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 in the sixties. My dad was Scottish and we used to carve a turnip for Halloween though Halloween was not really as big a thing as Guy Fawkes was. I knew about trick or treat though again it was nothing like it is now. These days it's the other way round.
In my street we would make a guy and go and wait outside the bank for customers - begging basically but we usually made enough money to buy a box of standard fireworks. (Without an adult).

Your MIL is correct in all she says.
Turnips were the trad thing to carve, with a stump of candle, as tea lights weren't a thing back then.

Halloween was a thing, but not commercialised.
Nor was there trick or treating.

I’m 53
I remember my poor mum battling trying to carve out a turnip. We used real candles, the smell of burning turnip was amazing!

On an entirely different note, I was remembering decorating mushroom boxes as a child which we would fill with tins of food to give to school for the harvest festival.

£8.99 for a Pumpkin! Bloody hell.

We carved Turnips or swedes in the North East. Pumpkins are a relatively new introduction.

That's right. Dad helped carve the turnip, you got dressed up (home made.There were no bought costumes), you smeared your face with soot from the chimney so that the roaming spirits wouldn' recognise you and went out guising.
.'Please for my Hallowe'en' you asked and were invited in to neighbours' house to sing a song or dance or tell jokes. You were given oranges, or peanuts , or chocolate or an apple and a silver coin in exchange.for your performance.
It was innocent fun.

If she is 61 now she would in fact have been born in 1961 or thereabouts.

OP, I'm 62, grew up in SE England and don't remember Halloween being celebrated in my area in the '60s (though Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night was). Yet, even before reading this thread, I did know that traditions were (and are) very different in other parts of the UK, or even in other parts of England.

But I'm glad you posted, because it's been lovely reading about people's memories of what happened at Halloween all over the UK at different times! And I especially loved @Trumpton's photo.

Same age, brought up in the same part of the country as @PrincessFiorimonde. Same memories.

Bonfire night was huge.

I think it's interesting that a celebration relating to God has been usurped by one celebrating the dark side.

I’m 56 and we did turnips, there was no trick or treating but we had Mischievous night instead around the same time. There weren’t pumpkins then. We also made a Guy Fawkes dummy and wheeled them round the streets going penny for the Guy and sang Carols near Christmas for money.

your MIL is 💯 correct.

Do you think your MIL has dementia and doesn’t remember anything about her own life, whereas you remember it correctly for her?

Yep. We carved swedes. There was no trick or treating. 1970's

I think that depends on your location. In the US it was definitely pumpkins. In certain parts of Europe I believe at some point in time they did carve turnips. Calling Halloween “fake” is kind of subjective though…? It is a holiday that real people celebrate for real so therefore it is real. But I believe there is an entire complex history behind it that would require an entirely different thread to get behind but I don’t really want to poke that hornets nest. 🫣

I grew up in the 1960s - no trick or treating, which was just one of those weird things the American did. I'm from the south - no carving of turnips either.

For us it was all about Bonfire night - so there's be kids out with a 'guy' in a wheelbarrow asking for 'penny for the guy'. On Bonfire night - there'd be sausages, toffee apples and silly games. Most families did their own firework displays or would group together with others to pool the fireworks. And there were always lots of nasty burns accidents which led to a tightening up on who could buy them and more organised firework displays.

Didn't have pumpkins - nearest we got were marrows !

So I'd say your girlfriend's Mum was spot on. It's amazing just how quickly the culture around this time of year has changed in such a relatively short timeframe.

I’m Welsh. Halloween for me was scooping out a swede and then crafting a face in its skin. It was no easy Task, believe me. But we survived and enjoyed the evening of dress up. We attended local Youth Club Halloween competition and disco. Our Halloween swedes , were lit, and took pride of place as they lit up the room, instead of flicking a switch.

There was no such thing as trick or treat in the 70’s. My parents wouldn’t have allowed us to beg from neighbours at that time. We enjoyed ourselves without bothering anyone else. Probably more so than nowadays. Apple bobbing, with friends, was great fun. I remember Halloween with great fondness. So different from the Americanised Halloween we have now

That rhyme as I remember it (1950s kid) was:
Christmas is coming,
The goose is getting fat...

What's a goose got to do with Halloween?

I grew up in England in the 1960s & early 70s. Halloween was very low key, it was all about Bonfire Night, Penny for the Guy was everywhere!

Trick or treat simply didn't exist where we lived.

I'm a bit older than you, and also from South London. No Halloween celebrations, but kids would make a guy out of old clothes stuffed with newspaper, and collect money door to door, taking the guy with them, asking "Penny for Guy?" This started maybe 10 days before Guy Fawkes' Night. The money went towards fireworks on Bonfire Night, where the Guy would meet his end.

After university I stayed in the North East, so followed their traditions with my own DC, and I can confirm that turnips are hard to carve!

I'm in my 40s and your MIL was right - you didn't see pumpkins in the shops so we carved turnips into lanterns - so hard!

Halloween was mischief night - people used to take the gates off the driveways and toss them into the street, walk over cars and leave muddy foot prints, if anyone came to the door they basically wanted money 10-20 pence - which would be like a 50p-a pound now and if you didn't give them it they would do something horrible to your garden or the outside of your house! My parents used to turn off all the front lights and we never answered the door. Dad would take the gates off the hinges and store them in the locked garage the day before!

Yep turnip carving and always went round ‘guising’ at the doors in the 80’s my mother did the same as a child in the 50’s/60’s. We are in Scotland.

I'm 50. We went 'halloweening' (and also did penny for the guy for bonfire night)
We definitely hollowed out turnips. They were a nightmare , didn't rot and smelt lovely when a candle burned in them .
(North east of England incase it's regional but don't think it is)

I hope she also corrects you when she tells you that she is not your MIL either.

This ! She is 61 and you think she is wrong about her own life ? Bloody hell.

Yes, turnips not pumpkins for us as children…in England and no trick or treating.

We’re witches of Halloween…

We carved turnips until the mid 90's.