Halloween has been celebrated in Scotland since ancient times - it’s a descendant of the Gaelic festival of Samhain that marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter.
During the Samhain celebration, the Celts would light great bonfires and pound on drums to guide visitors from the underworld, while wearing costumes to ward off malevolent spirits.
It’s a tradition that’s now been brought back by the annual Samhuinn Fire Festival on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s in Scotland things looked a little different - there weren’t any pumpkins so children risked their fingers by carving out the tough flesh of turnips to fashion Halloween lanterns.
And there was no ‘trick or treating’, with youngsters heading out in fancy dress to guise - hoping to earn a few shillings by performing on neighbour’s doorsteps.
Here are 21 pictures to take you back to those days.
Make sure you don't miss a moment of breaking news from across Scotland by signing up to our free newsletter here.
14. 2025_10_22_10_06_47_493_ELM_0000000001D000901E4.JPG
Tweedie Memorial Boys Club hold their Halloween party at the West Port, 1956. Boys dooking for apples. | Johnston Press Resell
15. 2025_10_22_10_06_42_498_ELM_0000000001D0002F3EB.JPG
Guisers in Edinburgh - children count the money they made from guising in 1951. | Johnston Press Resell
16. Fancy dress optional
A Halloween party held by Hutchinson Moat and Chesser Community Association in St Cuthberts School Hall in 1964.