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Halloween Costume Party Ideas: Customs around the World:
England
In England, the Halloween celebration is very
similar to the celebration observed in the United
States on Oct. 31. On this day, two celebrations
occur: the festival of the Samhain (see Ireland) and
Pomona Day, day of the goddess of fruits and
gardens.
On Halloween, children dress up in costumes and
often try to live up to the ghoulish motto "The
scarier, the better." British children take the same
route as those in Scotland when trick-or-treating;
they must compete with each other in order to earn
the treat. Much like the North Americans, the
British carve their pumpkins into all sorts of
shapes and characters.
The typical British Halloween dishes take the shape
of potions and mystical spells. An example is the
"Witch's elixir," made with fruit juices from
apples, oranges, grapes and berries. The children
love "Halloween worms," made with egg noodles and
"Witch's fingers," or chicken fingers. "Eye-balls"
are scoops of chocolate and vanilla ice cream shaped
like eyeballs. They also eat skeleton-shaped cookies
and pumpkin bread.
At one time, English children made "punkies" out of
large beetroots, upon which they carved a design of
their choice. Then, they would carry their "punkies"
through the streets while singing the "Punkie Night
Song" as they knocked on doors and asked for money.
In some rural areas, turnip lanterns were placed on
gateposts to protect homes from the spirits who
roamed on Halloween night. Another custom was to
toss objects such as stones, vegetables and nuts
into a bonfire to frighten away the spirits. These
symbolic sacrifices were also employed as
fortune-telling tools. If a pebble thrown into the
flames at night was no longer visible in the
morning, then it was believed that the person who
tossed the pebble would not survive another year. If
nuts tossed into the blaze by young lovers then
exploded, it signified a quarrelsome marriage.
For the most part however, the English ceased
celebrating Halloween with the spread of Martin
Luther's Protestant Reformation. Since followers of
the new religion did not believe in Saints, they saw
no reason to celebrate the Eve of All Saints' Day.
However, in recent years, the American "trick or
treating" custom, together with the donning of
costumes for going door-to-door, has become a
relatively popular pastime among English children at
Halloween, although many of the adults (particularly
the older generations) have little idea as to why
they are being asked for sweets and are usually
ill-prepared to accommodate their small and hopeful
callers.
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