h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is a copy of an email I sent to a few friends on Oct 31st. Thought I would add it as it is relevant to the discussion.

"Frae ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggety beasties and things that go bump in the night - the Good Lord Protect us Aw".

Some of my Australian friends seem to think that Hallowe'en is an American holiday, but the Celts have celebrated Hallowe'en for centuries and it is only recently that some of the newer American customs have been incorporated into their festivities.

I had my weans out "trick or treating" tonight, in the American tradition because if I had offered to take them out guising and had them "do a turn" as we did in Glasgow nobody would have known what I was talking about. The two activities are similar, the children get dressed up and knock on doors hoping for sweets. However, In Scotland, we knocked on someone's door and if they were kind enough to answer we "did a turn" (such as singing a song, telling a joke, or doing a wee dance) to earn a small treat, usually sweeties, occasionally some small change or some fruit. In America, it seems, the children knock on someone's door and, basically, demand a treat with menaces. Hmmm...I am no anthropologist, but does the different approach say something about the different cultures. (Just joking - mostly...)

Hallowe'en, as we call it, (from the fairly recent name of All Hallows Eve) takes place on 31st October, on the eve of of All Hallows, or All Saints' Day, which is on November the 1st.

However, the observances connected with Hallowe'en are believed to have originated among the ancient Druids, who thought that on that evening, Saman, the lord of the dead, called forth hosts of evil spirits. Samhain is an old, Celtic festival. The Druids customarily lit great fires on Hallowe'en, apparently for the purpose of warding off all these spirits.

The ancient Celts believed that the spirits of the dead revisited their earthly homes on that evening. After the Romans invaded Britain, parts of their harvest festival were added to Hallowe'en held on 1st November in honour of Pomona, goddess of the fruits of trees.

This is where the traditional dooking for apples is said to have come from. When I was a child, apples were placed in a basin of water, my mother would stir the water while we kneeled above it, on a backwards-facing chair, and tried to hit an apple with a fork. You held the fork in your mouth, with both hands behind your back, and let go when you thought you might hit an apple.

The Celtic tradition of lighting fires on Hallowe'en survived until modern times in Scotland and Wales, and the concept of ghosts and witches is still common to all Hallowe'en observances.

In Glasgow, children used to dress up in costumes and carry around a "Neepy Candle," a scary face carved into a hollowed out Neep (or turnip), lit from inside, to frighten away the evil faeries (they probably still do, but I haven't been back to Scotland in a while), and in recent times American children have done similar things with pumpkins and candles.

Scotland has celebrated Hallowe'en for centuries. Robert Burns portrayed the varied customs in his poem
"Hallowe'en" (1785). I grew up with another poem that started "It's Hallowe'en, it's Hallowe'en, the witches are on the green" (which means a grassy space, sometimes in the town centre) but I am buggered if I can find it online or remember any more of it. Anybody else remember it?

Ah well, anyway, may you all have a safe Hallowe'en, free from ghoulies and ghosties and long leggety beasties and things that go bump in the night!

Regards

Great posting. So often things we do now have their roots in antiquity, like Christmas trees and holly etc. Thanks for that.

This is a great post there are things in here that would make a good update to A196706.

Good post

Bob...