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Hallowe'en / Halloween (General / Compendium Thread)

jimv1 said:
This is the very nub of my jist. We were taught to make lanterns out of turnips and then I found out that I was really carving swedes.

I blame europe. They'll be banning Blue Peter advent crowns next.
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see now that comment made me smile see :D

:lol:
 
Useful tip for hollowing out turnips, use a power drill with a big bit - much easier :).

Though if I had kids, i'd make them use a knife and spoon!
 
fynoderee1 said:
Useful tip for hollowing out turnips, use a power drill with a big bit - much easier :).

Though if I had kids, i'd make them use a knife and spoon!
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with what kids get up to now, i wouldnt be surprised if they wouldnt use your method :lol:

im like a big kid when it comes to halloween, bonfire night and christmas i just love the whole atmosphere. :D
 
jimv1, yes you are right, i remember my Dad telling me that, they were actually swedes, what we call turnips they didn't eat, they were fed to livestock.
 
Swedes and turnips are closely related. However, turnips, big as your head and yellow inside, are what we used to steal out of the field, eat raw, or cooked and carve into tumshy lanterns.

Swedes are either Scandinavians, from Sweden, or some small, purple and white, poncy, foreign things, that I'd never heard of, unless it got a mention on TV, until I moved down to England.
 
Pietro_Mercurios said:
Swedes and turnips are closely related. However, turnips, big as your head and yellow inside, are what we used to steal out of the field, eat raw, or cooked and carve into tumshy lanterns.

Swedes are either Scandinavians, from Sweden, or some small, purple and white, poncy, foreign things, that I'd never heard of, unless it got a mention on TV, until I moved down to England.
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it seems turnips or swedes arew more commonly used for carving at halloween than pumpkins are.

i love the idea of carving pumpkins at halloween although i have never carved one i would love to with my kids when they are older.

you have your classic carved punpkins as shown here:
28_Halloween_Pumpkin.jpg


to the more extreme carved pumpkins as shown here:
carvings1.jpg
 
cherryhinton said:
BTW, Dr_Baltar - treacle scones? I like the sound of them, what are they?
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You get some drop scones (aka Scotch pancakes), dip them in treacle and tie them to a string strung up across the room. Holding you hands behind your back, it's then a race to see who can eat their's first (although the race element kind of takes second place to the excuse to get very messy). However, the "dookin' for apples" gives your horribly sticky face a bit of a wash.
 
Pietro_Mercurios said:
Swedes and turnips are closely related. However, turnips, big as your head and yellow inside, are what we used to steal out of the field, eat raw, or cooked and carve into tumshy lanterns.

Swedes are either Scandinavians, from Sweden, or some small, purple and white, poncy, foreign things, that I'd never heard of, unless it got a mention on TV, until I moved down to England.
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I think it's the other way around. Swedes are big and yellow inside. Turnips are small and white.
 
Yup, that's how I understand it these days. However, when I was a child we'd carve a 'turnip lantern' from what I'd now call a swede.*

This year I'll be carving a proper pumpkin lamp as usual, followed by chili-roasting the seeds and making the pith into soup. :D

* and hard work it was too. When my kids were small I'd use an apple corer to do theirs. Much safer. ;)
 
escargot1 said:
Yup, that's how I understand it these days. However, when I was a child we'd carve a 'turnip lantern' from what I'd now call a swede.*
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And the neeps we ate with haggis and tatties were always yellow which, as I say, I'm unreliably informed is actually swede.


* and hard work it was too. When my kids were small I'd use an apple corer to do theirs. Much safer. ;)
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You're not kidding. I can still remember the pain in my hands. It was all worth it for that Halloween smell of burning cabbage though.
 
if you're really clever you can make one with a big baking apple. I've seen that done, and it smells gorgeous. :D
 
I'll never keave the pumpkin. I used to grow my own but they took up so much room. I got a pretty good one from Tesco this year though.


The billing at Styx Towers this year is looking like the following:-

Dawn of the Dead '78
Demons 2
Hellraiser 2
The Devil's Rejects
Zombie Flesh Eaters

That could pretty much all change by tomorrow but the theme this year is sequels.
 
Today's Matt cartoon is right on the button:

A man opens his door to a couple of kids, dressed as a ghost and a skeleton.

He says, "Is this a government health warning about middle class drinking?"

:D
 
Had my first 2008 ToTers last night. Three little lads, anxiously cchecking that I'll be doing the thing tonight. Bless. :D

As they went off they were discussing my usual warning - 'Don't go inside anyone's house that you don't know' - and one said 'She always says that! and another agreed.

Sounds as if they've known me all their lives. They probably have. ;)
 
Ooh I love the idea of chilli roasting the pumpkin seeds - we just roasted our seeds up in some olive oil last night (pumpkin looks strangely like Leslie Crowther for some odd reason) but now I'm tempted to go get another one just so I can try a new recipe.
 
Watch out though, dogs like them too. One year Mr Snail left his bowl of warm, freshly-roasted seeds unattended while he fetched a drink and our Jack Russell nicked the lot. :lol:

Mr Snail's taken my inflatable skeletons to work, to sit them at desks in protest at the 'skeleton staff' situation. I've told him, he'd better bring them back, and I want pictures! ;)
 
I wish I had an inflatable skeleton *sigh*

If only so I could float on the breeze and not have to walk everywhere :D
 
Are you leading up to asking me to 'give this'ere bone a quick blow'? :lol:
 
Halloween

I have just struggled to put my lottery on and get home through central Edinburgh because the shops are full of people buying Halloween costumes, etc. We are not talking kids here but grown, well alledgedly grown, adults. Halloween in Scotland is fast becoming Amercanised and another Christmas, i.e. people dress as anything (not costumes associated with witchcraft, etc) and it's completely commercialised.
 
They're all coming to my house to have tricks played on them and be given sweets. :lol:
 
escargot1 said:
I have a lovely gold paper-covered gift box here. I'm going to cut a hole in one end, stick my hand through, fill the box with sweets to cover it, offer sweets from it to the kids and then when they reach in, GRAB! :lol:
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Reminds me of a couple of years ago. My wife went to answer the door in her long dressing gown and on the way there picked up our fat, bad tempered black cat and tucked it under her arm. The cat took exception to this and started to squirm about and spit. When she opened the door the young tricksters took one look at what looked like a witch struggling with a demon and ran!
 
Hahahahaha, we have a scary Jack Russell for that job! :lol:
 
Not one Trick or Treater here.

Very disappointing.
 
We haven't had as many as usual, dunno why. I've heard from a few that they're coming round tomorrow night as well but they won't get a treat here!
 
We had a sum total of five groups round tonight, most of whom we know. Waaay down on last year, when the doorbell didn't stop for about four hours solid. Apparently there were far fewer houses with decorations and stuff up this year too, and loads with curtains resolutely drawn and lights off. My son was a bit sad about his trick or treat haul, as after an hour or two he came back with a rather meagre bucket, and this is the last year he and his mates are doing it (as they're all 14 odd, and voices are breaking, etc, we the parents collectively decided to call it a day for them.)

We spent much of this week with friends in the country, and the emphasis there is far more on a big village Halloween party, with apple bobbing, a big BBQ*, music and games and stuff. Wish we could have stayed for that as apparently it's a hoot :).


*Wicker Man / League of Gentlemen jokes best left at the door, though....
 
My wife baked some cakes for them topped with some green slimy stuff (I think it was icing but who knows) and they went in half an hour. Six more groups of about 3 or four raided the sweets and that's it. A poor show this year and the weather couldn't be blamed. Perhaps the message about pestering people in their own homes is being heeded - wish the Jehovah Witnesses would listen.
 
We get teenagers coming round, often loved-up young couples in matching vampire outfits.* :D

They get to scrabble for sweets/change in the cauldron, humouring me, and then I give them a Mars Bar.

It's lovely to see them making the effort. Excited teenagers're possibly the cutest life-form ever, after kittens. :lol:

*or maybe they're just friendly Goths
 
By contrast, three little girls came to my door asking for trick or treat for the first time in about two decades! I had to ask them if they were serious, then tried to explain I didn't have any sweets because I wasn't expecting anyone. I might as well have been speaking Swahili, as they looked oblivious so I offered them each a cereal bar. At least they said thankyou.
 
Mercifully short of trick or treat here. Mind you, I'm back late from work.
I now have a box of miniature Heroes I don't know what to do with, an appointment with Dead Set and to cross threads with the imbibe thread, a goodly amount of wine.

Just HOW big is Blossom Hill anyway?!?!?!
 
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