Thank you - I am quite proud of them! It was a fun evening - Cath had cut out the templates for us, and also some of the smaller felt trimmings, and then we all sat and cut and sewed - and chatted. There were a few rather bawdy comments from ladies in their 70s about the small red balls to top the pudding.... not to mention what size they should cut their orange felt for the snowman's carrot!
Thank you! They were fun to do - a dozen women between 30 and 80 all sitting sewing and chatting made for a nice evening and we were all rather proud of our finished decorations by the end of the evening.
The roots of Hop-tu-Naa as the changing of the year are taught to most of the children at Primary School - and they learn one or two of the old songs, some of the dances in some schools as well as trying bobbing for apples.
And I thought it might be nice to remind people about Pico :)
I still talk about guisers, and Radio Scotland was talking about guisers, but they wondered how many people would. I had a pumpkin for my lantern, though.
I haven't douked for apples this year - the last few years I've done it with smallcousin, usually the civilised version with a fork.
I did a pumpkin, too. Although there are still turnips around; if my son-in-law's demo from 20 20 is anything to go by the modern dad tackles them with the power tools!
But I decided, when our daughter was around 10, that had our forefathers grown lots of pumpkins to feed their cattle, rather than turnips, they would have happily used them!
There was a tradition of eating treacle covered buns that hung from doorways or, in my childhood home, from the airing rack, with your hands tied behind your back. We introduced a variation at an autumn Messy Church a few years ago using sticky doughnuts :)
Thank you - I was pleased with the snowman when he was done; almost everyone else went for a red scarf and mitts but I thought the blue would make a nice change!
There was a sudden burst of 'Trick or Treat' about 25 years ago, as the door to door tradition was already here - and it was actually the Dept. Education that pushed to preserve the traditions by teaching Primary School children all the traditional stories and songs. So there is no excuse for 'foreign imports'!
Comments 35
Reply
Reply
Reply
I had a good giggle re: your 'not an American Halloween'. It is a good thing to remind the young ones of their true roots.
And thank you for advertising for picowrimo. While I love the friendly little group we have, it's always pleasant to have new people joining.
Reply
The roots of Hop-tu-Naa as the changing of the year are taught to most of the children at Primary School - and they learn one or two of the old songs, some of the dances in some schools as well as trying bobbing for apples.
And I thought it might be nice to remind people about Pico :)
Reply
I haven't douked for apples this year - the last few years I've done it with smallcousin, usually the civilised version with a fork.
Reply
But I decided, when our daughter was around 10, that had our forefathers grown lots of pumpkins to feed their cattle, rather than turnips, they would have happily used them!
There was a tradition of eating treacle covered buns that hung from doorways or, in my childhood home, from the airing rack, with your hands tied behind your back. We introduced a variation at an autumn Messy Church a few years ago using sticky doughnuts :)
Reply
Reply
Reply
Well done for sticking to the traditional Hop-Tu-Naa rather than Halloween.
Reply
There was a sudden burst of 'Trick or Treat' about 25 years ago, as the door to door tradition was already here - and it was actually the Dept. Education that pushed to preserve the traditions by teaching Primary School children all the traditional stories and songs. So there is no excuse for 'foreign imports'!
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment