What we see nowadays in the UK as "Hallowe'en" is childish nonsense invented and commercialised by American supermarkets.
It prostitutes the old English (and I think German?) church [i]All Hallows,[/i] which is an event of remembrance, and a Scots children's tradition called "Guising" or similar ("disguising"?) which did involve carved turnips.
"Neeps", not pumpkins. That fruit is also an American import and results in the November countryside being dotted with fields of unsold pumpkins wasted and rotting away.
It has nothing whatever to do with so-called "witches", slandering bats and spiders, "trick or treat" extortion games and such-like twaddle!
[ So-called "Mother's Day" and its artificial "xxxx's Days are also US commercial inventions, with Mother's Day ignorantly highjacking the church tradition that blesses the Mother Church of a parish, not the relative. ]
