How Is Halloween Celebrated In Scotland?

[Lallans]

I understand (or so I hear) that the Celts had a harvest festival to mark the end of summer, and they thought that the barrier between this world and the Otherworld was thin at this time; both good and evil spirits could cross into our world at this time, and while good spirits were welcomed, folks dressed in scary costumes to ward off the evil ones(hence, perhaps, why we dress in costumes at Halloween). As part of the Samhain festivities and rituals, the Druids would light bonfires in the hills. It was considered good luck to light the fire in your hearth with an ember from the druid's fires, so the families that lived in the area would carry a coal home with them. According to the story, they used a hollowed out turnip to contain the burning coal. From there, we get the modern carved pumpkin. {snip}
I guess we get Trick or Treating from that tradition.

No one has mentioned that the original name for the holiday was Samhain, various spellings, pronounced sew-ron. So I have! [EDIT: Sorry Ryan, now that I don't have 20 little kids screaming around me, I see you di mention Samhain !]

And it seems this is another major contribution the Scots-Irish made to North American culture that they get no credit for, I mean in the modern mind. Explains why Halloween always seemed to be much more of a Protestant thing (in my childhood) than a Catholic one.

[Pleater]

Oh - Soul cakes. I know the Souling song.

CHORUS
A soul a soul a soul cake
Please good Missus a soul cake
An apple, a pear, a plum or cherry
Any good thing to make us all merry
One for Peter two for Paul, three for him who made us all

Go down into your cellar see what you can find
If your barrels are not empty we hope you will prove kind
We hope you will prove kind with your apples and strong beer
For we'll come no more a souling until this time next year

The lanes are very dirty my shoes are very thin
I have a little pocket to put a penny in
If you do not have a penny a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny, God bless you


The tune is a very simple one, worn down as an old penny. You can probably find it sung on the internet I expect.

But All Souls is in November and Halloween is October.

I think the old Harvest, the making of the first loaf from the new wheat is Lammas aka Marymass, at the full moon of August.

Samhein is the end of gathering, a cut off point where the Earth no longer provides. November is the blood month, when the unnecessary beasts were slaughtered as they could not be kept alive through the Winter. The rest had to manage on the hay cut dried and gathered into store until the grass began to grow again.

The tur part of turnip is the store or clamp in which they were kept (interred?) after harvesting, so they could always be got at even in the frost, they were originally called neaps, and tur-neaps became turnip. They revolutionised farming - along with the turnip chopper which turned them into small enough pieces for the beasts to eat.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[MacBubba45]

Oh - Soul cakes.
The tune is a very simple one, worn down as an old penny. You can probably find it sung on the internet I expect.
Anne the Pleater :ootd:

When I was a teenager Peter, Paul, and Mary had a nice version of it. I didn't really know what they were singing about until later in life.

[Ryan Ross]

No one has mentioned that the original name for the holiday was Samhain, various spellings, pronounced sew-ron. So I have!

I always understood that the pronounciation was closer to "sow-an", or "sow-in", with long O sounds.

[artificer]

I always understood that the pronounciation was closer to "sow-an", or "sow-in".

As had I

[Bugbear]

No one has mentioned that the original name for the holiday was Samhain, various spellings, pronounced sew-ron. So I have!

And it seems this is another major contribution the Scots-Irish made to North American culture that they get no credit for, I mean in the modern mind. Explains why Halloween always seemed to be much more of a Protestant thing (in my childhood) than a Catholic one.

Interesting, I did not grow up thinking of Halloween as an original North American tradition; it was always linked to Europe; grew up in the Southwest. Looking at some of the other discussions, it appears to be very intertwined between different cultures over time.

* It was posted that people of the UK are blaming Halloween on the North Americans in an earlier post.

[macwilkin]

No one has mentioned that the original name for the holiday was Samhain, various spellings, pronounced sew-ron. So I have!

And it seems this is another major contribution the Scots-Irish made to North American culture that they get no credit for, I mean in the modern mind. Explains why Halloween always seemed to be much more of a Protestant thing (in my childhood) than a Catholic one.

I suppose it depends on which branch of Protestantism you were thinking of; without crossing the line in terms of forum rules, I have always associated the holiday more with Catholicism and other liturgical churches such as "my own" Episcopal Church, since "All Hallow's Eve" is the evening before All Saints Day in the liturgical calendar.

One thing though: Halloween as a an American holiday is a relatively recent innovation; the late 19th century at the earliest, although as I mentioned earlier, certain aspects, such as divination of the future were practiced by the Scots-Irish in the past. I doubt the more militant Protestant Scots-Irish ever celebrated the Feast of All Hallows, given its association with All Saints Day.

T.

[Bugbear]

It probably is our fault, Jock, even if we didn't come up with the original Halloween.

Thanks for that description, The Thing.

And I appreciate everyone else's descriptions, thank you.

[Lallans]

I suppose it depends on which branch of Protestantism you were thinking of; without crossing the line in terms of forum rules, I have always associated the holiday more with Catholicism and other liturgical churches such as "my own" Episcopal Church, since "All Hallow's Eve" is the evening before All Saints Day in the liturgical calendar.

One thing though: Halloween as a an American holiday is a relatively recent innovation; the late 19th century at the earliest, although as I mentioned earlier, certain aspects, such as divination of the future were practiced by the Scots-Irish in the past. I doubt the more militant Protestant Scots-Irish ever celebrated the Feast of All Hallows, given its association with All Saints Day.

T.

I grew up in a bit of a culturally unique area. Now ethnically cleansed, fortunately without violence.

Somewhere in my warehouse of books, aka the spare room, where I'll never find it for a year, I have a book entitled "Memories Of An Ulster Boyhood." In that the author talks about going around on Halloween (I think) and reciting an old verse at every door. I remember the gentleman remarking that the words of the verse probably predated Cromwell. When I've dug the book out, by next year, I'll post the verse- like many things of its day, it's clearly cryptic information, a mneumonic if you will.

[macwilkin]

I grew up in a bit of a culturally unique area. Now ethnically cleansed, fortunately without violence.

Somewhere in my warehouse of books, aka the spare room, where I'll never find it for a year, I have a book entitled "Memories Of An Ulster Boyhood." In that the author talks about going around on Halloween (I think) and reciting an old verse at every door. I remember the gentleman remarking that the words of the verse probably predated Cromwell. When I've dug the book out, by next year, I'll post the verse- like many things of its day, it's clearly cryptic information, a mneumonic if you will.

Very similar to the custom of the Wren Boys on St. Stephen's Day...

T.