Halloween Night
Do you remember the hours spent gouging lumps out of turnips to turn them into lanterns for Halloween? Scurrying through the cold and silent moonlit streets trying very hard to keep the candle flame going? Getting into trouble off your mam for coming home with candle grease spattered on your clothes? Or are your memories of Halloween dressing up for trick or treating in the American style?
Here are some of your memories. Drop me a line if you have Halloween memories to share!
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I remember my dad hollowing out the turnips for me and my brothers Neil and Ian. I'm sure he used to get blisters from doing it!
There was always great excitement at Halloween. We would just go out around the dark street and into the back lane with our turnips lit up. Lots of times the candle would blow out as it was always freezing.
I think my dad used to make broth from all the turnip that was chiselled out.
I have lived in the USA for more than 22 years. Over here we have pumpkins and set them out on the doorstep. When it's Halloween we put the candles in and they look great lit up in the dark!
They don't get carried about but stay on the front doorstep. I usually sprinkle cinnamon and cloves on the inside of the lid of the pumpkins so when the candle burns it gives off a lovely scent!
Then all the kids come trick or treating in their different costumes. They always get so many sweets it's unreal!
I've bought my Halloween candy in anticipation of at least 50-60 kids knocking on the door shouting 'trick or treat'!
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Halloween was pretty quiet in Barley Mow. We would rather fling the turnip at a door than go and ask for cash!
Or, we would trek up to Blacks field to see how many snadgers we could snag, then leave a trail of tops and turnips right through the Vigo estate.
Maybe we would then settle in one of the lad's wash-houses with a turnip lantern, smelling the flame and the turnip. It had a smell of its own and we were secure in the knowledge that John's mam wouldn't smell the ciggies we were drawing on 'cos of the turnip.
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Talk of turnip lanterns gets the old memory cells going!
By the time we had hollowed out a turnip each we were sick to death of eating it. The candle wax was always a problem, as evidenced by the stories I have just read, and we thought we were the only ones.
As Jim Charles of New Hampshire said, the smell of the candle and turnip was very distinctive. Do kids in the UK still do these sort of things? Maybe it is too passé for today's kids, too many other things to play with and get involved with.
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I remember Halloween when we kids went out with our turnips!
We had candles in them and always got wrong when we came in because of the candle grease on our garberdeen macs!
Drop me a line if you have Halloween memories to share!
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Copyright (c) 2000-2001 Sue Kelly