Halloween: England's strange and ancient winter rituals

Bee

Bee

Senior Member
Location
U.K.
It is that time again. Supermarkets are bulging with large pumpkins to carve and shops selling skeleton outfits enjoy a roaring trade. But the Americanised version of Halloween casts a long shadow over the multitude of quirky - and sometimes barmy - English traditions that also take place during the autumn and winter months.
There are men who carry flaming barrels of tar through a Devon village, folk who pour cider over apple tree roots and cross-dressing troupes who perform something called Soul Caking to ward off evil spirits.
There is also a village in Somerset called Hinton St George which has a tradition of pumpkin carving and night-time walks that sounds remarkably similar to the Halloween rituals we all know.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29742774
 

This is all exported from America..when I was a kid..you didn't go out ''because there were witches''..I wouldn't have dared knock my neighbours door and ask them for sweets..
 
Trick or treat is an import we could well do without, as it can be nasty in some areas. My children would have been in the deep proverbial if they had ever pestered the neighbours for sweets!
 

Justme said:
Trick or treat is an import we could well do without, as it can be nasty in some areas. My children would have been in the deep proverbial if they had ever pestered the neighbours for sweets!
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I had two cheeky young beggars ask me for money instead of sweets!!
 
Twixie said:
This is all exported from America..when I was a kid..you didn't go out ''because there were witches''..I wouldn't have dared knock my neighbours door and ask them for sweets..
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It was the immigrants from the North of England, Scotland and Ireland (and possibly other European countries) that originally took the celebration to America.

There is plenty of information on the internet about this....

http://www.ibuzzle.com/articles/history-of-halloween-holiday-in-america.html


http://www.studiesoftheparanormal.com/halloween.html
 
Interesting links, Bee. Speaking as a northerner, Halloween was always 'celebrated' in our house when I was a young child. Ducking for apples was one thing we did and hanging apples from a piece of string and trying to take a bite from them without using hands. Home made treacle toffee and sticky gingerbread. Used to go to Halloween parties too. Was talking to some people the other day - in their 80s - who recalled playing tricks on their neighbours, tying gates together etc.

Halloween was also sometimes called Snap Apple Night, in England. A game called snap apple was played where apples were suspended on a long piece of string. Contestants had to try an bite the apple without using their hands.

Many places in England combined Halloween with Mischief Night (celebrated on 4 November), when boys played all kinds of practical jokes on their neighbours. They changed shop signs, took gates off their hinges, whitewashed doors, and tied door latches.

To keep ghosts away from their houses on Halloween, people would place blows of food outside their homes.........

http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/halloween/history.htm#mis
 
I'll bet there is some creepy stuff that goes on in America on Halloween. I mean, I was on a forum one time where there was a gal that said she practiced black-magic, and called herself a witch. There's been evidence of cults doing ritualistic animal sacrifices, all kinds of weird crap. I don't care who started it, I just wish someone could finish it:(
 
Thanks for the link Pam, there are more interesting links on there as well.
 
I agree, far from being an American import, we took it over there!I don't think we called it trick or treat [it was more just tricks.]
I remember Mischief night too, that was very exciting.It's true that various parts of England celebrate some very odd rituals, particularly the cider orchards, very pagan.
 
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