington Rock.


Long Beach Island
Have you seen my love?  I have searched for him everywhere, but I cannot find him.  Can you tell me where he is?  I ask the questions of everyone I see; reaching out to touch their shoulders or their arms, but my hand goes right through them as if they were made of mist.  Most people act as if they cannot see me at all, merely shuddering as if they were cold and walking quickly away.  Sometimes, a person will scream when they see me, as if they have seen a ghost, and then run in the opposite direction.  They never answer my questions.  
 
The beach seems endless as I walk from one side of the island to the other, down the long, long miles and then back again.  He must be here.  I know he is here.  He would never desert me.  Perhaps he is injured!  Perhaps he is ill.  My fear presses me ever onward.  I stop each person I meet to ask the same question over and over:  Have you seen my love? 

Peapack
A run-down Italianate mansion with twenty-six fireplaces that used to be owned by nuns sits on fifty acres of property, including beautifully terraced grounds.  Eyewitnesses have seen a glowing feminine figure in the third story window.

Rumor also claims that a crazy Mother Superior became a pagan and tortured and killed her fellow sisters when they refused to join her evil practices? She chopped them up and scattered pieces of their bodies throughout the mansion. There was blood everywhere when the police came to investigate! The Mother Superior’s ghost is supposed to haunt the terraces at the back of the house. They say she tries to lead you into the mansion in order to torture and kill you. 

Read the story: The Figure in the Window. 

Atlantic City
Captain Don Sandovate voyaged from Spain to the New World in search of treasure, which he found in abundance.  But his crew did not wish to share the new-found wealth with the monarchs of Spain.  They mutinied and tied their captain to the main mast, and refusing to give him food or drink.  Broken in spirit, Don Sandovate begged:  “Water.  Please.  Just one sip of water.”  But he was left to die of thirst and exposure.  The new captain left the body tied to the mast as the ship plundered its way up the coast.  Finally, a massive storm drove the ship deep into the Atlantic, where it sank with all hands, the body of Don Sandovate still tied to the broken mast.    

Shortly after the death of the mutineers turned pirate, a ruined Spanish treasure ship appeared along the coast near Atlantic City.  Its mast was broken, its sails torn, and the corpse of a noble-looking Spaniard was tied to the main mast.  The ship was crewed by hideous skeletons wearing the ragged sailors clothing.  As it passed near the shore, the skeletons stretched out bony hands and cried: “Water.  Please.  Just one sip of water.”  But no one can help them, for the crew of Don Sandovate are eternally doomed to roam the Atlantic in punishment for their terrible deeds. 

Read the story: Ghost Ship of Captain Sandovate

Morristown
George Washington was driving back to Morristown from Summit when a blizzard came blowing down upon his carriage.  The snow was blowing so hard that it was difficult to see.  They were driving slowly down the road when the General looked through the window and saw a poor child – a pretty little brown-haired girl – staggering through the rapidly deepening drifts of snow.  Washington called to my driver to stop and pick her up, thinking he could give her a ride to her home.  The carriage stopped beside her.  Then, just as the driver got down from the carriage, she vanished.  The men looked around for her, and realized there were no child’s footprints in the snow.   

Puzzled, they stopped at a local house to inquire after the child, and learned that the little girl had been drowned in a cistern several years ago, and her ghost continued to walk the section of the road on which they had been traveling that evening.  It was said that the little girl had sometimes saved other children from accidents, and that her spirit was there to protect travelers.  While he was still assimilating this information, General Washington received word of a British ambush that was foiled by the revolutionaries loyal to the General.  If he had not stopped the carriage to speak to the ghost, General Washington would have been caught in the ambush and captured or killed.

Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings and Other Local Lore

retold by S.E. Schlosser

 All at once, the moon came sliding out from behind a cloud, lighting the scene in front of me.  And I screamed.  I couldn't help it.  The skeleton of a horse was rising out of the water, dripping mud and dead leaves and gunk of all sorts.  First came its skull, then the bones of its neck, and then its shoulder girdle and its back.  I hadn't seen the figure on its back at first because its torso was hidden by the horse's skull.  Now I could see a uniformed body which ended obscenely at the throat...      

A young lad encounters the ghost of a revolutionary war soldier near Camden;  a vacationing couple sees a ghostly funeral procession on Hilton Head; a taxi driver is dispatched to pick up a ghost; and a youth is rescued from prison by the infamous Dr. Buzzard.  All this and more in this collection of 25 Spooky South Carolina stories from author S.E. Schlosser

BUY NOW!

