My Birthday
My birthday is on a very special day. So special that it is celebrated throughout the world. From east to west, north to south and in every time zone. Although celebrated. very few people know how my birthday celebrations came to be. Until now.
Once upon a time (all good stories start with this) there was a race of peoples called the Picts. They roamed a land in the north of England called Alba, now Scotland. They were a fierce, warlike race. So bad that the Romans built a wall, Hadrian’s Wall, all across England, to keep them out.
At this time, the Picts worshiped Samhuinn (Scottish) or Samhain (Irish), both meaning Summer’s End. It was also the end of the pagan year when the sun gave way to darkness; The Celts believed that at this time the barriers between the worlds of the living and the dead were thinnest. And that people and ghouls could pass through into different worlds. During this time, the children would dress up and wear masks so they could go outside. And go from house to house looking for food, without the wicked ghouls and the dead finding them.
In the 16th century, the practice of wearing a disguise during this time of year slowly came to be known as Guiseing. This also brought in another change to the practice. Instead of asking for food at the doorstep, guisers now had to sing a song, tell a story or tell a joke if they wanted the food or candy.
In 1623, six men described as guisers danced in a churchyard and the parsons dooryard. They were each fined 40 shilling.
Also at this time, new customs started which continued into the 18th century. Engaged couples threw nits (nuts) into a fire. If the nuts burned quietly, the couple would have a wonderful future. If they fizzed and spat, it would be a troubled relationship.
Young men and women would go to the garden and pull stalks of brassicas and kale. The length and girth of the stalks would show the size of their beloved.
Apple Dookin (dunking) became popular, as did Treacle Scones. Scones dipped in treacle, then hung on string for the children to try to eat. I believe some people still carry this on using donuts instead of scones and treacle.
People also carved out turnips, put candles inside and carried them to light their way.
It was around 1786 that guiseing was given a new name that everyone knows today and was made popular by Robert Burns in his poem.
Halloween
Among the bonnie winding banks
Where doon rins wimplin clear
Where Bruce ance rul’d the martial ranks
An skook his Carrick spear
Some merry, friendly, countra folks
Together did convene
To burn their nits and pull their stccks
And havd their Halloween.
Halloween was exported to the US by Irish immigrants during the potato famine. It was soon adapted to the local environments. The customs of guiseing were lost, pumpkins replaced turnips, and Halloween, as we know it today, began.
I first became aware of guiseing when I moved my family to the Isle of Mull. We lived in a small community at Lochdonhead where my two boys attended the two-room schoolhouse. The headmistress’s first language was Gaelic and not only did she teach the children to speak the language, but also told them about all the old rites. On the island there was no Halloween, only guiseing. My boys memorized a couple of jokes and stories, and set out down the road around the loch we lived by. They came home later that evening promising they would never guise at the headmistress’ house again. They explained that not only did they have to tell a story, but they had to do it in Gaelic.
I have only one complaint about Halloween. It is my birthday. So how come children don’t bring me candy instead of me giving them candy?