Trick or treat, bag of sweets, ghosts are walking down the street… for tonight it’s Halloween!
The dead rise again, bats fly, terror strikes and screams echo, werewolves howl, and phantoms prowl as Halloween is upon us.
But really…what is Halloween all about? Well, back in the 16th century, the name Halloween was derived from a Scottish shortening of All-Hallows Eve and has its roots in the Gaelic festival of Samhain, as marvelously explained in this video:
In 1785, the famous and beloved Scottish poet, Robert Burns wrote about the myths and traditions of his country, in the poem titled ‘Halloween’.
One of the verse reads as follows :
Some merry, friendly, country-folks
Together did convene,
To burn their nits, an’ pou their stocks,
An’ haud their Hallowe’en
Fu’ blythe that night…..(Translation: Some merry, friendly, country people
Together did convene,
To burn their nuts, and pull their plants,
And keep their Halloween
Full blythe that night.)Source : National Trust for Scotland
Scottish Halloween Traditions
Some traditions still persist in Scotland to this day such as:
Neep Lanterns : Scary faces to scare off ghouls
Apple Dookin’ : With no hands, grab an apple floating in a basin of water
Treacle Scones : With no hands, take bites out of sticky treacle-covered scones dangling from string.
Nut Burning : Happily ever after? Only if the nuts burned quietly
Guising : after performing tricks or songs, guisers were given gifts to help ward off evil
Kale Pulling : kale stalks were used to predict your romantic future
Read more about each of these tradition on -> National Trust for Scotland
On Halloween you get to become anything that you want to be! Enjoy a happy and safe one 🙂
Janice
PS: Below is a canadian set of stamps on the topic of Halloween. Share in the comments below images of Halloween related postage stamps from your country!
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