Hello lovely,
Halloween doesn’t need to have an enormous plastic skeleton climbing up the side of your house. Although, if you have one, I’m not judging.
Personally, I like the older version. Applies piled into bowls, nuts scattered across the table, candlelight, homemade cake and a carved turnip with an expression suggesting it has seen things.
Some of the old Halloween traditions recorded in Britain and Ireland are wonderfully weird. There were disguises, games, seasonal food, lanterns and an awful lot of trying to figure out who your soulmate was.
And many of these are really easy to bring into your modern Halloween celebrations.
The important thing is not to squash hundreds of years into one neat little origin story. Halloween developed over time through a mixture of Christian observance, regional folklore, seasonal customs and later social traditions. Practices differed between England, Scotland and Ireland, and they changed considerably over time. English Heritage, for example, connects Halloween with All Hallows’ Even and the Christian observance of All Saints’ and All Souls’, while museums in Scotland and Ireland preserve customs associated with Samhain and the traditional beginnings of winter.
So, rather than trying to recreate one supposedly “authentic” old-school Halloween, I think it’s much more interesting to borrow traditions we can actually document.
Carve a turnip lantern
I’m starting with the turnip because Halloween deserves more turnips. I mean, have you seen them. Creepy.
Long before pumpkins became the Halloween vegetable of choice, people were carving lanterns from all sorts of root vegetables.
English Heritage notes turnips and mangelwurzel lanterns in nineteenth century England. The National Museum of Ireland also has a fascinating example connected with Fintown in County Donegal. The museum’s plaster model was based on a turnip lantern collected in 1943, which the donor said represented the type traditionally made in the area around 1900.
Candles were placed inside and the carved faces could then be used to frighten people on Halloween night. And they are genuinely creepy.
Pumpkins are round, cheerful things even when you give them angry eyebrows. A hollowed out turnip somehow manages to look ancient, shrivelled and absolutely furious.
For a vintage style Halloween, why not carve a couple and put them on a windowsill or by the door. I’d use an LED candle now though. Historical atmosphere is lovely (and on this occasion a bit spooky), but setting your house on fire is considerably less so.
Bake soul cakes
If you’re going to pop the oven on this Halloween, soul cakes are much more interesting than a cupcake covered in orange icing.
Soul cakes were connected with the medieval Christian observance of All Saints’ Day on the 2nd of November.
English heritage tells us that poorer members of communities in England would go “souling”, visiting wealthier neighbours and asking for charity. They could be given small oat based cakes in return for praying for the souls of the household’s deceased relatives and friends. One soul cake eaten would translate to one soul saved from Purgatory.
Written evidence for soul cakes dates back to around 1400, and even that account seems to describe the custom as something already established. The practice continued much later in parts of England, including Cheshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire.
Later versions would include ingredients such as currants, raisins and warming spices.
Which means they work really well on a cold October evening.
Serve them with tea, coffee, hot chocolate or whatever else you’re putting in your autumn mug.
Put apples back at the centre of Halloween
It turns out that our ancestors could get an impressive amount of entertainment out of an apple.
The National Museum of Ireland records fruit and nuts as part of traditional Halloween feasting and games. Apple bobbing and apples suspended from strings were among the games played.
You could bring back apple bobbing, although one communal bucket of face water might not be the party activity everyone wants to revive.
Apples on strings are much easier.
Hang individual apples from lengths of string attached above people’s heads. The goal is to try to take a bite without using your hands.
It might sound easy, but it definitely isn’t.
Try the apple peel fortune
This is where Halloween is wonderfully whimsical.
By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, fortune telling games were a familiar part of Halloween celebrations, particularly in North America. Many of these drew on much older customs involving seasonal foods such as apples and nuts.
Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History describes an early twentieth century game in which a young woman peeled an apple and threw the peel over her shoulder. The shape it made on the floor was supposed to resemble the initial of her future husband.
Chestnuts could also be named after potential sweethearts before being placed near a fire to see how they behaved.
The V&A also documents Halloween fortune telling using apples and nuts, noting that by the twentieth century many such divination practices had become party games, often centred around love and marriage.
