Conference tallis::celt

    In our neck of the woods (Canada, Ottawa Valley, heavily populated with
    people of Irish/Scots decent), the kids would `bob' for apples.  That
    is, hands tied behind their back, then bend over and attempt to nab an
    apple, with their teeth, amongst many floating apples in a large tub of 
    water.
    
    The more adventurous, and slower of wit, would bob for chips (french
    fries to you Americans) in vats of boiling oil.  Many a red face would
    result, with some half-baked. ���
    
    Pat

    
    Pat,
    
    >bob for chips in oil...
    
    All one can say is ye are Stone mad! -) -)
    
    Mick
    
    

    When I was a kid it was called dookin' for apples!
    And we used to make "tumshy" lanterns :>) :>) I can still smell them
    now.
    
    Bill

Stick a few coins into an apple(s) 

Tie the apple on a piece of string and suspend it from whatever
at the kids mouth/nose height.

With their hands behind their back they have to try and take a bite
out of the apple and get the coins.


Sean

    >Also, anyone got a brief story of how halloween came to be
    >celebrated by celts.
    
    To answer my own note, here's some info I got from the internet (posted
    without permission):
    
    
The Desert Shamrock.9-10/94.4 of 5

A Blending of Traditions   THE FOLKLORE OF HALLOWE'EN
  On an autumn night each year,  the fires of Druid priests burned high on
the Irish hillsides while Celtic tribesmen prayed that their sun would not
disappear into the long winter months. Scottish farmers lit torches made of
braided straw and marched 'deosil' (with the sun) around the perimeters of
their land to ward off any witches and demons and to bring fertility to their
crops. In Wales, each member of the family would mark a white rock before
going to bed and they would throw it into the ashes of the fire. If any of
the stones were missing in the morning, then death would surely occur before
the next Hallowe'en. Brittany families placed warm pancakes and cider for the
dead when they rose from their graves to visit their homes. The Celts of Gaul
took cats, placed them into baskets and burned them in sacrificial fires.
   The ancient land of the Celts is a haunted country with memories of a
tragic past and tales of the older Celtic superheros like Fionn Mac Cumhaill
(Fee-unn Mock Cool, or Finn MacCool) and his warrior band. Memories of ghosts
and fairies, especially at Hallowe'en, when the veil between the living and
the dead might be lifted.
   In the Christian calendar, November 2 is All Souls Day, or All Hallows'
Day, ("Hallow" meaning to make holy), or Hollentide. In pagan Ireland it was
the Celtic festival of Samhain (Sow-en, the 'sow' pronounced as in 'now'),
the end of summer when warriors celebrated their victories by feasting and
drinking, and by burning their captives as sacrifices to the Gods. Samhain
marked the start of the season that belonged to evil spirits. The time when
nights grew longer and darkness fell early.
   In Christian times the celebrations were transferred to the night of
Hallowe'en. It was also the last night of the old year according to the
ancient calendar of the Celts and has its origins in pagan times.
   Hallowe'en was a period when the dead were said to exact revenge for ills
done to them when they were alive. 
    It was also the time that the fairy mounds opened up, so the Siddhe
("shee") could move around from one mound to another. That was a dangerous
time to be abroad at night, for fear of abduction by the traveling fairies.
In Co. Fermanagh no-one took a short cut on the eve or else the fairies would
lead you astray. 
   Ghosts might also choose Hallowe'en to visit their old homestead, and
candles were lit in the windows to guide them, and food laid out for their
comfort.
   Tradition has it that blackberries are not to be eaten after Hallowe'en
because the devil or puca would have spat on them.  In some parts, Hallowe'en
was known as Puca Night ("pook-ah"), when the great fairy horse galloped
abroad looking for unsuspecting victims to give them a terrifying ride. 
    And did you ever hear about that old witch Biddy Early in Co. Clare.?
 She had a magic blue bottle she looked into, and if it clouded up she could
tell you your fortune.


THE DESERT SHAMROCK

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No Halloween party is complete without a bonefire and fireworks (NI excepted),
and you should encourage the children to loiter around the milkbottles from
which the squibs are launched for that other tradition: burning infants and
screaming sirens. While you have the ambulance on hand, make use of it by
baking spuds: Throw the spud onto the bonfire to cook (wrapped in silver foil
if you like) and ask a child to fetch it from the embers when it's ready.
To add variety to the sirens, you could build the bonfire near to your 
neighbour's shed, which would encourage a visit from the fire-brigade, and
probably the police as well.

Some people actually cook and eat chestnuts at this time of year. While this
is certainly one way of getting the garden cleared, it is much more satisfying
to make conkers: soak the chestnut in vinegar to toughen it, then thread a
piece of string through it. Now you are ready to do battle with similarly
equipped children or their parents. The game is simple. One player holds
his conker up as a target, and the other player swings his conker at the
first player's knuckles. The winner is he whose knuckles break his opponent's
conker.

More food fun at halloween: as well as the aforementioned 'drowning for apples'
you could bake an apple-pie with one silver thruppence in it (you may have to 
improvise here). When the pie is shared out, one lucky diner will win the coin, 
bringing good luck (a broken tooth means the added bonus of a visit from si�g na 
bhfiacla - toffee-apples also help here). As a variation on the game where you
hang an apple from the cieling on a piece of string and have your children eat it 
while their hands are tied behind their backs, try tying the apple behind their
backs and hanging _them_ from the cieling. Once the children have passed out,
(or away) you could hang your partner (by the feet) from the cieling, with 
instructions to eat _you_.

Young children often come round dressed as fairies or ghosts and asking for a 
small piece of barmbrack and a drink to ensure your good luck for the coming year. 
This is when your cask-strength poit�n or whisky comes in handy. Add cleaning fluid 
for the older ones. Marijuana baked into the barmbrack will heighten the effect
and bring extra luck.

Masks and dressing up are an integral part of halloween: they allow your children
to scare the shit out of the old couple three doors down and then blame it on the
neighbours' kids. This is useful if you're already orchestrating a campaign to get 
the neighbours out; but make sure that if the old couple discover your angel's identity
that you remember that recent English custom of throwing a guy on the bonefire (have
two bonefires ready).

    RE -1
    
    You're a sick man.
    

    Bob for apples, carve jack o'lanterns from pumpkins, drink apple cider,
    eat doughnuts, dress in costumes-maybe prizes for costume categories,
    do a pin the tail on the donkey kind of game, only use a skeleton and
    a bone instead of donkey and tail, tell/read ghost stories.

    ...tie two cats together by their tail and fling them over a
    clothesline, soap-up windows (Pears won't do), set your friends face on
    fire and put it out with a fork...
    
    Ah yes, the good auld days.
    
    Pat