Halloween isn’t some frightful US import – its origins are Celtic
Zoe Williams claims that “Britain came to Halloween relatively late and we have the zealotry of converts” (Why is Halloween suddenly so big in Britain?, 14 October). Britain did not come to Halloween late. Scotland has a long and rich history of Halloween traditions that continues to this day. Guising, like trick or treating, its American development, involves dressing up and going house to house. Unlike trick or treaters, guisers are expected to perform a party piece, before receiving sweets, nuts or a few coins. In the past, guisers often carried turnip lanterns. These were made by cutting the top off a turnip (the kind with yellow flesh), howking out its insides, and carving a face to be illuminated by a candle placed inside. The process of making a lantern was hard and took a long time. With the availability of carving pumpkins, the practice has declined in recent years.
Halloween games include dookin’ for apples, in which apples are placed in a bowl of water on the floor. Players kneel next to the bowl and try to secure an apple in their mouths. Another game involves suspending treacle scones from the ceiling on strings, while players attempt to get a bite of the scone with their hands behind their backs.
Lindsay Oliver
Sheffield
• As a child in the 1970s, we spent many hours in the weeks leading up to 31 October planning what we would wear, which houses we would visit and, of course, choosing and rehearsing our party piece. Adults played no part in this other than to stock up on apples, monkey nuts and loose change. These were given to guisers, who were invited into homes to sing, tell jokes or, in my case, play the violin very badly. It was great fun. We roamed the streets in groups of three or more, without any adult supervision. Homes were not decorated, and the whole thing was forgotten about completely by the time 5 November came along, with fireworks and bonfires to enjoy.
What depresses me most about Halloween in modern Britain is the tacky consumerism that encourages people to spend their money on plastic crap to decorate their homes and businesses for weeks in advance of the actual event. The only thing I remember being sold in shops around the time of Halloween was something predictably called a Halloween cake, a round sponge with orange icing and a funny face on top. To have “a face like a Halloween cake” was a popular, if somewhat uncomplimentary, saying.
Kathleen Macpherson
Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway
• When I worked in England, every year I heard colleagues complain that Halloween was an American invention that had invaded the country. I had to educate them that many of the traditions were actually Celtic ones that had been taken to America (including trick or treat). Zoe Williams seems to be under the same mistaken belief. Here in Ireland, Halloween was always a big festival, going back to the Celtic festival of Samhain.
When we were kids in the 1960s, we dressed up every year, usually in adults’ clothes. This was to disguise us from the spirits that were let loose on the world, and might “steal us away”. We went door to door seeking a “treat” from neighbours (you might get a penny or some nuts or sweets). Prior to the arrival of pumpkins, we carved lanterns from turnips (swedes in England). These were then strung and carried with lit candles (health and safety wasn’t so hot then). Halloween is also our night for fireworks, not 5 November.
Danny Boyd
Belfast
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