The Scottish Hallowe'en...

I know that some people regard Hallowe'en with some concerns, perhaps linking it to Black magic, the occult and highly dubious practices... American Hallowe'en based movies have done much to make the date synonymous with evil deeds and supernatural horrors...
The Scottish Hallowe'en has a rather different perspective. Children growing up in Scotland in the 1960's and 1970's will have warm and fond memories of Hallowe'en parties (often organised by the Sunday School), "dooking" for apples (dropping a fork into a basin of water with apples bobbing about in the hope of spearing one to eat) and "guising" which was going round the doors and performing a "party piece" in return for a gift of apples, peanuts or tangerines. It was not a "trick or treat" approach... there was never any element of "trick". Those houses "open for guisers" would be lit up, and local children would arrive, dressed up in homemade fancy dress costumes and would sing, or say a poem or tell a joke. Really talented children would play an instrument. People made up party bags in advance, or had bowls of fruit and sweets ready or perhaps had treacle coated scones suspended from a string, from which children would strain their necks to grab bites of the scone and get covered in dripping treacle in the process.
It was all good fun, and, bearing in mind that by October it was cold, the days were short and nights were long, it was a bright and colourful distraction from the impending winter weather.
When my boys were young, we had lots of fun at Hallowe'en. I remember sitting up into the small hours to complete costumes, decorating the house and popping a black plastic spider into their lunch box to make them laugh when they opened up their lunch. They loved the party lunches with pumpkin soup, Hallowe'en themed cakes and biscuits, and oranges carved like pumpkins and filled with jelly...
I should also make clear that the traditional Scottish Hallowe'en didn't involve pumpkins at all... we used turnips. However, anyone who has ever tried to hollow out and carve a face in a turnip will appreciate that it is very hard work and the result is not as exciting or visual as the bigger, brighter pumpkin. So, in a spirit of pragmatism and embracing new ideas, we adopted the pumpkin!
So, on the night before Hallowe'en, I blip you a witch, just to get you in the mood!