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    Blow for Scottish Conservatives as MSP quits party in protest at ‘reactionary politics’

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    SNP Government ‘failing stroke patients’ as average treatment waiting time over two hours

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    MSP demands Donald Trump pay up to cover costs of policing for Scottish visit

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    Scots selling counterfeit goods less likely to face prosecution as conviction rate plummets

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    Librarian cuts at Glasgow schools will ‘rob kids of opportunities’ as SNP Government urged to intervene

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    Nicola Sturgeon agrees to TV special as ex-SNP leader to be grilled on ‘striking revelations’ in new book

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    Donald Trump diary reveals exact time he will arrive in Scotland

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        MSP Colin Smyth denies hiding secret camera in Scottish Parliament toilet

        MSP Colin Smyth denies hiding secret camera in Scottish Parliament toilet

        Labour MP blasts ‘coked-up yobbery’ of far right protestors as she hits out at ‘disaster’ of asylum hotels

        Labour MP blasts ‘coked-up yobbery’ of far right protestors as she hits out at ‘disaster’ of asylum hotels

        Blow for Scottish Conservatives as MSP quits party in protest at ‘reactionary politics’

        Blow for Scottish Conservatives as MSP quits party in protest at ‘reactionary politics’

        SNP Government ‘failing stroke patients’ as average treatment waiting time over two hours

        SNP Government ‘failing stroke patients’ as average treatment waiting time over two hours

        MSP demands Donald Trump pay up to cover costs of policing for Scottish visit

        MSP demands Donald Trump pay up to cover costs of policing for Scottish visit

        Glasgow domestic waste sent to Spain as part of SNP council recycling drive

        Glasgow domestic waste sent to Spain as part of SNP council recycling drive

        Scots selling counterfeit goods less likely to face prosecution as conviction rate plummets

        Scots selling counterfeit goods less likely to face prosecution as conviction rate plummets

        Librarian cuts at Glasgow schools will ‘rob kids of opportunities’ as SNP Government urged to intervene

        Librarian cuts at Glasgow schools will ‘rob kids of opportunities’ as SNP Government urged to intervene

        Nicola Sturgeon agrees to TV special as ex-SNP leader to be grilled on ‘striking revelations’ in new book

        Nicola Sturgeon agrees to TV special as ex-SNP leader to be grilled on ‘striking revelations’ in new book

        Donald Trump diary reveals exact time he will arrive in Scotland

        Donald Trump diary reveals exact time he will arrive in Scotland

        Scots ‘forced to wait years’ for hernia operations as NHS struggles to meet demand

        Scots ‘forced to wait years’ for hernia operations as NHS struggles to meet demand

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        System must work to protect public as report finds chances missed with Southport killer

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          What is a virtual office and why you need one in Central London – Your Company Formations Ltd

          Inflation rises again to new 40-year high

          Inflation rises again to new 40-year high

          Bank of England hikes interest rates to 1.25%

          Bank of England hikes interest rates to 1.25%

          Hiring activity in Scotland slows amid steep decline in staff availability

          Hiring activity in Scotland slows amid steep decline in staff availability

          Scottish retail footfall growth ‘worst in UK compared to pre-pandemic’

          Scottish retail footfall growth ‘worst in UK compared to pre-pandemic’

        • Sports
          Kieron Bowie touted for Rangers transfer if key hurdle can be cleared

          Kieron Bowie touted for Rangers transfer if key hurdle can be cleared

          Raging Fabrizio Romano fires back at fan for branding him a ‘fraud’

          Raging Fabrizio Romano fires back at fan for branding him a ‘fraud’

          Scotland’s plunging coefficient faces threat from Sweden as Champions League abyss awaits

          Scotland’s plunging coefficient faces threat from Sweden as Champions League abyss awaits

          Rangers brutally mocked by Belgian big mouth as rebuilding Brugge told UCL rivals aren’t ‘serious’

          Rangers brutally mocked by Belgian big mouth as rebuilding Brugge told UCL rivals aren’t ‘serious’

          Jamie Vardy handed Celtic transfer pitch as two deals reach endgame

          Jamie Vardy handed Celtic transfer pitch as two deals reach endgame

          Etienne Youte breaks cover as Celtic issued Jakob Breum red flag before key transfer deadline

          Etienne Youte breaks cover as Celtic issued Jakob Breum red flag before key transfer deadline

          Lyall Cameron slammed for ‘disrespect’ as Rangers new boy comes under fire for Dundee ‘jibes’

          Lyall Cameron slammed for ‘disrespect’ as Rangers new boy comes under fire for Dundee ‘jibes’

          Celtic risk blowing £1.6m transfer windfall as defensive duo head out on loan – Parkhead news bulletin

          Celtic risk blowing £1.6m transfer windfall as defensive duo head out on loan – Parkhead news bulletin

          Prince William’s firm five-word statement to Chloe Kelly about Euros goal uncovered by lip reader

          Prince William’s firm five-word statement to Chloe Kelly about Euros goal uncovered by lip reader

          Kieran Tierney genius exposes ‘sloppy’ Ajax as Celtic earn rival acclaim despite Como Cup hammering

          Kieran Tierney genius exposes ‘sloppy’ Ajax as Celtic earn rival acclaim despite Como Cup hammering

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          Andrej Bacanin makes Celtic transfer intentions clear amid Rangers claim as direct link with Lennon Miller emerges

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          Rangers strongest XI for Panathinaikos as Thelo Aasgaard injury blow opens door for Euro history-maker

