Halloween, the time of year in which the veil between the spirit world and our world is at its thinnest.
People were fearful of the dead returning and evil spirits being loose upon the world. In reality any day of the year the veil between worlds is at it’s thinnest is between 3.00 am and 5.00 am, because the human body’s vibrational frequency matches the same as the spirit world. That is the most common time when an ill or elderly person may die. So the witching hour of midnight is a just a superstition.
People were also very superstitious about using a mirror at night on Halloween in case they saw an evil spirit. I recall old people talking about that and being afraid at night to look into a mirror or see a reflection in the windows if the curtains were open.
Another superstition was for single young women to sit in front of a mirror brushing their hair with a candle lit and eating an apple with hopes of catching a glimpse of their future husbands.
In Scotland bobbing or dooking for apples was always a popular Halloween party game for children; as was dangling treacle scones on a string, children had to keep their hands behind their back’s and only use their teeth to catch the treacle scone. These scones are a triangle shaped scone made with baking soda. So they are not the same as the traditional scones that we think of for Devonshire tea.
Toffee apples were also popular at Halloween when I was a child. When children went around the streets guising they were often given nuts in their shells, an apple and sweets ( lollies as they are called in Australia) in return for singing, reciting poetry, telling jokes and entertaining the people at each house the children called at. This was always good fun to be entertained by the neighbourhood children all dressed up in their disguise’s.
Children often carved a Tumshi or Neep lantern, actually it was usually dad that got the task because carving out a turnip is really hard work. Both Tumshi and Neep are old Scottish words a for turnip. Pumpkin is as American tradition and far easier to carve than turnip.
I fondly remember the afternoon craft classes in primary school where the teachers let us make paper lanterns to take home and we would draw pictures to hang up in the classroom for Halloween too.
A few days later of course was Guy Fox night on 5th November and we would again be drawing and painting pictures to decorate the classrooms. This all lead up to getting ready for Christmas so kids are in high spirits from Halloween onwards to Christmas and the New Year parties.
In America Halloween was started by Celtic people that immigrated to the US from Scotland and Ireland and it evolved into what it is now.
Halloween did not catch on in Australia until the 1980’s but has really taken off since the 1990’s. When I left Sydney in 1995, Halloween was still not really celebrated in Sydney, but it was very popular in Canberra. The season in Canberra is cooler than Sydney in October so perhaps that has something to do with Halloween being so popular in Canberra.
Many people are now aware of the real Celtic origins due to social media, and really it is something that and the entire world an enjoy. Celebrating the end of summer and beginning of winter.
If you are celebrating Halloween 🎃 I hope you have fun, watch some cartoons and movies to get into the mood too. Enjoy the fun 🎃👻🐈⬛🐈⬛🎃
