Another custom that we're familiar with today is bobbing for apples. The story goes that when the Celts were absorbed by the Roman Empire, one of the many rituals they inherited was the worship of Pomona, goddess of the harvest, and apples were the sacred fruit of the goddess. In ancient times, Irish children used to carve out potatoes or turnips and light them for their Halloween gatherings. He wandered the world endlessly looking for a place to rest, his only warmth a glittering candle in a rotten potato. Scottish children hollow out and carve large turnips and put candles in them.
Irish children use turnips or potatoes.
In parts of England they use large beets. As for costumes, from earliest times people wore masks when droughts or other disasters struck. They believed that the demons who had brought their misfortune upon them would become frightened off by the hideous masks if they ventured outside. We welcome your feedback. All rights reserved.