To think my MIL is wrong?

[Bluemonkey18]

I was talking with gf mother (61) about carving pumpkins and she said that they didn't have pumpkins back in the 60s and instead carved turnips. She said they would put a candle inside and run around, rattling bins and scaring people. And that trick or treating wasn't a thing.

I was born mid 70s and we did trick or treat but it wasnt like now. We were supposed to do a trick on houses that didnt give anything. Or the people in the houses might do a trick on you. It wasnt as big a deal as bonfire night though, which was much more fun as we would spend ages making a guy and doing penny for the guy at the local shopping area in the run up. The guy would be burnt on a big bonfire that someone in the neighbourhood would do for all the local kids. Maybe get a catherine wheel too, but it was all about the bonfire and less about fireworks.

I was a child in the 80’s & we used to carve sugar beet or a swede if we couldn’t get beet. Halloween wasn’t such a big thing then - no-one had decorations out & we only used to knock on a few doors of people we knew. My dad would dress as a vampire & take us out - I remember it fondly.

You've posted on the wrong thread.

The Halloween parties I went to in London in the 70s were organised by brownie leaders and held in church halls with other brownie packs. Home made Halloween costumes, apple bobbing and other games

exactly all of this.

They didn’t have pumpkins in the 90s let alone 60s. I’m 42 and whilst we always had parties and went trick or treating in the 80s, we never carved pumpkins and everyone’s outfit was black bin liners or a white bed sheet. You used to buy those plastic masks with a thin bit of elastic. Even at uni in the early 00s, Halloween was nowhere near what it is now.

Mischief Night, take people's gates off, knock and run, move bins, swap bins. Move milk bottles. Nothing really mean but felt daring when you were 8-12 ish. and yes, carve turnips (which are swedes up north) took forever and a couple of fingers it you weren't careful, string through the lid so you could carry it round with a candle inside, great fun

American Pumpkin Trick or Treat Halloween was inspired by Scottish All Hallows’ Eve which was called Guising and was Trick and Treat (so you did a trick like a song, magic trick etc. then you got a treat); which is really the later version of the end of harvest / change of season celebration Samhain - which is so old it’s a pre Christian Gaelic celebration.

So your MIL is not wrong.

I'm 74 and we did the same and carving out a turnip is far more difficult that a pumpkin. I don't recall pumpkins being around in the 60s or early 70s.

Mischief Night was the night before Bonfire Night in my town.

This

If you look on the English heritage website it will tell you about the tradition and how the immigrants to America changed it to pumpkins as well as how to carve a turnip.

I remember the first pumpkin I bought for my own kids and I had a moment of sheer joy when I realised it was hollow and wouldn't take me hours to carve out like a turnip.

"Halloween History: Why we carve pumpkins | English Heritage" www.english-heritage.org.uk/members-area/kids/halloween-the-history-of-pumpkins/

Haha same makes nice soup as well.

In the 60s and 70s my family carved swedes. It was really difficult because they're very hard and you ended up with sore hands. Pumpkins weren't popular then. Trick or treating definitely wasn't a thing back then, at least where I lived in southern England.
I find this kind of denial of older people's experiences quite offensive. The past was different, surely that's obvious and not too difficult to believe. People in their 60s and 70s are not all senile, forgetful or making things up.

I'm in my 30s and never trick or treated as a child, the first time I remember it being a thing was in my mid teens (2003 onwards) and even then, only a few people actually did it. Grew up in East Anglia.

I'm 48, I can remember going to one Halloween party at primary school and that is it. I didn't hear about trick or treating until I was about 14 and was amazed that children went knocking on doors asking for sweets, my parents wouldn't have allowed it. I can't remember anything being carved and lit with a candle.
My DC have attended organised events for halloween but have never gone trick or treating, I loath the very idea. Luckily we live rurally and would have to travel to trick or treat so the kids have always accepted that it is something we don't do.

im 60 , in Scotland we went guising , dressed up and had to do a party piece (song /joke etc) in exchange for sweets , anc yes we had a candle inside a carved turnip , with string through the top fit a handle

I don't remember carving any vegetables (70s London) but did make a 'Guy' out of mums old tights stuffed with newspapers, then dressed in some of dad's old clothes. Us kids would sit outside with 'Guy' and ask neighbours for a 'Penny for the Guy'
Now I feel really old 🤣

I remember having a pumpkin when I was a kid (mid 90s). It was tiny and we kept it going for a week because it was such a novelty. Trick or treaters were something to fear and I remember waiting at the window above the porch with a jug of water 🤣.

I’m 74 (born 1948) and hollowed out turnips to use as lanterns, well at least my dad did. They are rock hard to do, once hollowed out two circles for eyes and an attempt at scary teeth for a mouth was carved into it. A real candle place inside then the cut off top of the turnip was used as a lid. We carried them via string threaded two holes in the sides. The smell of scorching turnip is something you never forget.
We had apple bobbing and go to the houses in our street with a Guy in an old pram, chanting “ The sky blue the grass is green, have you got a penny for Halloween. If you haven’t got a penny a halfpenny will do. If you haven’t got a halfpenny, God bless you.
My older brother and sister went with me, with big bro pushing me in the pram, dressed up as the Guy. We were only allowed to knock on the doors of people we knew and not leave our street. We didn’t get sweets, we got money, copper coins or a tanner (old sixpenny piece) if we were lucky. November the 5th was more popular..The kids would all pool the cash and give it to one of our dads to buy fireworks for “Bommy night”.
The parents had some kind of Bommy night fund on the go to add to the stash us kids collected. A bonfire was held on the local open waste. The fire works let off then we’d all go home to jacket spuds.
I did the same for my two kids in the 1980’s. Still using turnips but dh rigged up little battery operated lights instead of live flamed candles, I’d follow the girls as they did door knocking. Having said all of that, it wasn’t as big as it is now.

I'm 57 and grew up in the 1970s. We carved out a swede too. I don't think I saw a pumpkin until I had my DC.

In the 1970s where I lived (Manchester), Halloween wasn't a big deal. Bonfire night was much bigger. Kids used to go round with a guy in an old pram knocking on doors asking for a 'penny for the guy'. The funds were used to buy fireworks.

Odd to think of people giving children under 10 money for fireworks.

I'm 58. We didn't trick or treat but had a halloween dress up night at Brownies. Pretty sure it was a carved turnip.

Erm, I'm 33 and I grew up carving whatever we could afford or had lying around. Swede or turnip was popular, pumpkins if we could get one but not always.

This year I did a range of melons because the pumpkins were shit or too expensive. I am not spending £8.99 on something to chuck out