The modern celebration of Halloween in Scotland comes from the Celtic or pagan festival of Samhain. Samhain means summer's end and Halloween was also the start of the new year in the Celtic calendar. The point of Samhain was to chase evil spirits from peoples houses and lands. Like many other holidays on the Christian calendar, the holiday was co-opted from the pagan celebration by the Church. Pope Gregory III moved All-Saints Day from May to November 1st because many pagans were unwilling to stop celebrating Samhain. All-Saints Day became known as All Hallows and Samhain became known as All Hallows' Eve or Hallowe'en.
Part of the celebrations of Halloween in Scotland included setting bonfires as a way of providing protection from evil for the coming year. The house fires would be extinguished and fires surrounding the house and land were set. Stones were thrown into the fire by the people present and were retrieved after the fire had gone out, if a person could not find their stone it meant bad luck would befall them. Some historical writings suggest that human sacrifice also played a part in the celebration.
The Halloween celebrations were slightly different is different areas of Scotland. In some parts a silver coin would be thrown in the front door on November 1st and left where it lay to ensure good luck for the household. In the Hebrides, they would pour ale into the sea for the marine God,Shony so that he would send them seaweed which they used to fertilize their crops. In other parts of the country, stones were placed in the ashes of the bonfires and if a stone moved or broke it meant the person would die before the next Halloween.
The traditional ways of celebrating Halloween have mostly gone by the wayside. Lit lanterns or hollowed out pumpkins remain; not as much to scare away evil spirits as to provide decoration. Dressing up in costumes is called "guising" in Scotland. Most of the costumes are scary ones; which is similar to when pagans would wear masks or paint their faces with scary visages to scare away the evil spirits. Children in Scotland are usually expected to perform in order to get a treat; showing up in costume is not enough.
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