Happy Halloween...Trick or Treat

[margaretmcgettigan]

Happy Halloween everyone...Hope you get lots of treats and no tricks..
My memories of Halloween are getting dressed up usually in an old dress of my mother's and going up and down stairs with my pal Mary Duffy one Halloween night and getting a penny here and a penny there...Then we decided to go to the pub through the pend on Moffat Street, The Harmony Bar...We danced and sang..." If you roll a single penny down upon the ground and it will roll, roll, roll because it is round, round, round a woman never knows what a good man she's got until she turns him down, down, down...and so on" Well we each walked out of there with more that a couple of shillings each...What an amount in those days...Mary lives near me here in New Jersey and every now and again we still laugh and talk about that night...So much fun and great memories... I think Therese Brewer was the singer of this song...Does anyone remember it???

[cockatoo]

Happy Halloween, I have good memories of Halloween as a kid, there was always a party to go to ,the games at the party 'dookin' for apples etc.
You always came away with loads of sweeties,
And don't forget Halloween is Scottish ,its is our tradition, our culture, Scotland is where it originates and its been exported all over the world.

[margaretmcgettigan]

Now that I look at this original posting I made a mistake, ouch...It was "If you roll a Silver Dollar down upon the ground, etc. nor a single penny...I am really getting senile in my old age...Usually I do not make mistakes with the words of songs but plenty of other stuff...yes, also for Halloween my Dad would get Turnips and hollow them out and have eyes, nose and mouth cut into it and we would put a candles into them...No pumpkins in those days...

[braveheart]

Hi All,

I loved Halloween when I was young, usually dressing up as a pirate using my pirate guns that I got one Christmas, they were so realistic looking. Remember the exploding caps you used to get for toy guns which came coiled up in a little round cardboard container? They were great!

Today is my young Sister's (Janice) Birthday, unfortunately she died after a failed lung transplant 7 years ago, she was only 53! My 3 other Sisters and I miss her very much, God Bless her.

As this was Janice's Birthday she would always have a bit of a party after trick and treating, it was great as al the kids would have great fun dookin for apples and not to forget the treacle scone suspended from the ceiling, that always had the biggest laugh, all the kids covered in treacle, hair, eyes and face totally covered in it....magic.

Right you lot, get your costumes on and get out there!!!!

Have fun, John

[accobra]

Hi Margaret & Gang
Yes remember knocking on the doors with my brother and saying "Anything for Ma
Halloween and if we got lucky we would get invited in and we would sing the one verse of "The Battle of Scicilly out of tune and wearing red striped Pyjamas and before leaving the house stuck our hands up the "Lum " so we had blackened faces and sum of my mothers lipstick to make circles either side of our faces
if the singing was rubbish we always got a laugh for just the visual .
When the pokets got full of apples and nuts and the weight and jingling othe coins it was time to go
and have a good clean up . "Glasgow folk "never let us down ,!! A lot of fun and a good clean up after we got home .

Best regards

Reg

[braveheart]

Hi Folks,

Got a bowl of sweets ready last night in case we got a knock, but not one the whole night! I even looked out the door a few times but nobody was about, very quiet.

I don't think kids and their parents can be bothered any more. It's a sad world I'm afraid!

Take care, John

[amelia]

Hi Gang
I had 3 wee lassies they are Polish live a couple of closes up from me they were great and quite scary looking.
One of them is called Amelia and I was saying she looked great and my husband thought it was my granddaughters he said where's Owen that's my wee grandson and they said don't know.
After they went away I said to my husband did you know who they were he thought that they were our grand children I told him who they were with me calling her Amelia he thought she was ours time to get him locked up
It is all big money now buying ready made costumes Asda and all the shops do a bomb.
Now it's time for the fireworks they have started letting them off already up in Castlemilk and the pice of them is terrible, we go up to the school next to us and watch the fireworks from Glasgow Green they are amazing.
I remember wen they brought the garden festival to Glasgow we bought a season ticket that let you in as much times as you wanted and at the last day of it when they were letting of the fireworks there was an explosion and one of the guys were either killed or hurted.
Amelia

[amelia]

Hi Cockatoo my sisters had a discussion about it being Scottish and they said it originated fro the USA I wonder who is right as the Americans think it's theirs what do you think Margaret? let us know
Amelia

[DannyGill]

Hi Gang,
I must say I loved everybody's comments about Halloween and it took me back to my pals and me going round the doors and knocking on them and the absolute thrill of doing a trick or maybe singing a wee song and the Lady of that house would give you something= an apple or orange or sweeties. I f you were luckt to get a penny you would tell all the other kids go up to number ? and you'll get a penny. Then I remember my Ma getting the auld zinc bath out , filling it with water and standing on a chair with a fork in your mouth trying to dive bomb the floating apples or the treacle scone hanging down from a piece of string. Aye maybe not much money but what a great experience we all had as weans in the soo-side, Happy days.
Regards.
Danny

[TheGorbalsAdmin]

If I can throw in my sixpence worth here, I haven't heard anyone mention the term 'guisin' as opposed tae the Americanism of 'trick or treating'.

I recall that there was an aspect where you folk had tae guess what you were dressed up as as folk generally created their own costumes whereas nowadays weans seem to just by outfits from the supemarket. Whatever happened tae using your imagination!

Dookin for apples could be done usin a fork over a basin of water filled wae apples or else just directly stickin yer face intae the basin and tryin tae bite one! Messy business!
The treacle pancakes danglin on a string that you were tae try and eat always came tae a sticky end!
Goin round the doors and havin tae sing a song or tell a joke. "Anythin for ma hallowe'en!", hardly ever got any money just apples oranges monkey nuts chucked intae a big bag for dividin up wae the gang later on.
Theres still the remnants of it round about but everything comes prewrapped ready tae go rather than home made.