Guising Memories?

[Idontpostmuch]

Would like to hear about your memories of guising. Even now I get nostalgic at this time of year. I remember how excitement grew as 31st approached. Hallowe'en parties were OK but secondary to the main event. We planned our costumes and practised our songs. As soon as night fell there were throngs of guisers to be seen everywhere. Householders gave much of their evening. As one group exited another took its place. Everyone was prepared with all sorts of treats to reward us for entertaining them. Generous with time and money, they listened patiently, and poured fruit, confectionary and sometimes coins into our bags. Sometimes toffee apples, tablet and slices of cake appeared. It took ages to get round every house, and 9.00pm was generally thought to be the latest we could knock on doors. When supplies ran out, people were inventive, and wrapped biscuits in foil, and somebody once opened a box of chocolates and wrapped them in twos in clingfilm. A truly magical evening at the time. Looking back, I can see it was an example of community spirit at its best as well as being a true celebration of such an ancient celtic ritual.

Turnips are smaller and purple/white. Swedes are bigger and uglier 😁

No such things as swedes here in the NE.
Swedes are called turnips or neeps and turnips are called nippy neeps but not often seen in shops tbh.

I went out guising in the 60s. Fewer cars so safer streets but the costumes! Mum decided one year I was going as a native American because I had long hair in plaits. Except she rubbed tan shoe polish on my face so I looked the part! They getting that off! We received some sweets but lots of apples and monkey nuts too

Well I'm from the North East. I know we called them turnips but they are different things.

Never ever heard nippy neeps 😂 We can get very regional in Britain can't we?!

Well no, but going way back that's where it originated from, it's just something that doesn't really get done anymore in most areas. Times have moved on.

@Windywuss we can have different words for things within a 3 mile radius 😅

I only remember guising once, when we moved to a village on an island. I don't remember guising on the mainland. Our village was the same as OP, very generous with their time and 'prizes'. I'm sure some even had us in to dook for apples. They had wee bags of treats made up, they had crisps, a 20p piece and maybe a fun size mars bar.
The neighbours used to try to guess who we were behind the masks, as well as us doing our joke/song. My group of friends left a house as the next group arrived and I shouted 'hello John' to one of the kids, which then spoiled it for the neighbour trying to guess who was on her doorstep next 😂 This was late 80s/ early 90s.

As an aside, I still talk about play pieces, my kids take a play piece to school! I asked my siblings recently if their kids take a play piece but no, they talk about a snack now 😢

I wasn't allowed to go guising. Not quite our class, dear.

It's not the same as trick or treat. You'd have to do some sort of turn in order to get sweets - you'd entertain the householder rather than threaten them.

OK, hope you enjoyed feeling snooty.

I think it is a derivation of Lavender's blue, diddle diddle.

It was my mum, honest!

The only nod to Hallowe'en that I remember is in the brownies/guides when we would have apple dooking, and something horrible with treacle scones on a washing line. This happened after the obligatory re-enactment of Tam O'Shanter.

I always thought (probably erroneously) that guising was the same as 'penny for the guy'. Children would go around with a 'guy' in an old pram or guider and collect money, while also performing their turn. The guy would then be ceremonially thrown on the big bonfire in the scheme.

Bonfire night was always more important than Hallowe'en.

I remember painting a box as a dice for my Halloween costume and going guising. Came back with a bag full of monkey nuts, apples, money and sweets. Loved it.

Still love it. I handed out almost 100 bags of sweets to the guisers tonight dressed as a witch. My house full of teenagers in costumes. Good times.

I didn't much like the brownie/guides hallowe'en parties. Hated carving the lanterns and didn't see the point in trying to take bites out of scones dripping treacle on a line.

Good to hear play pieces still around. We used to stream from bus to shop to buy play pieces before walking up road to school. The shop was so busy for a short time that nobody else was served. All disapproved of, now. My children were only allowed fruit at school.

Still expected to do a turn here, virtually all jokes (and exceptions made for little ones getting shy), although the children mostly call it trick or treating. We came home with some monkey nuts as well!

I asked for a turnip at a market stall. The stallholder said 'turnip or swede?' I said 'what's the difference?' He said 'turnip if you're in Scotland, swede if in England.' I said 'OK, in England so better make it a swede.'

Yes, many happy memories of guising - the excitement of preparing a turn - always singing or a wee dance. We’d like going up to the “big houses” because they had long spooky drives and creaky front doors, but rewards were thin - remember getting 10p between 4 of us. Then we’d head down to the council houses where we’d get a warm welcome with Jaffa Cakes, tablet, monkey nuts and puff candy - plus a coin each….learned a lot about society on the way, through guising!
English folk were always puzzled, but they made much more of Guy Fawkes - presume the festival was just refocused on that down south?

My DM used to make our costumes for guising - mostly from cardboard and crepe paper. I remember a neighbour having to lift me up the from stairs to get in their house to do my party piece when I couldn't climb the stairs due to the elaborate costume I was wearing one year.
My DF used to carve a turnip and I can still remember the smell of it burning as I carried round the streets with a lot candle in it.
We dooked for apples in our kitchen and in a few other houses where you hung over the back of a chair and dropped a fork from your mouth to try to impale an apple floating in a washing up basin of water. I also remember games at guides involving bread slices covered in treacle on a length of string strung between 2 chairs.
Until COVID DH and I still had all guisers coming into the house and no sweets were handed over without a joke. We averaged 50 bags most years.
I was a bit sad tonight when we only got 25 kids at the door. DH is working his way through the leftovers.

We definitely called it a play piece when we were young as did my kids (born in the 90s). Sadly it seems to have died out in favour of snack.

Grew up on Shetland in the late 70s so our costumes were dad’s finished with Up Helly Aa ones. We knocked at houses, folk would guess who we were then gave us coins for our socks. We were mercenary, there were three main areas around the village so we all went out three different nights. There was utter horror one year when a family that had moved up from the mainland invited us in and asked us to perform before giving us fruit 😱 the mum was overheard at the school gates a few days later saying that they’d only had two sets of guisers all week - word had spread quickly about the fruit! Parents waved us off after dark and we were out until we’d been to every house in the area. Once we’d finished the loot would be divvied up between the guisers. We were primary school age for this. We had neepy lanterns too, carving them with teaspoons kept us quiet for hours, and I can still remember the smell when they were lit.

Ha!

I googled it. I found this very helpful article. 🙈😁

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/jan/25/neeps-swede-or-turnip

So much changed since the days when play pieces meant sweets. When I was early secondary school, a nice teacher bought us all cans of coke during a field trip. A generous gesture like that would incite horror now. Drinks like these aren't allowed in school vending machines now.