Halloween - back in the day

utdalltheway

was talking to my Ma lately and she was reminding me of the stuff we used to do on Halloween (back in the late 70s, early 80s).
We didn't have pumpkins, trick or treating, costumes or candy. We did have dunking for apples, barm braic (sp?), nuts, etc.

so, what Halloween traditions did you guys have when younsgters?

Dr. Dwayne

trudging through knee deep snow with a pillow case asking people for candy even though it was probably too cold to actually wear your costume, so we all looked the same (toques, parkas, ski pants and big winter boots).

Scrumpet

Well we had pumpkins, dressing up, trick or treating, bobbing for apples, monkey nuts, fireworks and sparklers.

No shitty raisin bread though.

Liam147

Getting robbed by the local deviants.

JustAFan

Only remember snow for Halloween twice. And one of those times was with my kids. A few rainy nights. A few where I had to wear a coat and a some where I did not.

Grew up in a small town back in a time when by time I was 7 or 8 was just going out with a few friends without any adult supervision as long as we were back by 8:30.

Freaking plastic masks that you could barely see or breath out of so that you ended up wearing them pulled up so your face was not covered.

Pooring all your candy out on the floor and working out trades for your favorites with your friends or siblings.

Kid Cunto

Black cats, screamers, bonfires, and drinking in a field.

Brosstan

Robbing old people, occasionally being shouted and chased around by people who didnt like those "new heathen traditions".

Kinky Melinky

I always enjoyed Halloween back in the day. Still do but obviously now it's a different kind of fun.

Aged about 9 to 12 years of age, myself and my mates used to put so much preparation into the night because we knew it was a night where there was leeway regarding how late we could stay out and the shenanigans we'd get up to.

One of the things we used to do was collect horse chestnuts and store them in a refuse bag for about 3 weeks. By the time Halloween came around they were soft and would splat against house walls. Dressing up and going out trick or treating was another fun event, but that stopped when we all hit secondary school and it was more about seeing what booze you could get.

One of the things I loved most was my mum allowing me to go into Dublin city with my mates to buy fireworks. This was when I was about 13. Not sure what the situation is now, but back then they were illegal and you'd have to walk down Moore street to get yourself some. There was something so daring / fun about the process of finding a seller, buying fireworks and knowing if the cops caught you they'd be confiscated. You'd buy them about 2 weeks in advance and try not to give one or two of them a try prior to the night.

Fun memories

WeasteDevil

I remember the apple dunking, etc. And we used to make the lanterns out of turnips, not pumpkins.

Penna

Same for me, Pumpkins are a mystery. We carved swedes or turnips.

There was no trick or treating of course, that came many years later. We called it Mischief Night, and we went around ringing bells and running away, or lifting gates off (and leaving them propped tidily against the wall, we were not very good rebels).

utdalltheway

we didn't have any Swedes in our area so we carved turnips too. we did have a decent sized Dutch community but they seemed to frown upon Halloween.

didn't see a pumpkin until years later.

peterstorey

Halloween was a non-event when I was a kid, Guy Fawkes was the big deal. Kids would be out already with penny-for-the-guy and sticking bangers through letter boxes.

JustAFan

Ah pumpkin carving. That was fun and messy. Best part was soaking the seeds to get all the slime off, then backing them, adding salt. Yummy treat.

Moyespopper

We used to go round singing Christmas Carols and demanding money with menaces... no shit.. about 20 of the kids from my estate used to call round every house singing carols and demanding a 'penny for halloween', we'd blow the takings on gobstoppers.


I hate all the Americanised bollocks that goes with it now, when exactly did that happen btw?

Grinner

Halloween was a non-event....stupid yank shit.

Wibble

Same here although my missus who is Irish remembers Halloween being a bigger deal.

Wibble

My son was mad keen for Halloween for a couple of years but didn't bother last year when he was 12. I'm glad because I don't like it especially as I ended up traipsing the streets with them (no I didn't dress up).

ShadesOfTomato

I just remember being about 7 and shitting myself when I saw people in costumes.

peterstorey

Yeah I was in Ireland for one Halloween as a kid and it was the main event if a bit scary with all those spirits running around (no bleedin' fireworks tho').

Count Orduck

You still get Bairín Breac in Ireland at Halloween.

Count Orduck

They have the fireworks on Halloween over here, 'cos obviously there's no Guy Fawkes night to have them on. It's a much bigger deal, though of course the Americanisation of it is leeching in now.

jdmufc

I don't remember halloween being much of anything in the 70's, it was all about bonfire night for us.

Wibble

In a way you would think that the Irish might enjoy an event commemorating a plot to blow up the British parliament.

Grinner

It commemorates the failure of the plot though. That's why we make a Guy and then burn the fucker. We often used to string him up, beat him with sticks and then burn him.

Wibble

True but glorious failure is often celebrated in Ireland.

Wibble

As it is in the UK especially in cricket and tennis until recently.

Wibble

Eddie the Eagle being another example.

utdalltheway

yeah, the Ma was telling me.
all my sisters wanted the ring and nobody wanted the stick.

the Americans fecked it all up. no more apples and nuts cos of a few isolated cases where nutters spiked the apples.

that said the kids love it and who's to blame them.

EdWeatherall

We didn't even bother dressing up
Would just go and knock on as many houses as possible and see what we could get, whether it was sweets or money

We used to go carol singing to see how much we could make, probably went and spent that on sweets or chips or something like that

lem8sh

This

Garethw

I alway used to go trick or treating as a kid.

I remember watching Ghostwatch one Halloween night in the very early '90's and it terrified me to the point that I didn't sleep a wink that night.

JustAFan

Well kids in the Northeast US might be having an interesting Halloween memory...a freaking Hurricane.

sammymc

always went halloween rhyming....fireworks werent really the done thing though...apart from the crap indoors one where you put a match to what looked like a fruit pastille and a snake came out..plus sparklers....dunking for apples.

Waltraute

We still do.

They're so much harder to carve than the pumpkins though, so a mid-size, bog standard scary-face turnip for the dinner table (with tea-light inside) and pumpkin(s) for outdoors.

And Wibble, if you can't celebrate glorious failure, what's the point of even being alive?

Wibble

I agree it is a key English and Irish trait that we should hold dear.

WeasteDevil

Sculpting a lantern out of a turnip is a precious work, and they look better than those stupid great big orange things as well.

Randall Flagg

Was this the fake possession thing? If so I also recall it and believed it was true. Scared the shite out of me.

Garethw

That's the one! It had Michael Parkinson in the studio and Craig Charles as the onsite roving reporter.

iSparky

Do you know what I love about halloween? Nothing.

Scrumpet

Does anyone actually know how to do the monster mash? I've just realised that I don't.