To disagree that Halloween is "American"

[allytjd]

I'm a bit annoyed that loads of people have been moaning about Halloween, saying they don't like it because its American, even DS1's French teacher (who is french) repeated this to the whole class. The phrase "trick or treat" is american and so are pumpkins but the rest, dressing up, lanterns, children being given treats etc, are very traditional up here in Scotland and have always been a much bigger thing than bonfire night up here.
We have traditional games, and traditional foods for halloween and we have been doing them for hundreds of years - Where do you think the Americans got their traditions from?
It is a combination of anti-Americanism and ignorance about non-English traditions and it really annoys me! Its supposed to be fun!

"By LittleWhizzingBella on Sat 01-Nov-08 16:48:11
druids aren't just wales. Also associate with stonehenge etc.

I wasn't being country specific oldlady or even druid specific, just old so hmm back to you "

My apologies, I misread your original post.

I grew up in Scotland (East Lothian), and Halloween meant acting out Tam O'Shanter and doing apple-bobbing/treacle scones etc. at Brownies/Guides.

We never went guising - it wasn't a widespread thing, and really limited to the erm rougher kids, who would put on a bin bag and ask for money. Sometimes they would push a Guy around in a baby buggy. These are the same kids that, if they were in England, would plague your house with 'carol singing' in December.

We always did Guy Fawkes - massive bonfire on some undeveloped land on our street. We would spend weeks collecting stuff to build it. A very sensible adult would step forward to light it and generally keep kids back etc., and a kindly person would come out with potatoes to turn to ash bake in the embers. Loads of families would do fireworks, although my dad was to stingey for that.

We always did Guy Fawkes on the 5th - none of this moving it to the weekend.

As for America - all the 'safe- Trick or Treating implies that it is or was a risky thing for kids to do. Hospitals offer to x-ray their loot for razor blades, etc.

I enjoyed it when we were in the US. We had a very sanitised version, highly controlled by the local EMS. Teenagers were a bit of a pest with their pillowcases, but it was nice for the younger kids and adults. Not enough booze, though, but I always took this as a cue to start the mulled wine season and startle my neighbours with an offer or a cup of something alcoholic in front of children.

apology accepted

SGM - people in the US may not chuck eggs etc if they don't get a treat but they certainly do in my little corner of the UK - so unfortunately, based on my experience, I do know what I'm talking about . Sounds very lovely and fun where you are tho...

guising was and is pretty widespread in Scotland, squEAky (even E Lothian). It's just that your family seems to have disapproved of it as it was for 'rougher' children.

Hallowe'en has always been a reasonably big event in celtic countries. Not Engerland. So the English think it is Amercican because they don't know an awful lot about ireland, scotland and wales on the whole.

Not sure Halloween's very big in Wales. Seems no different to England to me.

Not just my family - my whole street. None of the kids on my street, or any of my school friends went guising.

We did get one or two guisers calling, but nothing widespread or reflective of the number of children in the town.

Have to say, no egging round here

Also no teenagers - all primary aged looking kids

And this area is quite ruff

Um, yes it is my experience in Britain SGM. I didn't imply anything about the American tradition of trick or treating as I don't know anything about it and have never experienced it. I just don't like the fact that some kids over here seem to have the idea that they play a trick if they don't get a treat. Wherever the idea comes from.

SGM, if any kid ever through an egg in my US neighbourhood, they'd be straight into the back of a police car. TorT is heavily policed, with even the firefighters helping out.

But I do think there is a fair bit of tricking going on. You just need to look at the papers.

of course not in your street. That's stating the obvious. If you looked down so on 'the rougher children' it's plain enough that you lived in a street/area where the neighbours had similar pompous attitudes

The problem is that we have only adopted half of the custom - the dressing up and the asking for a treat or threatening a trick.

The part we haven't adopted is the town-wide organisation and policing.

That's the price of living in a free country.

I'd estimate that no more than 5% of the children in my town did guising, and we lived in a very blue-collar town.

We didn't do it because it obviously wasn't a tradition in our town. Any kids that did were probably blow-ins from Glasgow

Scotland is surprising diverse

I don't think I'd know how many people went guising unless I was out on the streets guising myself.

I was a bit shocked when one person said to my DC's "we're mean here, we don't give money, we only give sweets".

It hadn't occurred to me that anyone should give money tbh. It's all about the sweets, isn't it?

At one house they got some home made stuff which the laydee of the house told me was marshmallow, nuts and melted chocolate withh cream all mixed together. Shamefully, she insisted I have some, could obviously see my tongue hanging out. It was delish

quite a few coins givcen to the dds and to me when I was young

What's Luau?

Squeakypop. Dh remembers guising and he lived in the upmarket areas of Govan, Priesthill, Maryhill etc so you might just be right about being rough! To this day he can't bear Rab C Nesbitt as it brings back memories...

no, it's not just rough people