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A Highland

Halloween

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GREENOCK ADVERTISER

November 1st 1850

HALLOWEEN. That last night was Allhallow Eve, or Halloween, the

resemblance of a gigantic moving kailyard, and proving that at least the

occasion were duly performed by the ragged portion of the juvenilemembers of society. Not only did

The vera wee things toddlin rin

Wi stocks out-owre their shouther,

but some of them staggered along under the load of two enormous runts,

with quantities of yird attached, which augured that if there be any truthin the superstition, some of the barefooted fry will, however unlikely

lumping tochers. Some of them, who could sport a tattered handkerchief,

along with them, held umbrella fashion, to protect their elf-locks from

the falling rain ; while others, whose bumps of combativeness seemed

to have been excited, used them as weapons of offence and defence, and

battered each other with a hearty good will. Never did we before see such a

in their despoiled gardens, that they have paid the piper for the frolic, for

certainly there were paraded about runts enough to have loaded a

good-sized gabbart.

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What is Halloween?Halloweenas we know it today consistsof children dressing up in costumes andcollecting candy and sweets door-to-doorfrom their neighbours, but the holidaybegan very differently. Halloween beganaround 2000 years ago in 5th Century B.C.by the Celtics, superstitious people thatlived in Ireland, Great Britain and France.The Celts had a fire festival and feastthat they called Samhain (sow-en) or AllHallows Eve on October 31st. It was tocelebrate their third and last harvest, andalso because November 1st was their NewYear. The night between the two days wasbelieved to be very special.The Celts had a strong belief that the nightof Samhain was the one night of the yearwhen the spiritual realm and the realmof the living would be able to intertwince.The spirits of the dead and other spiritualcreatures could enter the living realm atwill. This was not good for the Celts as theybelieved that these spirits would harm theirflocks, crops and homes. There were a fewthings that the Celts would do to protectthemselves from the paranormal visitors.

One wasto dress up to look like thespiritual visitors with masks and strangeoutfits. The Celts figured that if theylooked like them they would be safe. Thatswhere dressing up as ghosts, demonsand monsters came from. The other thingthe Celts did was to leave food and drinkoutside their doors on that special night forthe ghostly visitors in hopes that it wouldplease them and so they would spare theirhomes from being harmed.Halloween has been called many thingssince Samhain fire festivals came about.It has been called All Hallows Eve,Hallowmas, Hallow Even Fire, AllHallows Fire, and of course, Samhain.The 31st of October was not referredto as Halloween until some time in the1700s. Because the Christian Churchdisagreeing with the pagan Celtics waysof burning humans for sacrifice and beliefin magic, they made the witch and allthings associated with them as Halloweenmascots. It was a way to mock, and makefun of old pagan ways to steer people awayfrom such beliefs.

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Halloween Treats?

SOUL CAKE

A Soul cake is a small round cake whichis traditionally made for All saints day(the day after halloween) to celebratethe dead. The cakes, often referred to assouls, were given out to soulers (mainlyconsisting of children and the poor) who

would go from door to door on November1st, singing and saying prayers for thedead. Each cake eaten would representa soul being freed from purgatory. Thepractice of giving and eating soul cakes isoften seen as the origin of modern trickor treating.The tradition of giving soul cakesoriginated in Britain or Ireland during themiddle ages.

The cakes were usually filled with spiceslike nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger withraisins or currants. They weretraditionally set out on doorsteps on allhallows eve, with wine or milk as anoffering to the dead.

TOFFEE APPLES

Candy apples or toffee apples are quitepopular to be given out to children athalloween.Apples are a fruit of the autumn, andassociated with halloween in many

different ways. Over generations, theapple was used in halloweeen traditionssuch as dooking for apples, and thesuperstition of peeling an apple in onego, then chucking it over your shoulder toreveal the initial of your true love.Related to the traditional halloween treatof treacle scones, toffee apples havebecome a more modern treat.

COLCANNON

Colcannon is a traditional Irish dishcontaining mashed potatoes withcabbage, spring onions, chives, parsleyand kale. Its often eaten with bacon orham. Usually eaten in the winter whenkale comes into season.

An old Irish halloween tradition was toserve colcannon with prizes of smallcoins concealed within it. An oldsuperstition to do with colcannonconcerned the fate of unmarried women,who would put the first and lastspoonfuls of halloween colcannon into astocking and hang it on their doors. Thebelief was that the first man who walkedthrough the door would become their

husband.

PUMPKIN SOUP

The pumpkin is now linked with thetraditions of halloween, mostly inAmerica. In Britain and Ireland folklore,we carved scary faces on turnips, lit acandle inside and placed them inwindows to ward off evil spirits. InAmerica, the pumpkin instead is used inthis tradition. Therefore, when you carvea pumpkin, why waste the flesh when youcan make it into a healthy soup and serve

as a halloween dish!

