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Whilst these days, Halloween has become deeply Americanised through trick or treating, rather than guising, it’s important to remember the roots of the All Hallows' Eve are deeply Celtic.
They can be traced back more than 2,000 years to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. But in the following two millennia they have adopted more and more Christian and other traditions to create what we now know as Halloween.
Whilst back in the day you’d find whatever you had kicking about the house to make your costume to go guising, these days there’ll be frantic shopping sprees for the best K-Pop Demon Hunter outfit from Amazon so your little one can go ‘trick or treating’. Call me old fashioned, but the game is gone.
This is a gallery for those who remember dooking for apples, Halloween fairs and turnips rather than pumpkins.
1. Halloween traditions
Guising, now more commonly known by its American term trick or treating, was a popular part of tenement life in Halloweens gone by. Photo: TSPL
2. Halloween traditions
These children 'turn out' their guising money in 1951. Photo: TSPL
3. Halloween traditions
A Halloween fair used to be a local community tradition. Photo: Unknown
4. Halloween traditions
Trying to catch a treacle covered scone was also a tradition of Halloween. Here some children are trying to do just that in 1971. Photo: T Souness