Halloween Fun & Old Castles

We had a good time “celebrating” Halloween this year. My mom has been visiting with us for a week or so, which made it all the more fun. We don’t really do ‘trick or treating’ or anything like that, but we did have a good time making and decorating cookies for the day. Madison finally started back to public schoo, after an almost one-month teacher strike. The teachers are paid so little I can hardly blame them. One month is a lot to make up though.

After we decorated cookies and had a little party, complete with plates, napkins and cupcakes, we took a little field trip. I told the girls that we were headed for a “haunted castle” in . Depending on who you ask Novoberde ranges from very old, to very, very old.

Novoberde is mentioned as early as 1236 AD. It is easily recognized in the distance.

Some of my friends have said that this city, and the fort above, was the largest city in Europe centuries ago. In fact, there was a city of over three thousand people while the rest of the Europeans were still running around in skins. I don’t know if that’s true, but it is definitely OLD.

As we drove up we were confronted by just how old the castle is. I confessed to the girls that it really wasn’t haunted, but it was very old. While I think Madison had visions of Rapunzel, she was still impressed.

They like clambering over the rocks.

We also had the priviledge of visiting a very, very old mosque. The inscription said that the mosque was built in 1136. Madison and a local playmate found their way to the top of the mineret. I was nervous that we were probably violating some cultural norm, but the villagers showing us around were certain that we were okay.

There was also an ancient church on the scene. We don’t know how old it is, though a young boy told me it dated to the 7th Century. That would have been an interesting period of time for Christians in Kosovo. Pressure wouldn’t begin to build between the Catholic West and the Orthorodox East for many years.

Who knows how these people worshipped in this church all those years ago. What did they understand of Jesus Christ, communion, baptism and the Scriptures?

We may not be able to do all the North American things on Halloween, but traipsing around thousand-year-old ruins insn’t too bad