Celebrations - Scottish style

My first Halloween in the Glasgow house and I had no idea what to expect.  Last year we were in a proper flat, but now that we have the main door in a semi-attached house, I had to be prepared.  I had gotten out to Costco and had my sweets ready (nobody says candy here), but didn't know if I had enough or too much.  Isn't that always the issue for Halloween!?!?  I was excited to see how this was all going to go.        

Lights blazing and blow up skeleton at the ready!

The 'guisers' started showing up. It's guising here, not trick or treating.  I love that!

I had about 6 groups of kids, and it really only went from 5:30-7:00pm.  I started to worry that I was low on candy at 7pm, yet as the time went on, shockingly, no more kids showed up.  Such a change from the couple of hundred kids in GR that I am used to, but I found it quite fun.    

This is the local botanic gardens all set up for a nighttime light show.  

I love Halloween and it has been so fun to experience it in Scotland properly.  I'll be even better prepared next year.      

But time stands still for no one, so we were on to our next celebration.....

"Remember remember the 5th of November."  I kept hearing that from everyone around me, yet it is tough to remember when you didn't know about it in the first place.  But.... I was soon to learn.  It started with a dear friend asking us to come over for dinner, dessert and fireworks.  Well that is a quick YES!  "What time should we be there?" 

It seems that this is called bonfire night, or Guy Fawkes night, and there are loads of fireworks.  Here in Glasgow, you can have fireworks going anytime you want.  It's quite funny, compared to GR where it is highly regulated (yet never followed) to when you can shoot them off.  But no matter, we were up for the celebration.  

Here is the reason for it all.  I'm hoping this link works, because I've read it and still can't explain it well.  But it seems to be a Catholic vs. Protestant thing.  Ugggg, can't we just all get along?  Live and let live?    Religion should be one of the last places to start such wars, but that is just my opinion.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night

Anyway, we had a lovely dinner, with waffles for dessert, complete with every topping imaginable.  We then corralled other neighbors and headed out to the back garden for our own display of celebrations.  It was great fun!  

Rafe the sparkler wielding, spiderman destroyer.

Not great photos, sorry, but you get the idea! 

The party is never complete without sparklers.  

Levi and Hugo, the fire-starters.

Hugo and Levi the sparker fencers.

All complete with spooky vibes filling the air.  

It was such great fun with friends!  As we walked home, my friend Aine mentioned how it was a magical night.  The weather was perfect and almost warm, people were out enjoying each others company, the botanics were lit up with music floating out.  It really was a magical night, and what else would you want really?  

Happy Fall,

The contented Cairns