Scottish halloween

[Catriona]

I thought some of you might be interested in our celebrations for halloween.

All Hallow's Eve has always been a magical time.  

When I was a girl, children used to go out 'guisin' which I think comes from the word 'disguise' - you dressed up and went round knocking on neighbours doors.  You had to sing, or recite a poem or do a dance and you were rewarded with an apple or orange or a slice of cake or a couple of sweets (candy).

We also had wonderful Halloween parties with games like 'dookin for aipples' (ducking for apples! which involved putting apples in a deep old zinc bath filled with water and the object was to bite an apple and remove it from the water, without using your hands.  Very, very difficult to do and usually resulted in the carpet being soaked  

Another game had toffee covered apples or doughnuts suspended on strings from the ceiling - the participants had their hands tied behind their backs and they had to eat the apples or doughnuts, without using their hands...   A very messy, noisy game.

The highlight was everyone sitting round in a circle, with the lights off, and just candles in carved turnip heads (we didn't use pumpkins so much in those days - and turnips were much common in Scotland, anyway    )  whilst an adult told us really SCARY stories of ghosts, boagles, kelpies etc....  Magical
days!

This has largely been superseded nowadays by the importation from the US of your 'Trick or Treat' customs.....  Not so much fun at all!  I have a theory that your celebrations are based on our 'guisin' traditions!

[Kaia]

That sounds wonderful, Catriona! You must have had a wonderful childhood.

In my country, Portugal, we also go out to the streets, with or without masks, and knock to the doors. Then we ask: Pão por Deus!, wich means Bread for God. In Portugal, this tradition (at least some years ago) was much more connected to the cristian point of view then the pagan one. The first day of November, the Day of all Saints, is also the day of the dead. In this day, people go to cemeteries lay flowers in their loved ones graves...

But that is for big people, the kids go out to the streets asking for Bread to God. People give them candies, cakes, fruits, sometimes some money, etc, etc....

But note: kids go out knoking on doors in the first day of November and not in the 31 st October!! Well, at least we have that one diferent....

Kaia

[CelticRadio]

I enjoyed reading this thread about your Halloween customs. Wish my computer was working back on Halloween so I could have properly responded.

I think alot of our customs, here in the states, are imported and then we twist them around a bit.

I for one think that Catriona's Halloween sounds better than watching a bunch of cheap scary movies on Halloween, which is what most American teenagers do now because they are much too old to go trick or treating!