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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.
5. Halloween traditions
Before pumpkins, we used to carve turnips. Here young guisers warm their hands over their turnip lanterns at Halloween 1956. Photo: Unknown
6. Boys dooking for apples in 1967
Dooking for apples was another Halloween tradition, made easier by dropping forks into the bucket of apples (which were floating in water). Photo: Joe Steele
7. Halloween traditions
Halloween costumes were very much homemade, and guisers were always expected to perform for sweets or money in the houses they visited. Photo: B B
8. Halloween Traditions
City Bakeries provided the sweet treats for many a celebration in the city, including Halloween cakes. At one time there were more than 60 branches and a visit for a treat was part of local tradition. This bakery on Cathcart Road is pictured in 1931. | Glasgow City Archives