to think that "trick or treating" is an American thing and in my day it was called guising?

[BollocksToThis]

Well, am I?

There's a word I haven't heard for a long time. I used to have a cat called Tumpshie.

And when they were younger we used to do the dookin for apples
and nuts

and I remember vividly being at my aunts and trying to take bites out of treacle scones hanging from thread( how did they do that???? )

still demand a "turn" from anyone arriving at my door

re the dookin eldest, now in 20s , suggested filling the babybath we use with cider [hmmm}

Great name for a cat
along with Stoorie for a grey one

I'm from the NE of England and guising was in reference to 'penny for the guy' for Guy Fawkes Night on the 5th of November. Halloween was always just Halloween and then 'trick or treat' made an appearance in about the 70's. [hgrin]

Yes! Treacle pancakes - we did that in school but I'd forgotten about it. We still dook for apples here, great fun.

Yes, we went guising and we had to work for our money and sweets by singing songs or telling jokes. We made all our own costumes as well.

Now they just turn up at the door with a bag and expect treats without having to do anything. My grandad used to carve out a turnip for us, dh and I have always done pumpkins though just because they are so much easier to carve. But you didn't get pumpkins here when I was little, only turnips.

We didn't get many guisers round tonight only a few,but then there aren't many children round about where we stay.

ye are all jonnie come latelys. back in my day it were all soul cakes, give one to a brat o' ye poor and eat one to release a soul from purgatory.

"Soul, Soul, for a Soul Cake: pray you good mistress, a soul cake".

Tigerchilli, when I was little and lived in Scotland, the pennies we got when we went guising at Halloween were used to buy fireworks so the two occasions got kind of mixed.

arrr, in my day we had needfire to light up the world and drive out pestilence and famine for the winter, twas a fine old time, lighting it wi narry a flint. tis a fine way to keep warm while doing a fair bit of ancestor worship and all.

turnips.

when i was young, i was lucky to have a turnip to eat every other year.

When was it guising in Ireland then? My mother is Irish with an extremely Scottish mother (Glasgow) and had never heard of guising till yesterday.

Scotland again and never called it 'trick or treating', guising perhaps or we just used Halloween. Had to tell joke or sing or something (dressed as a gypsy one year and told fortunes, didn't go down well with my old protestant neighbour when I told her she was going to be a nun and marry the pope!). also usually got, nuts, apples and tangerines and everybody hot footed it to the neighbour who always made candy apples.

The sky is blue
The grass is green
May we have our Halloween

I'm also 34 and from Scotland. We called it guising, not trick or treating.

I remember the treacle pancakes too !!

We would sing "tramp tramp tramp the boys are marching, we are the guisers at your door".

Guising for me too, and am 31. Always turnips for us as well. In fact, not sure I ever saw a pumpkin until I went to uni...

Guising was/is going on the pucai (poo-key) in Ireland