In Scotland Halloween is more famous than in France and they have lots of old traditions which I’m going to present you.
First of all, the fancy dress is the most important. In Scotland lots of people disguise themselves, and not only children, teenagers and adults too! So you will probably see spirits, witches, devils or skeletons in the street if you come in Scotland at Halloween.
Then, children go knock on the doors of their neighbours to have some sweets. In the traditions, before to have some sweets, children have to sing, recite a poem or a joke. But now children just knock on the doors and say “trick or treat”.
But Halloween is not only the day where children eat lots of sweets, it’s also a day to have a party!
For the party you have to decorate your home with lots a terrifying things, especially by carving pumpkin lanterns with creepy grimaces.
Then, to animate the party, games are indispensable, and in Scotland they make games especially for Halloween.
– Bobbing for apples: This game involves trying to grab apples floating in water using the mouth and with the hands tied behind the back.
– Treacle scones: In this game, participants have to take a bite out of treacle scones hanging from ropes.
To finish, you have to cook. Necessarily, you have to buy lots of sweets for the Halloween party but it exists other specialities at Halloween, as the sausage rolls. According to the legend, a witchcraft act of 1735 forbidden the consumption of pork pastries on Halloween. This act was repealed in 1950’s and the sausage rolls became popular at Halloween parties.
There are lots of events at Halloween in Scotland, so I’m going to present you some of them.
- Scotland has lots of castle and many of them are apparently haunted. So, at Halloween there are lots of ghost tours to do, for example you can do the Haunted Tour in Glamis Castle or the Original St Andrews witches tour.
- Then, there are two popular festivals in Scotland: the Glasgow horror festival and the Samhuinn fire festival in Edinburgh.
The Glasgow horror festival takes place in the city centre of Glasgow. The festival lasts 12 hours and includes indie film screenings, costume prizes, live music and more.
At the Samhuinn fire festival you will see colourful costumes representing characters from ancient folklore, fire, musical and street theatre shows.
- In Dundee, the biggest Halloween party for students is The Legendary Halloween Party at the nightclub the Union. It’s a busy night so you have to buy your tickets before, the price is £7.50.
Happy Halloween everyone! Have fun!
