THE whole idea of dressing up in a disguise at Hallowe'en seems to come from pagan times when children dressed up on Hallows Eve so they could venture out safely without wicked spirits and ghouls identifying them.
But Hallowe'en has changed a lot since I was a kid.
In my day, we didn’t go trick or treating, we went guising. I’m guessing the word comes from “disguise” but it basically meant that all the kids would dress up in a costume and go around the neighbours in the hope of getting a few sweets.
Of course, it wasn’t as simple as that: you had to do a dance or sing a song or tell a joke to get rewarded with a sweet. But it was a win/win situation; the neighbours got entertained, while we got a sweet for our efforts.
Nowadays, some kids almost demand a sweet. Some seem appalled if you ask them to perform a dance, song or joke for a treat. Some, unfortunately, even flat outright refuse. My response is always the same – if you don’t perform, you don’t get a sweet. I’m old fashioned.
Maybe this is why trick or treat came about. It’s a lot simpler. Give me a sweet or I’ll throw eggs at your house. A crass idea which, unsurprisingly, started in America.
It’s just unfortunate that it has crossed the Atlantic and is now taking over from our traditional Scottish Hallowe'en customs.
In my day, it was customary to make your own costumes for Hallowe'en – probably because we couldn’t afford to buy them.
I remember my mum dressing me up as Batman by cutting and styling a black bin bag into a cape and cowl. This was worn over my blue pyjamas to create what I thought to be the perfect costume. Nowadays, kids would be horrified at the thought of going out dressed in a black bin bag. In fact, I’m pretty sure they’d refuse to go out!
But you have to remember, these were different times when I was growing up. We lived in Clydebank, just outside Glasgow, and we were fairly poor.
We simply didn’t have the money to spend on proper shop-bought costumes… but then again, everyone I knew was fairly poor in those days, so there were no snidey remarks or people looking down their nose at us. Or if there were, I was having too much fun to notice.
One year, I had toilet roll wrapped around my body as I went as The Mummy. Another saw the trusty bin bag return as mum turned me into Dracula (the bag was my cape with a pair of 5p vampire teeth, some red lipstick droplets as blood near my mouth, and my hair wet back).
And mum got really fancy one year when she fashioned me a Zorro costume with a bin bag – and then the snow came in the winter, a black bin bag made a great sledge for sliding down hills.
Those were the days! Not a care in the world. Poor but always happy.
The most popular costumes that kids wore back then were based around the latest movies and TV shows. Cowboys, native American Indians, and Batman. And there were costumes based on horror movies such as Frankenstein, vampires, werewolves and mummies. Zombies weren’t really a thing then until after ‘The Living Dead’ movie came out in the early 70’s.
Another thing that puzzles me is the amount of pumpkins there are nowadays at Hallowe'en. Now, I know Scotland was supposed to have used turnips instead of pumpkins as lanterns but I never saw single lantern made from either a turnip or pumpkin when I was a kid. The thought of wasting food like this would never have been allowed in our area.
Do any readers remember carving turnips? Maybe it was something that was done in areas where there is lots of farmland?
Also in my day, all the kids used to get invited into some of the neighbour’s houses to play Hallowe'en games.
Dooking for apples was a popular one and I’ve tried both versions – one was simply sticking your mouth into a basin full of water and apples and trying to grab an apple using only your teeth. The other version was a bit more hygienic as we used a fork in between our teeth, which was then dropped into the basin in the vain hope of impaling an apple.
If you were really lucky, you not only got a fresh apple to take home but also a freshly made candy apple as a prize.
And some neighbours had treacle scones hanging from their drying rack on the ceiling for us to eat. Of course, you could only eat the scones with your mouth, hands behind your back so you didn’t cheat, and the scones were dripping with fresh treacle. Oh, and you weren’t allowed to lick your lips. It was messy but lots of yummy fun.
It’s such a shame these old traditions have died out. We don’t really know our neighbours that well these days. In fact, most of us don’t even know our neighbours’ names, and the thought of taking our kids into a stranger’s house is simply unthinkable nowadays.
One of the best ideas I have seen recently is that towns are running a Hallowe'en street event, sometimes even with floats.
It’s led by dancers dressed as zombies who all dance the ‘Thriller’ dance from Michael Jackson’s famous music video.
They are followed by all the local kids dressed in their costumes and people line the streets to cheer them on and put sweets into their buckets. Prizes are given out at the end for best fancy dress, etc. and there are various food stations, dookin’ for apples, and other Hallowe'en related activities.
It’s a great fun event for all the family and I’m sure if there was one in Saltcoats for example, it would be well supported by local dance groups and the public.
Worth trying? Maybe next year.
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