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Happy New Year, or whatever...
31 Oct 2009 07:24 pmAh - another Hop-tu-Naa. Lots of small visitors; less singing, more costumes every year - changing from how it was when I was a child.
Hop-tu-Naa - 'this is the night' - from the same root as Hogmanay; the celebration of the changing of the year. But here it stayed on its traditional date, whereas in Scotland it moved to the new New Year - so we think of Hop-tu-Naa as Halloween these days rather than the end of the old year.
I think it was colder when I was a child - my friends and I wrapped up in our duffle coats, scarves, and gloves to take our turnip lanterns from house to house; singing traditional rhymes and being rewarded with small change. Now the children wear much thinner costumes, but don't expect money - they've learnt from their American counterparts to expect sweets - suits me!
Pumpkins seem sensible to me, too - I used to have awful blisters from hollowing out turnips ('swedes' in the south, I think, and possibly rutabagas in the USA). When D-d was little we did a turnip for the first two or three years for her, but then went over to pumpkins with the belief that change is often for the better...!
We used to take our money to Mrs Ball's sweet shop and buy all sorts of our favourites with our 'earnings' - but always marshmallows, which we toasted, sometimes on the fire, but often over the flame of the gas stove, until they began to burn - the flicker of sugar-flames meant they were ready to eat, mouth-burning hot, from the fork or skewer!
Mum used to tie apples on strings from the clothes airer up at the kitchen ceiling - better than ducking in a bowl of water, although we tried that sometimes too. And the 'throw the apple peel over your shoulder' game too. Always looked as if we would marry men with names beginning with 'C'...!! Probably a reasonable assumption on an island where about half the traditional surnames begin with that letter. Could well have been a J or a P there, I suppose...
A few years ago, when D-d was about 9 or 10, we had a Hop-tu-Naa party for her and her friends, for after their singing tour of the neighbours, complete with apples on strings, spooky cookies, and a 'witches brew' - blood red with bloodshot eyeballs floating in it... (Lychees stuffed with maraschino cherries.)
She was thinking of recreating an alcoholic version for her house-mates for this year!
Hop-tu-Naa - 'this is the night' - from the same root as Hogmanay; the celebration of the changing of the year. But here it stayed on its traditional date, whereas in Scotland it moved to the new New Year - so we think of Hop-tu-Naa as Halloween these days rather than the end of the old year.
I think it was colder when I was a child - my friends and I wrapped up in our duffle coats, scarves, and gloves to take our turnip lanterns from house to house; singing traditional rhymes and being rewarded with small change. Now the children wear much thinner costumes, but don't expect money - they've learnt from their American counterparts to expect sweets - suits me!
Pumpkins seem sensible to me, too - I used to have awful blisters from hollowing out turnips ('swedes' in the south, I think, and possibly rutabagas in the USA). When D-d was little we did a turnip for the first two or three years for her, but then went over to pumpkins with the belief that change is often for the better...!
We used to take our money to Mrs Ball's sweet shop and buy all sorts of our favourites with our 'earnings' - but always marshmallows, which we toasted, sometimes on the fire, but often over the flame of the gas stove, until they began to burn - the flicker of sugar-flames meant they were ready to eat, mouth-burning hot, from the fork or skewer!
Mum used to tie apples on strings from the clothes airer up at the kitchen ceiling - better than ducking in a bowl of water, although we tried that sometimes too. And the 'throw the apple peel over your shoulder' game too. Always looked as if we would marry men with names beginning with 'C'...!! Probably a reasonable assumption on an island where about half the traditional surnames begin with that letter. Could well have been a J or a P there, I suppose...
A few years ago, when D-d was about 9 or 10, we had a Hop-tu-Naa party for her and her friends, for after their singing tour of the neighbours, complete with apples on strings, spooky cookies, and a 'witches brew' - blood red with bloodshot eyeballs floating in it... (Lychees stuffed with maraschino cherries.)
She was thinking of recreating an alcoholic version for her house-mates for this year!
