Halloween is just days away and before you stock up on pumpkins; you need to watch this video which debunks the Americanisation of what is actually a Scottish holiday.
Watch the video below.
Halloween started off as a festival called ‘Samhain’, meaning summer’s end, and was celebrated by the Celts on November 1. It was believed that on this day, the veil between the dead and the living was at its thinnest.
Halloween grew in popularity in areas with Celtic heritage like Scotland where there was a romance attached to the many eerie stories of the holiday.
It was eventually exported to the United States by Irish and Scottish immigrants.
Trick-and-treating and carrying lanterns are seen as very American celebrations but they can be traced back to Scotland, specifically the poem ‘Halloween’ by Scottish poet Robert Burns.
