Are you ready for Tricks and Treats? In today’s blog there will be links to Starblood related games you can play. But what about traditional Halloween games? Why do we dunk for apples and dress up as monsters to celebrate the season? Many of these worldwide traditions originated here in Scotland.
Pumpkin Carving
Did you know that it started out as turnip carving, here in Scotland? Faces would be carved into them to scare of the ghouls and goblins who might otherwise come calling.
Bobbing for Apples
The Celts practised this in Scotland, and the local name is Apple Dookin’. As most varieties of apples are autumnal fruit it makes sense to play this game as part of their Samhain celebrations. However the tradition didn’t originate in Scotland. It was brought to Britain with the Romans who merged their pantheistic celebrations with those of the Celts and also introduced the apple tree to this country, which they worshipped as a representation of the goddess of plenty, Pomona. Girls who placed the apple they bobbed under their pillow were said to dream of their future lovers.
Guising
Likely to be the origin of Treat or Treating, Scottish children would dress as malicious spirits and recite songs and poems. The rewarded gifts were said to ward of evil, and while in disguise the children could safely blend with wandering spirits and avoid harm.
One game that hasn’t yet gone international was Kale Pulling
People would pull stalks of the vegetable from the ground while keeping their eyes shut. The length and shape of the stalk was said to represent the height and figure of their future romantic partners, and the amount of soil clinging to the roots represented wealth. Robert Burns included this Scottish tradition in his poem Halloween.
“Then, first an' foremost, thro' the kail, Their stocks maun a' be sought ance; They steek their een, and grape an' wale For muckle anes, an' straught anes. Poor hav'rel Will fell aff the drift, An' wandered thro' the bow-kail, An' pou't for want o' better shift A runt was like a sow-tail Sae bow't that night. Then, straught or crooked, yird or nane, They roar an' cry a' throu'ther; The vera wee-things, toddlin, rin, Wi' stocks out owre their shouther: An' gif the custock's sweet or sour, Wi' joctelegs they taste them; Syne coziely, aboon the door, Wi' cannie care, they've plac'd them To lie that night.”
The first of today’s games is a text-adventure based on Starblood -
And the second allows you to discover which Starblood character is most like you:-
And the third game is a word search. How many of the nine hidden words can you find?
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