Devilment Night an Orkney Halloween

 We are already at the end of October with only a couple of days left till Halloween and in some ways I am saddened that we are not having a party, perhaps next year as I think it would be fun to dress up and decorate the cottage all scary :)

But what about other folks on the islands ?

Well best not to stay out too late on what they like to call up here 'Devilment Night' !!

A couple of years ago mum and I travelled back late from a Samhain gathering from the other end of the island. Thinking we had managed to avoid the worst of the evenings tricksters we had almost arrived back, only a couple of miles away, but as we turned onto the last back road there it was......a fence of clingfilm stretched across the road wrapped around the signposts on either side. Yes Devilment night on Orkney is seen by many as a night to indulge in major mischief by both the younguns and adults alike.

Where most tricks are fairly harmless if messy affairs, it is the brave soul who has to venture out early on the morn of November 1^st to go to work, for there is a fair chance there will have been someone who has manoeuvred huge round hay bales into the middle of the road !! There are tales that have almost become urban myths, of the picnic benches found on top of telephone boxes and boats found in very odd places.

A couple of years ago, wheelie bins from all over west mainland had been 're-located' to a farm in Sandwick overnight. Now that would have been a surprise the next morning to whomever came across all of those!!

So for us two this year will be a fairly quiet affair, a small Samhain ritual and a suitable meal for the pair of us, perhaps just relaxing by candlelight or maybe a movie, my favourite Halloween movie is by far Trick 'r Treat   :)

So if you do venture out late this Halloween night and you live out in the wild places, keep your wits about you !!!