In numbers: Halloween in Scotland

This Saturday will see Halloween celebrated in communities across Scotland. We look at some of the detail surrounding the macabre evening ahead.

100,000 pumpkins are expected to be bought by Scots this Halloween.

100,000

The number of pumpkins that Scots are expected to buy this Saturday to make their Halloween lanterns.

£12m

Retail spending for Halloween in the UK in 2001 was just a paltry £12 million compared to £300 million in 2012, demonstrating the holiday’s growth in popularity throughout Scotland and beyond.

1745

The year in which it is believed the term ‘Halloween’ or ‘Hallowe’en was first used in Scotland.

16.47

Giacopazzi's ice cream in Eyemouth have made Halloween themed ice cream on sale at The Clumsy Seagul in Berwick.

The number of seconds it took the current world champion, Stephen Clark, to carve a pumpkin in 2013.

70

The number of people to dook for apples in Peebles in November 2008, setting a then-world record for the most people to simultaneously take part in the custom at one time.

1951

The year the Witchcraft Act of 1735 was repealed, finally making the consumption of pork-filled pastries such as sausage rolls a non-criminal offence. For reasons as yet unexplained, the 1735 legislation made it a crime to eat pastries stuffed with pork, which is why the holiday is often celebrated with pork pastries today.

29

The number of large-scale Halloween events scheduled for Saturday night in Glasgow according to to What’s On Glasgow, including murder mysteries, a roller disco and a lantern walk.

1.2

Scottish retail sales dropped by 1.2 per cent in October 2014 compared to the same timeframe in 2013. Last year’s unseasonably mild Halloween saw an uptake in the number of Halloween costumes purchased in stores and online across the nation.

7

Edinburgh’s world-famous Samhuinn festival begins at 7pm on the ominous evening, with street theatre, acrobatics and dance all occuring in the city’s Grassmarket.

2

Glasgow’s Southern Necropolis, where it is estimated that approximately 50,000 people were buried, has two ghoulish stories to its name. In the 1950s, it was said that a vampire with iron teeth roamed the graveyard, while in more recent times a lady in white has been seen floating through the area at nightfall.