Its that time of year
Pumpkins carved
Homes decorated with spooky figures
Halloween costume parties
Children trick or treating
Bags of candy being handed out
My earliest memories of Halloween are very different
As a child growing up in northern England
There was no trick or treat back then
No constumes
We did not even call it Halloween
It was duck apple night
A large tub filled with water
Apples floating on the surface
We would kneel over the tub, hands behind our back
Trying to capture an apple with our teeth
It was an evening of family fun and we all got soaked
Duck apple or apple bobbing can be traced back to the the Roman invasion of Britain in 55BC
The Romans merged their religious celebrations with Celtic Britain
The apple tree, which was a Roman symbol of plenty (Pomona) was introduced in to Britain
The apple floating in water was used to see if an unmarried person was due to be married
The first person to bite in to the apple would be the next person to be married
Girls who ‘bobbed’ i.e bit in to a floating apple, would place the bitten apple under their pillow to dream of their future lover
Cheeky Monkey Poetry 