Of Ghoulies and Ghosties…..

An old Scottish prayer goes ''of ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties, and things that go bump in the night, Lord God deliver us! Yes, it’s that time of year again ….. Hallowe’en! 

I've often blogged about the Celtic origins of this day and how nostalgic it makes me feel so this sketchbook page celebrates my childhood Scottish Hallowe’en. 

This is the ruined Crosbie Kirk not far from where we lived (and not far from Robert Burns Alloway Kirk that appears in his poem Tam O'Shanter), these haunted places are where local witches met to make mischief. As a child just passing here gave you the heebie jeebies and at night although you were frightened, you couldn’t help but take a peek!

Not a pumpkin in sight, our lanterns were carved out of turnips ''tumshies''! The excitement beforehand was excruciating and I think being out after dark together with your friends was really special. As a child of the 60's, you really spent most of your time playing outside but you had to go home when it was getting dark, so roaming the streets after dark felt scary and very grown up! 

There was no such thing as trick or treat, you went ''guising'', dressed up in your disguise you went from door to door, you said a poem, told a story or a joke and got apples, oranges, nuts and sweets. On the left you can see two guisers, they are arguing about who should enter Mrs B's house, our neighbour who made homemade tablet or coconut ice or toffee apples but when the homemades were gone, they were gone, you had to turn up as one of the first, so many a fight ensued in her driveway.

Hallowe’en parties didn’t happen often but friends that had a birthday around Hallowe’en did have Hallowe’en parties, where you dooked for apples or tried to eat treacle scones tied to a string, sometimes blindfolded and with your hands behind your back (not my thing! I hate treacle). Telling spooky ghost stories at these parties really frightened the life out of me! Lights all out and the story began, then things were passed around to feel! Murdered mens fingers (raw sausages) and eyeballs (you had to stick your finger in a grape!) 

And then the party fayre,  sausage rolls ….. I was amazed to find that the Scottish Witchcraft act of 1735 forbade the eating of pastries and pork, this law was repealed first in 1950 and nobody now knows why they were forbidden. One reason may be the so-called ‚''Scottish Pork Taboo'', traditionally pork was abhorred by Highlanders and generally many people in Scotland didn’t eat pork. There are loads of theories (and treatises) as to why this is, but it was a complete surprise to me and to be honest we really never ate pork till I was grown up, my mum (who was English), always thought it was unclean and prone to parasites! And then I moved to Germany where for many years pork was the only way to go! The Germans even eat it raw, minced and with onions on a roll, Mettbrötchen! 

So, if your celebrating Hallowe’en, enjoy that sausage roll, in 1736 you would have been doing something illegal!