traditions

Gugging for Eggs in County Wexford

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By Michael Fortune

Here in Wexford there is a tradition of dressing up and going ‘Gugging for Eggs’ at Easter. My own grandmother in Ballygarrett remembered doing it as a child as do many people from pockets within the county such as Castlebridge, Screen, Ballymurn and also around Kilmuckridge.

In the days leading up to Easter Sunday, children would dress up, some with masks and some without, and go ‘Guggin’ for Eggs’. Armed with a stick, a basket, an apron and old clothes, children would walk out from the villages and towns and call to farms in the countryside. My grandmother recalled to me that they’d call to neighbours and say theses words ‘Me Aester (Easter) Egg on You?’ to which they’d hopefully get eggs and be sent on their way. In other parts of Wexford I have recorded people recall how with a stick they knock on the door and say “Eggs or money, mam?”

Gugging was mostly done on Holy Saturday, while some also went out on Easter Monday. Most children went out during daylight hours; however, the bigger ones around mid-Wexford went out in disguise at night like at Hallowe’en. In many cases the children would boil the eggs when they were out rambling while more would be kept until Easter Sunday. Hard to imagine theses days that children would allowed light little fires and boil eggs in fields, but it was done and it wasn’t that long ago. [ . . . ]

Source: YouTube

5 Scottish Halloween Traditions

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Scotland has had some peculiar traditions for Halloween! Discover our spooky Scottish Halloween traditions…

Some of these traditions have been lost over the centuries, but some are still around today.

Many on this list were practised long before trick or treating.

Let’s see how many you recognise…

Neep carving 

Before the tradition of pumpkin carving stole across the Atlantic from America, the Scots carved turnips – or neeps – into lanterns and lit them to ward off potentially malevolent entities. A hardy few still carve neeps, and the end result is certainly creepier – although most admit that pumpkins are largely more convenient.

Apple Dookin’ 

Have you ever been dookin’ for apples? The traditional game involves filling a tub with apples and water, then trying to catch floating apples out with your teeth. The game’s origins are uncertain, but it’s thought to be a method of fortune-telling who your true love will be. This is one of the few Scottish Halloween traditions that is still going strong!

Guising  

It’s not trick-or-treating – it’s guising, short for disguising! Long before “trick or treat” Scottish children dressed up as evil spirits and went round the houses. They had to tell a joke or perform a short poem or song before receiving their treat – nuts, apples, sweets or occasionally coins.

Treacle Scones 

A game of apple dookin’ is usually preceded by the messier game of treacle scones, where sticky scones are hung from strings and players try to eat them without their hands – with as little mess as possible. Unfortunately, not many are successful, so dookin’ for apples has the added bonus of washing faces clean!

Kale-pulling 

We’re not joking. Another traditional way of finding out who your true love would be was to go to the vegetable patch and pick the first kale stalk you saw. Its shape told the look of their your spouse, and the taste would tell personality. Unlike the other Scottish Halloween traditions listed here, kale-pulling isn’t practiced by many, if any, Scots today.

The poem Hallowe’en by Burns speaks of the consequences of pulling kale stalks:

“Some merry, friendly, country-folks
Together did convene,
To burn their nits, an’ pou their stocks,
An’ haud their Hallowe’en
Fu’ blythe that night”

Source: 5 Scottish Halloween Traditions

Halloween: England’s strange and ancient winter rituals 

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There is more to the “dark season” than Halloween, as these traditional English rituals show.

There are men who carry flaming barrels of tar through a Devon village, folk who pour cider over apple tree roots and cross-dressing troupes who perform something called Soul Caking to ward off evil spirits.

There is also a village in Somerset called Hinton St George which has a tradition of pumpkin carving and night-time walks that sounds remarkably similar to the Halloween rituals we all know. [ . . . ]

Read More at: Halloween: England’s strange and ancient winter rituals – BBC News