There are many traditional treats that we still use today to celebrate Halloween.Here we have a few of the more popular treats!

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Clootie Dumpling.A Traditional Recipe from Winifred Leitrim.Clootie dumpling is a traditional scottish pudding, rich in fruit and spices, madewithin a cloth, or cloot and steamed.At halloween, clootie dumpling traditionally contained various objects baked intothe mixture and was used as a fortune telling game. Each item received in a slicewas supposed to carry a meaning to each person served.

The objects & meanings:-

Pea: person wouldnt marrythat year.

Stick:to beat ones wife with or have anunhappy marriage, full of disputes.Cloth:To have bad luck or be poor.Button: Batchelor

2lb self raising flour5oz mixed spice1lb sultanas1 egg

1 pint of milk

Mix flour, spice & sugar. Rub in margarineand sugar. Whisk egg, treacle & 3/4 ofmilk. Add to dry mix. Slowly incorporateremainder of milk until your mix is of adropping consitency.Soak your cloth with cold water andring out. Sprinkle with flour and shake.

Disregard excess flour. Place your mix inthe middle of the cloth & tie securely. Keepas tight as possible to keep the dumpling inone piece.Using a large pot, bring water to the boil,about half full. Place a dinner plate at thebottom of the pot, this stops the cloth &dumpling from burning. Place the dumplingin the pot and keep covered & topped upwith boiling water. Boil for 4 hours.

Remove from pot and place on a plate. Cutstring and gently pull back the cloth. Placea dinner plate on top of the dumpling and

Coin / horseshoe:Enjoy good fortune orbe rich.

Ring:Would be married withinthe year.Wishbone:hearts desireThimble:spinster

turn upside down onto the first plate.Place in the bottom shelf of a pre-heatedoven 150c for 20 minutes. This dries out

and creates the skin. Allow to cool beforeslicing.

Winifred Leitrimwas born in NorthernIreland in 1912. She came to Scotlandin 1913 & lived in Rutherglen with herparents until she married LawrenceMackrell in 1935. Lawrence was born inBelfast in 1906 & came to Glasgow as a 4day old child with his parents. They wereone of the first families to moved into thesecond phase of Pollok, Glasgow around1945. The scheme had no schools so thechildren were bused daily from Pollokto Carlton. They considered themselvesvery privileged as they had an indoortoilet of their own, and a garden wherethey grew much of the fruit they atethroughout the summer & fruit wines

they drank in winter. Blackcurrant Wine& Ginger Wine (non-alcoholic) werefavorites at Halloween and Hogmanay.

8oz margarine8oz sugar1lb raisins1 tbsp treacle

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Mask MakingWith Lady Alice.

Masks were used duringSamhain to hide fromspirits and protectthemselves as the veilbetween life and deathwas thinnest during thistime.

Primary Seven pupilsfrom Lady Alice took partin a workshop all aboutthe use of masks & thenspent time designing andmaking their own.

If you dress up assomething scary it willscare the spirits away. Erin, age 11

I found out thathalloween meant HallowsEve and on the 1st ofNovember the ghostscome back from the deadto haunt and scare theliving Nathan, age 10

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Lantern MakingWith Highlanders.

Turnipswere usedtraditionally instead ofpumpkins; pumpkinswere and are an Americantradition. Lantern Turnipswere used because theCelts believed that theywould scare away evil

spirits. They were placedoutside peoples homes inthe hopes that the spiritswould believe that theirhome was already takenby a spirit and they wouldavoid them.

Primary Seven ofHighlanders Academylearned all about thetradition of lanterns beingused at Halloween, andthen spent time designingscary templates to be cutout of turnips. They alsomade their own paperlanterns.

In Scotland peoplecarved Turnips aslanterns. Pumpkins wereused in America. Aidan, age 11

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Games at Halloween.There are many games played at Halloween. Here are a few popular games.

Dookin fur aipples is a game thatspread across Britain & Ireland,and in some cases, fortunes werecarefully put in each apple, whichwere meant to be caught by theteeth of each participant.Sometimes the apples were pickedfrom tubs of flour, so while everyonewouldnt get soaked, they would

be covered in the flour and muchsneezing (and laughter) would ensue.For younger children a more moderngame is Forkin fur aiples, an easiertask, where the children stood on achair and held a fork handle in theirteeth, taking aim, they would releaseit into the basin of apples and waterand retreive and keep any apple they

so skewered.

Another game which usually followedDookin for apples was The Gameof Treacle Scones. A scone whichhad been covered in Treacle would behung from the cieling on a piece ofstring and the participant would haveto try and eat the scone without using

their hands.

All Images courtesy of SCRAN.org.ukor taken by members of the 7 1/2 team.