HOW well do you know Halloween? Many of us blithely believe that, with this being an annual event celebrated in some form or other for centuries, we all have a fairly good handle on proceedings by now. Think again. Time to gen up …
Guising. Neep lanterns. October 31. What else is there to know?
Ding. Incorrect. Good old-fashioned Scottish guising is being steadily Americanised into a “trick or treat” format where, rather than doing a wee bit or turn – a song, a dance, telling a joke – to earn a reward, many youngsters merely rock up at your door, demand a sweetie and then saunter off again.
And neeps?
Turnips have been ousted by pumpkins. There is some sage logic to this one: pumpkins are easier to carve – thanks to their soft, fleshy innards – without necessitating the blood, sweat and tears involved in making a turnip lantern.
READ MORE: Susan Swarbrick: Hallowe'en obsessed? My house looks like it is auditioning for a Tim Burton movie
Hollowing out a neep or tumshie, as those of a certain vintage can attest, is nigh-on impossible without mangling multiple spoons and repeatedly stabbing yourself in the hand with a blunt butter knife.
Following myriad hours of laborious chiselling and graft, the contents of your mother’s good cutlery drawer invariably end up looking like Uri Geller has been on the rampage. Voila, your neep lantern is complete.
Surely the date of Halloween can’t move?
You would think so, but not everyone celebrates on the 31st: Kilmarnock has long had a tradition of marking Halloween on the last Friday of October.
There are a few theories posited about the reason behind what has been dubbed “Killieween”, with the most plausible being that it might originate from a time when many of the Ayrshire town’s employers paid their staff on the last Friday each month.
Whatever happened to tradition, eh?
Like many things it has gradually evolved. When did you last do some nut-burning or kail-pulling at Halloween?
There is a reference to both in the 1785 Robert Burns poem, Halloween, which talks of the merry, friendly country folk that convened “to burn their nits, an’ pou their stocks”.
Next you will be telling me pumpkins aren’t orange?
That is something of a misnomer. They also come in shades of green, yellow, red, white and blue.
Recent years have seen people display teal-coloured painted pumpkins to help raise awareness of food allergies and let guisers know they can expect an alternative to sweets, such as toys, games and trinkets.
READ MORE: Halloween 2021: Scotland's 20 best spooky events and haunted places to visit
What can we eat then?
Best avoid sausage rolls. A clause of the Witchcraft Act of 1735 is said to have forbidden the consumption of pork or pastries on Halloween. The Act was reportedly repealed in the early 1950s, but would you risk it?
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