"The names of countless American towns are testament to the Scots settlers. The dizzying numbers of American Highland gatherings and Scots surnames bear witness to the influence that the Highland clearances and the mass emigration was to have on America's history...

...The mass exodus from Scotland and Ireland brought waves of new folk to America. They brought their old traditions and beliefs with them.

Among the earliest America Halloween symbols are the Scottish thistle, the kail cabbages, kilted men and tartan patterns. Vintage American Halloween cards depict young ladies bobbing for apples, looking for their future lover's refection in a mirror and reaching out, blindfolded, towards three bowls of water. The very divination rites that Robert Burns had written about a hundred and fifty years earlier became popular Halloween pastimes in the New World.

From across the Atlantic came a wealth of seasonal rites and customs that were to shape the American celebration of Halloween."

Extract from Halloween-Pagan Festival to Trick or Treat (c) Mark Oxbrow 2001 Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. http://www.thehalloweenbook.com

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