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            Shoppers leave Sky for ‘easy to use’ TV recorder that lets you watch telly for free

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            Google Pixel 10 pre-orders go live with up to £700 off from Sky, O2, Amazon and EE

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            Tech fans say ‘brilliant fit’ £18 noise cancelling earbuds work ‘as well as Apple Airpods’

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            Boots protein powder shoppers say ‘takes away cravings and cuts bloating’

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            Changing the way you walk could help knee arthritis and delay surgery

            Nicotine pouches packaged like kid’s sweets sold in Glasgow shop

            Nicotine pouches packaged like kid’s sweets sold in Glasgow shop

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            Tesco recalls popular beauty and skincare product over nasty infection risk

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            DWP urges people in their 60s to check State Pension age before changes start next year

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            ‘Attractive’ £100 fire pit that’s ideal for long summer nights drops to £44

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          Halloween foods from history reveal the holiday’s surprising romantic side – and you can try them yourself

          by BP Author
          October 28, 2023
          in World
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          Think about Halloween, and romance is unlikely to be the first thing that comes to mind. But Victorian periodicals and newspapers show that alongside dressing in costumes, enjoying themed cuisine and telling ghost stories, historical Halloween food traditions were often centred on love. Here are three examples you can try for yourself.

          Halloween nuts

          An article published in the London magazine Kind Words for Boys and Girls in 1889 describes the autumnal traditions that marked this time of year throughout history. One particularly popular snack they point to is hazelnuts and cobnuts, which were in plentiful supply in the autumn.

          Two children collecting nuts

          Have Some Nuts by George Smith (1829-1901).
          Brighton & Hove Museums

          Rather than being part of a snack or game, however, the author notes that they were the “arbiters of fate” – a fate that was romantic. Those curious about the future of their love-life would place a nut on the grate of a brightly burning fire, and name it after their sweetheart. The status of their romance was divined through the way the nut burned. A short story published in Every Boy’s Magazine in 1896 also refers to this tradition.

          In the story, the narrator describes a Halloween visit to Scotland. Having read Robert Burns’s poem, Halloween, the narrator describes being at a gathering where sweethearts “burnt nuts and watched their fate with anxious hearts”. Should the nuts remain on the grate and roast peacefully side by side, the chances of harmonious love were good. If the nuts darted off and sparked out the fire erratically, the relationship was doomed.

          Roasting nuts and bobbing for apples are depicted in this story as traditions that “had died out in England”, but were “preserved in full vigour in Ireland and Scotland”. These Celtic associations with Halloween traditions are emphasised in another article.

          Halloween kale

          In 1879 in a children’s magazine called Little Wide-Awake, the Scottish author George Cupples (1822-1891) wrote an entry on October traditions called Talks About the Months. Alongside the nuts and apples which Cupples writes are “consumed in immense numbers” across the United Kingdom, he describes other peculiar ceremonies including another type of food: kale.

          cabbages wearing bow ties on a halloween postcard

          A Victorian Halloween postcard.
          William H. Hannon Library

          As with the romantic cobnuts, this kale is not for eating – at least in the first instance – and its significance is again tied to love.

          “In some places there is the pulling of ‘kale-storks’, or stalks of calewort”, writes Cupples, “to see if one’s future husband is to be tall or straight, little or crooked”. The root of the kale apparently represented the stature of one’s future spouse. Not only that, but the amount of dirt that clung to the stalk indicated the wealth of a future partner, and “if the pith tastes sweet it shows that the husband or wife of the lucky individual is to be sweet also”.

          The Halloween party games Cupples describes are similarly centred on love. The Three Dishes game consisted of three basins: one filled with clean water, one with dirty water and one left empty. A blindfolded player is sent forward to dip their fingers into one and decide their romantic fate.

          If they touch the clean water, a happy marriage to a young man or maiden awaits. If they chance upon the foul water, they are set to marry a widow or widower and if they choose the empty dish “the person is destined to be a bachelor or an old maid”.

          Soul cakes

          These activities may have been followed with “souling” on All Soul’s Day, November 2. Souling, a longstanding tradition with links to Christianity rather than paganism, is comparable to trick-or-treating in that it involved going from door-to-door to beg for “soul cakes”.

          Apple bobbing with a black cat.

          A Victorian Halloween postcard.
          Flickr/New York Public Library

          These are oaten cakes, sometimes containing seeds, fruits, or nuts, as well as spices, and were either round or triangular in shape. A recipe for soul cakes from a 1604 manuscript recipe book reads as follows:

          Take flower & sugar & nutmeg & cloves & mace & sweet butter & sack & a little ale barme, beat your spice, & put in your butter & your sack, cold, then work it well all together, & make it in little cakes, & so bake them, if you will you may put in some saffron into them and fruit.

          When “souling”, these cakes would be handed out as people sung a rhyme: “Soul, soul, for a soul-cake; Pray you, good mistress, a soul cake.”

          Food was therefore tied into multiple Halloween traditions that often had love trouble at their core, leaning into the idea that spirits could shed light on mysteries, including future romance. But what also shines through, is that 19th-century authors frequently associated Halloween with other, distant, time periods.

          Whether traditions were framed as the simple, “rough” ways of countryside or Celtic folks, tied to outdated religious practices, or simply viewed as folkloric fun, Victorian authors repeatedly described the celebration of Halloween in terms that evoked a darker, spookier, more unknowable past.


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