I rather like the apple peel version because you need virtually nothing to try it.
Peel an apple in one long strip. Throw it over your shoulder. Turn around and spend the next five minutes insisting a vague squiggle looks like an M.
Very scientific.
Have a go at Guising
Dressing up at Halloween isn’t particularly new either.
The National Museum of Ireland records guisers, people wearing masks or costumes, going from house to house at Halloween. Guising also has a strong history in Scotland. Historic Environment Scotland includes disguising, turnip lanterns and bonfires among recorded Scottish Halloween traditions.
For a vintage Halloween party, I wouldn’t worry about recreating a particular historical costume. Use the ideas instead.
Old fashioned witches, ghosts, black cats, vampires and strange characters inspired by vintage Halloween illustrations all work well. And you can probably put most of them together from clothes you already own.
Make Báirín Breac part of the table
If you’re looking toward Irish Halloween traditions, báirín breac deserves a place at the table.
The National Museum of Ireland records báirín breac as a traditional Halloween food. A ring could also be baked inside, with the person finding it supposedly being the next to marry.
Other objects were also included too, each of them carrying a prediction about the recipient’s future.
Be careful though, make sure you warn people if you decide to bake a selection of small metal objects into a cake and ensure they are items that aren’t going to poison anyone…
If you don’t want to add choking hazards to your báirín breac, here’s a modern alternative.
Serve a barmbrack and put folded paper fortunes under everyone’s plate. You’ll keep the playful fortune telling idea without anyone discovering a thimble with their molars.
Hold an old fashioned Halloween house party
If you’re ideal Halloween night involves not going anywhere, you have plenty of historical precedent for staying home.
Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has explored the popularity of domestic Halloween parties in the early twentieth century United States. Gatherings took place in parlours, kitchens and dining rooms, with decorations, games, fortune telling and socialising forming much of the entertainment.
This is an American example rather than a British Halloween tradition, but it’s brilliant inspiration for anyone after an early twentieth century feel.
Dim the overhead lights, put out some lamps and safe candles, serve something warm and try one of the old fortune telling games.
You don’t need to organise entertainment for every single part of the evening either.
People are quite good at talking to each other when given food and playing games.
Add a vintage ghost story
This one is more for atmosphere rather than a specific Halloween tradition.
Britain has an enormous tradition of supernatural literature. The British Library’s collections include eighteenth and nineteenth century Gothic fiction, Victorian penny dreadful’s and classic ghost stories, including works by writers such as Elizabeth Gaskell, Wilkie Collins and M. R. James.
Pick one short story and read it aloud after dinner. Yes, somebody will probably make a joke when you suggest this. Ignore them. Turn down the lights and they’ll soon get into it!
Alternatively, look up a piece of folklore from your own country. Local legends tend to be much more interesting when everyone knows the road, house, village or area being discussed.
Remember the other side of Halloween
Older autumnal traditions weren’t entirely about games and frightening people with vegetables.
All Souls’ Day, observed on 2nd November, centred on prayers and remembrance for the dead. English Heritage describes it as an important observation in medieval Europe, including England, and explains the relationship between remembering the dead, souling and soul cakes.
Irish traditions recorded by the National Museum of Ireland likewise connect this time of year with remembrance of people who had died.
You don’t have to reproduce a religious practice that isn’t your own though. But personally, I do like the idea of leaving a little space for remembering those we care about who are no longer with us.
Why not put an old family photograph somewhere among the decorations. Light a candle to remember them and tell a story about someone who’s no longer here.
It doesn’t have to make the evening sombre, in fact, I think it’s quite the opposite to remember good times with those that we love.
Final Thoughts
The thing I like most about these older Halloween traditions is how little stuff they require.
An apple can become a game, a turnip becomes genuinely alarming and a cake can carry your fortune. Of course, there is plenty of room for pumpkins, sweets and horror films too. I’m certainly keeping those.
But mixing in a few traditions with a bit of history behind them makes Halloween feel more personal, and maybe even a bit more fun.
I’ll take a wonky turnip over some plastic spiders any day.
Until next time, stay delightful darling.
Do you follow me? Stay connected with my Facebook page, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest to bring a little delightful into your day.