The Dreaded Annual Halloween Kilt Thread - 2009

[Jack Daw]

There is of course the Hallowe'en poem by Robert Burns, for which he even supplied footnotes: http://www.robertburns.org/works/74.shtml

Bookmarked for future reference. Thanks, New Guise.

[NewGuise]

Bookmarked for future reference. Thanks, New Guise.

My pleasure. [A Professor of English has to be good for something.]

[macwilkin]

My pleasure. [A Professor of English has to be good for something.]

It's interesting to note that many of the divination customs as described by RB in his poem are also found in the writings of noted Ozark folklorist Vance Randolph's magnum opus, Ozark Magic and Folklore, thus illustrating the Lowland Scots roots of American folklore and folk culture.

And, for another tie, some scholars believe that Washington Irving, whose father was an Orkney man, may have been influenced by Tam O'Shanter and the Cutty Sark when he wrote of Ichabod Crane and the Galloping Hessian of Sleepy Hollow.

Todd

[The pedantic pedagogue of history]

[Chas]

I guess you missed the whole halloween nightclubbing thing, almost every bar and pub you go to on halloween is a costume party. I'ts one of the best nights of the year to go out nightclubbing!

It was 1966 and I was 14 years old when we left Canada, so yes I missed the Halloween experience. We can drink legally here from the age of 18, so I've made up for it since.

Regards

Chas

[McMurdo]

It was 1966 and I was 14 years old when we left Canada, so yes I missed the Halloween experience. We can drink legally here from the age of 18, so I've made up for it since.

Regards

Chas

We could drink legally here at 18 as well, though they did move it up to 19 the year I turned 18, I just slipped under the wire, one of the reasons I got into all that trouble and had a great misspent youth.

[O'Callaghan]

As someone originally from England, I have to say that costume parties for Halloween, and also the telling of ghost stories, go back a long way over there. These things were fairly common more than a decade before I emigrated to the US, and I've been over here for more than twenty years, so we're talking more than thirty years ago. We even had jack-o-lanterns back in those days, albeit made from turnips, not pumpkins. It is only trick-or-treat that is an American import.

I am sorry to have to point it out, but those Brits who say that there was never any celebration of Halloween there before trick-or-treating started must have been living under a rock. I think even the American trick-or-treat thing itself has been going on for at least a decade over there, to some extent.

Of course, it is really the pagan Samhain, which the church co-opted as All Hallow's Eve, and this most certainly did not begin in America either! I read the comment about no religion on the board, but you can't get around it being a religious holiday.

[macwilkin]

As someone originally from England, I have to say that costume parties for Halloween, and also the telling of ghost stories, go back a long way over there. These things were fairly common more than a decade before I emigrated to the US, and I've been over here for more than twenty years, so we're talking more than thirty years ago. We even had jack-o-lanterns back in those days, albeit made from turnips, not pumpkins. It is only trick-or-treat that is an American import.

I am sorry to have to point it out, but those Brits who say that there was never any celebration of Halloween there before trick-or-treating started must have been living under a rock. I think even the American trick-or-treat thing itself has been going on for at least a decade over there, to some extent.

Of course, it is really the pagan Samhain, which the church co-opted as All Hallow's Eve, and this most certainly did not begin in America either! I read the comment about no religion on the board, but you can't get around it being a religious holiday.

Spot on from a historian/folklorist POV, sir!

Regards,

Todd

[Scotus]

Of course, it is really the pagan Samhain, which the church co-opted as All Hallow's Eve...

Please, let's not go there! That kind of a comment has no place here.

I love Halloween, and feel a little sorry for the British here who didn't have it growing up. Having said that, I think one can only rarely make a kilt work with a costume without making a costume out of the kilt. Jamie's done it magnificently in the photo he posted, but I hope I don't see too many "I'm a Scotsman" costumes this year.

[NewGuise]

It's interesting to note that many of the divination customs as described by RB in his poem are also found in the writings of noted Ozark folklorist Vance Randolph's magnum opus, Ozark Magic and Folklore, thus illustrating the Lowland Scots roots of American folklore and folk culture.

Indeed!

And, for another tie, some scholars believe that Washington Irving, whose father was an Orkney man, may have been influenced by Tam O'Shanter and the Cutty Sark when he wrote of Ichabod Crane and the Galloping Hessian of Sleepy Hollow.

Turnips were apparently the Scottish vegetable of choice for lantern-making (which was not associated merely with Hallowe'en), even well after the introduction of the pumpkin, which - being easy to hollow - had swiftly taken over that role in North America. It's hard to imagine the Headless Horseman chucking turnips...

[sathor]

Please, let's not go there! That kind of a comment has no place here.

No reason to be mad, he was right. I minored in such things in college. However, it does get close to violating the 'no religious discussions' rule. If you want to be mad, be such only for his mistake of mentioning part of the religion behind it, not for expressing something that is true, and unpopular to certain people.