    There was once a beautiful old house right on the edge of a lake, surrounded by woods. But no one would live there because a spirit calling itself Sifty-Sifty-San drove everyone away.
     In desperation, the owner of the house went to the big city, looking for a man or woman who would be able to banish the spirit of Sifty-Sifty-San. The first night in town, he came across a man named Sam who had spent much of his life banishing ghosts.
     As Sam approached the house he whistled cheerfully to himself; the prospect of a good night’s sleep in a fancy house and a big wad of money in his pocket made Sam a happy man.
Darkness came swiftly, and with it came a sinister hissing sound from the forest. Sifty-sifty, the wind whistled in the treetops. Saaaannnn, the waves lapping the shore responded. Outside, a huge gust of wind shook the house and howled down the chimney. Sam shivered and threw another log on the fire.
     The wind settled down a bit, and Sam could once again hear the tiny sounds of night. Sifty-sifty, the little frogs croaked. Saaannn, belched the biggest of the bullfrogs. The sound of the waves grew louder. Sam heard a huge thud-thud-thud sound coming from the forest. Sam ran around the house, making sure all the windows and doors were locked.
     He had just settled down by the fire for supper when there came a soft cry from the far side of the lake. The frying pan shook in his grip, and he hastily put it back on the fire and pulled a Bible out of his pack. The cry came again, louder. A strange gust of air blew through the house bringing with it a strange musty smell, like the dust in a graveyard.
     Out on the lake, Sam heard a soft voice chanting: “I am Sifty-Sifty-San. I’m here on the lake, but where is the man?” Sam froze in place, and the wind picked up again, howling down the large chimney.
     “I am Sifty-Sifty-San,” a sinister voice hissed from the shore of the lake. “I’m here on the shore, but where is the man?” Sam dropped his Bible in his fright. His hands were shaking too much to grip anything, and the dusty, decaying smell coming through the window seemed to dull his thoughts and numb his body.
      “I am Sifty-Sifty-San,” a terrible, howling voice called from the front of the house. “I’m here on the porch, but where is the man?” Abandoning food, Bible, bag, and sanity, Sam wrestled desperately with the back window, trying to open it wide enough to climb through. He heard the front doors slam open with a bang, and down the passageway came the thud-thud-thudding of footsteps. Then the kitchen door slammed inward, and a huge shadow with burning yellow eyes appeared in the frame.
     “I am Sifty-Sifty-San,” a horrible, blood-chilling voice bellowed. “I’m here in the house with the trespassing man!”
      “No you ain’t, on account of I’m gone,” shouted Sam, springing through the window, glass, wood frame, and all. He hightailed it back to town faster than a jackrabbit.
And that was the last time anybody went near the old house on the lake. If it hasn’t fallen to pieces by now, then Sifty-Sifty-San may be there still.

 I came home late one night after work and found my wife Ethel puttering about the kitchen with a big yellow cat at her heels.
      “And who is this?” I asked jovially. 
      “This is our new cat,” said Ethel, giving me a hug and a kiss to welcome me home.  “She just appeared at the kitchen door and wanted to come in.  None of the neighbors know where she came from, so I guess she’s ours.  It will be nice to have some company around the house.”
      I bent down and scratched the yellow cat under the chin.  She purred and stretched. 
     “Well, I think our income can stretch far enough to feed three,” I said. 
     My son had taken over my job at the mercantile and my wife and I were enjoying a leisurely old age.  I liked to keep busy though, and so I spent a few hours every day cutting and hauling wood to be used at the mill. 
       I went out to milk the cow, and when I came back in, Ethel gave the cat some cream in a saucer. 
       We sat on the porch after dinner, and the cat sat with us. 
       “You are a very nice kitty,” I said to her.  She purred loudly. 
      “Donald,” Ethel said.  She sounded worried.  I turned to look at her.  “The neighbors acted rather oddly when I told them about the cat.  They seemed to think she was a ghost or a witch of some sort, transformed into a cat.  They told me to get rid of her.” 
        “A witch?” I asked, and laughed heartily.  “Are you a witch, little cat?” 
      The cat yawned and stretched.  Reluctantly, Ethel started to laugh with me.  It seemed such a ludicrous notion.  We sat watching the beautiful sunset, and then took ourselves to bed. 
       The cat quickly became an essential part of our household.  She would purr us awake each morning, and would beg for cream when I brought in the morning’s milking.  She followed Ethel around supervising her work during the day and would sit by the fire at night while we read aloud. 
     The days became shorter as autumn approached, and often I would work until nearly sunset, cutting and hauling wood.  One night in October, I didn’t finish hauling my last load until dusk.  As soon as I had piled the last log, I started down the road, hoping to get home before dark since I had not brought a lantern with me.  I rounded a corner and saw a group of black cats standing in the middle of the road.  They were nearly invisible in the growing dark. 
         As I drew nearer, I saw that they were carrying a stretcher between them.  I stopped and rubbed my eyes.  That was impossible.  When I looked again, the stretcher was still there, and there was a little dead cat lying on it. 
      I was astonished.  It must be a trick of the light, I thought.  Then one of the cats called out, “Sir, please tell Aunt Kan that Polly Grundy is dead.”
       My mouth dropped open in shock.  I shook my head hard, not believing my ears.  How ridiculous, I thought.  Cats don’t talk. 
      I hurried past the little group, carefully looking the other way.  I must be working too hard, I thought.  But I couldn’t help wondering who Aunt Kan might be.  And why did the cat want me to tell her Polly Grundy was dead?  Was Polly Grundy the cat on the stretcher?
     Suddenly, I was confronted by a small black cat.  It was standing directly in front of me.  I stopped and looked down at it.  It looked back at me with large green eyes that seemed to glow in the fading light. 
      “I have a message for Aunt Kan,” the cat said.  “Tell her that Polly Grundy is dead.”
       The cat stalked passed me and went to join the other cats grouped around the stretcher. 
      I was completely nonplussed.  This was getting very spooky.  Talking cats and a dead Polly Grundy.  And who was Aunt Kan?  I hurried away as fast as I could walk.  Around me, the woods were getting darker and darker.  I did not want to stay in that wood with a group of talking cats.  Not that I really believed the cats had spoken.  It was all a strange, waking dream brought on by too much work. 
     Behind me, the cats gave a strange shriek and called out together:  “Old man!  Tell Aunt Kan that Polly Grundy is dead!”
      I’d had enough.  I sprinted for home as fast as I could go, and didn’t stop until I had reached the safety of my porch.  I paused to catch my breath.  I did not want to explain to Ethel that I was seeing and hearing impossible things.  She would dose me with caster oil and call the doctor. 
      When I was sufficiently composed, I went into the house and tried to act normally.  I should have known it wouldn’t work.  Ethel and I had been married for thirty years, and she knew me inside and out.  She didn’t say anything until after I’d finished the chores.  Then she sat me down in front of the fire and brought me my supper.  After I’d take a few bites and started to relax, she said, “Tell me all about it, Donald.”
     “I don’t want to worry you,” I said, reluctant to talk about what I had seen and heard on the way home.   
      The yellow cat was lying by the fire.  She looked up when she heard my voice, and came to sit by my chair.  I offered her a morsel of food, which she accepted daintily. 
     “I’ll worry more if you don’t tell me,” said Ethel. 
     “I think maybe something is wrong with my brain,” I said slowly.  “While I was walking home, I thought I saw a group of black cats carrying a stretcher with a dead cat on it.  Then I thought I heard the cats talking to me.  They asked me to tell Aunt Kan that Polly Grundy was dead.”
      The yellow cat leapt up onto the window sill.  “Polly Grundy is dead?” she cried.  “Then I am the Queen of the Witches!”
      She switched her tail and the window flew open with a bang.  The yellow cat leapt through it and disappeared into the night, never to return. 
      Ethel had to dump an entire bucket of water over my head to revive me from my faint. 
      ‘The good news,” she told me when I sat up, dripping and swearing because the water was ice cold, “is that you have nothing wrong with your brain.  The bad news is that our cat has just left us to become the Queen of the Witches.  We’ll have to get another cat.”
      “Oh no,” I said immediately.  “I’ve had enough of cats.”
     We got a dog. 

Excerpted from Spooky Southwest by S.E. Schlosser.

What You Need

• Straws
• Colored printer paper cut into Halloween Shapes

• Soup Bowl
• Witch's Cauldron
• Decorations to make the space look like a witch's house or cave

1.  Decorate the space to look like a witch's house or cave, with the cauldron over a fake-fire or sitting in the middle of a witch's table, ready to serve. 

2. Cut-out Halloween shapes, such as ghosts, skeletons, vampires, black cats, bats and pumpkins and place them inside the cauldron until it is almost full.  Place several soup bowl's near the cauldron, with a straw next to each bowl. 

3. Using the straw as a vacuum, each contestant must move as many shapes as they can from the cauldron to the soup bowl within 30 seconds.  The contestant wins one piece of Halloween candy for every shape he or she gets into the soup bowl. 

4. For a cool twist to the game, you can place several witches in the cauldron.  Special prizes can be given to contestants who get one or more witches in their soup bowl.  
   

Halloween shapes

• Witch, skeleton, bat, owl
• Scarecrow, vampire, wolfman, pumpkin
• Haunted house
• Ghost
• Black cat and others