Halloween in Scotland
In Scotland, Halloween revolves around the ancient Celtic belief faeries Sidhe or “Sith” in modern Gaelic. Children used to go out wearing devil faces to scare away the evil spirits. Today, they use carved pumpkins as lanterns. They used this to protect their houses also. If the spirits go past the protection of the lanterns, Scottish custom was to leave them pieces of food to give the spirits a reason to spare them for the next year. Children are disguised as creatures to protect them from evil spirits also.
These traditions are still used in Scotland and also is seen in North America. Games include bobbing for apples using a fork in one’s mouth to prevent the transmission of saliva-born illnesses and also attempting to eat a scone hanging by a string on the ceiling. The participants cannot use their hands and the blindfold is sometimes left out because it is already difficult to eat a scone without using your hands. In recent years, Halloween organizers have decided that they are trying to breakaway from U.S. style celebrations.
Works Cited/Further Reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
