Hallow'een

It's Hallow'een today and I am dressed up as Upsy Daisy! I went to a Hallow'een party with Mum and Auntie Katie. We went dookin for apples, sat round to listen to a spooky story and followed a trail of eyeballs to find a witch's treasure (a tub of Haribo!). After that I went guising* for the first time, although I didn't really get the bit about showing off a talent. We went to see Uncle John, Auntie Ann and Halley, Gran and Papa (and Uncle Andrew and Uncle Patrick) and Mary, Anne and William who live next door to PapaNan. Mum has lots of sweets for the boys and girls coming to our house, but there haven't been many so far! Hallow'een is good - dressing up and sweets, what's not to like?

*In the west of Scotland, the tradition of guising goes back long before the American import of trick or treat. It originates from the poor going round houses to say prayers for the dead on All Hallows Eve, and being given food or coins. That developed into the tradition of children dressing up (and therefore wasn't necessarily linked to spooky costumes) and going round houses asking the occupants if they wanted "guisers". The children would have to put on some sort of performance, singing usually or telling a joke, and in return would receive sweets, monkey nuts, apples and satsumas (and sometimes money!). I don't know how widespread around Scotland this is, quite a lot of the traditions I grew up with are specifically because we were a community descended from the Irish diaspora, so it might be something peculiar to people with Catholic heritage. Most children who come round our house now seem to say trick or treat.

Here's a link to a video of me in Tesco.