Halloween will be very different this year with parties and trick or treating off the cards. In this week's exclusive HELLO! column, Lorraine Kelly reminisces on her childhood days celebrating Halloween in Glasgow, and how she'll be marking the day this year - with a little help from her reluctant pet dog Angus! Read her column below...
I'm sad not to be buying the usual supermarket trolley load of sweeties, apples and Halloween pumpkins and turnips this year.
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Normally I would decorate our little garden path with spooky lights and candles and wait for the local children to pop round dressed up as witches, ghosts or Disney characters. I love seeing their costumes and giving them "treats" but of course it's all changed this year.
WATCH: How cute is Lorraine Kelly's pet dog Angus?
To be safe, I reckon it's best just to cancel the celebrations and make it even bigger and better next year when hopefully things will be back to normal.
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When I was a child growing up in Glasgow, Halloween was a really big deal. We didn't have the Americanised "Trick Or Treat" and instead we called it "guising", which means going round to people's houses dressed up in costumes. It goes all the way back to the sixteenth century when October 31st was the night to ward off ghosts!
Angus getting into the Halloween spirit
Our parents would carve us a lantern out of a turnip (a neep) and we'd dress up as something that was easy and inexpensive. No one ever bought their costumes, we just improvised. I went out one year when I was about six wearing my brother's striped pyjamas, a home made eye patch and a moustache drawn on with my mum's black eyeliner.
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Angus doesn't look too happy about dressing up!
We'd go round all the doors in the street and ask to be let in to tell a joke, sing a song or do a magic trick. Then we were given sweets, sometimes homemade cakes, or an apple. We'd get a few pennies or even a silver sixpence if we were really lucky. It was great fun and because everyone knew each other, it was also completely safe.
It's a shame we will miss out this year, but to get into the Halloween spirit I have dressed Angus up, although I don't think he looks too happy about it.
