Apple bobbing
{{short description|A party game where people grab apples with their teeth}}
Apple bobbing, also known as bobbing for apples, is a game often played on Halloween and Bonfire Night. The game is played by filling a tub or a large basin with water and putting apples in the water. Because apples are less dense than water, they will float at the surface. Players (usually children) then try to catch one with their teeth. Use of arms is not allowed, and the hands are often tied behind the back to prevent cheating.
In Scotland, this may be called "dooking"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/7648188.stm Apple dookers make record attempt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120528225717/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/7648188.stm |date=2012-05-28 }}, BBC News, 2 October 2008{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/dook_v1_n1|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: dook v1 n1|access-date=2023-08-02|archive-date=2023-03-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324220152/https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/dook_v1_n1|url-status=live}} (i.e., ducking). In northern England, the game is often called apple ducking or duck-apple. In Ireland and Newfoundland and Labrador, "Snap Apple Night" is a synonym for Halloween.{{cite news |title=Snap Apple Night, or All-Hallow Eve. January 1, 1845 |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/644100 |access-date=19 October 2021 |agency=Metmuseum.org |quote=In October 1832 Daniel Maclise attended a Halloween party in Blarney, Ireland and, the next summer, exhibited a painting at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, titled "Snap Apple Night, or All Hallow Eve." |archive-date=25 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025195305/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/644100 |url-status=live }}[https://books.google.com/books?id=XrVbk3EndTcC&dq=%22Snap+apple%22&pg=PA500 Dictionary of Newfoundland English] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026175545/https://books.google.com/books?id=XrVbk3EndTcC&dq=%22Snap+apple%22&pg=PA500#v=onepage&q=%22Snap%20apple%22&f=false |date=2023-10-26 }}, George Morley Story, W. J. Kirwin, John David Allison, p500, {{ISBN|0-8020-6819-7}} Another variation involves using the mouth to drop a fork from above to 'catch' the apple.{{cite web |title=Halloween in Scotland |url=https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Halloween-in-Scotland/ |access-date=19 October 2022 |publisher=Historic UK |archive-date=17 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017215955/https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Halloween-in-Scotland/ |url-status=live }}
While bobbing for apples is the most common, other times the apples are substituted for nuts (most commonly hazel or chestnut).{{Cite book |last1=Opie |first1=Iona Archibald |url=http://archive.org/details/lorelanguageof00opie |title=The lore and language of schoolchildren |last2=Opie |first2=Peter |date=1987 |publisher=Oxford [Oxfordshire] ; New York : Oxford University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-19-282059-4}}
Apple on a String
File:Christy's Halloween.jpg]]
File:North Texas Agricultural College party with students bobbing for apples (10008564).jpg students bobbing for apples, circa 1930s]]
A common variant of bobbing of apples is the game snap apple or apple on a string, in which apples are hung from the ceiling and contestants jump to take bites - the winner is the contestant that manages to eat their entire apple first. To increase the difficulty, it is common to spin the apples beforehand or shake the cords, often catching contestants who are unaware or too slow in the face.
In Scotland, alongside dooking for apples, treacle scones, smeared in additional treacle, are strung from the ceiling at Halloween.{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/traicle_n1|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: traicle n1|access-date=2023-08-02|archive-date=2023-08-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230802191959/https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/traicle_n1|url-status=live}}{{cite web | url=https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/6-scottish-halloween-traditions#:~:text=3.,covered%20scones%20dangling%20from%20string. | title=6 Scottish Halloween traditions | access-date=2023-08-02 | archive-date=2023-08-02 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230802191959/https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/6-scottish-halloween-traditions#:~:text=3.,covered%20scones%20dangling%20from%20string. | url-status=live }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18831522.recipe-halloween-treacle-scones/|title=Recipe: Halloween treacle scones|date=November 4, 2020|website=HeraldScotland|access-date=August 2, 2023|archive-date=August 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230802191958/https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18831522.recipe-halloween-treacle-scones/|url-status=live}}
History
The tradition of bobbing for apples dates back to the Roman times, when the Roman army merged their own celebrations with traditional Celtic festivals. During an annual celebration, young unmarried people tried to bite into an apple floating in water or hanging from a string on a line;[https://books.google.com/books?id=jk0bvrg-v1UC&dq=%22apple+bobbing%22++-carving&pg=PA77 Halloween] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026175545/https://books.google.com/books?id=jk0bvrg-v1UC&dq=%22apple+bobbing%22++-carving&pg=PA77 |date=2023-10-26 }}, Silver RavenWolf, p77, {{ISBN|1-56718-719-6}}. Retrieved 21 October 2008. the first person to bite into the apple would be the next one to be allowed to marry. Apple bobbing was appropriated in the Irish festival Samhain, with apples serving as a sign of fertility and abundance.{{cite news |title=5 Halloween games to play at home this week |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/relationships/arid-40071011.html |access-date=19 October 2021 |work=Irish Examiner |archive-date=29 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029170835/https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/relationships/arid-40071011.html |url-status=live }}
Both apple bobbing and an apple on a string in 18th-century Ireland are mentioned by Charles Vallancey in his book Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis.{{cite book | title=Collectanea de Rebis Hibernicis | year=1786 | publisher=L. White | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vC82AAAAMAAJ&q=apple | access-date=2023-03-18 | archive-date=2023-10-26 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026175545/https://books.google.com/books?id=vC82AAAAMAAJ&q=apple#v=snippet&q=apple&f=false | url-status=live }}
A maiden who placed the apple she bobbed under her pillow was said to dream of her future sweetheart.{{Cite web|url=http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/what-is-bobbing-for-apples|title="What is bobbing for apples?", History.com|access-date=2014-10-29|archive-date=2014-10-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029061254/http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/what-is-bobbing-for-apples|url-status=live}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Commons category|Apple bobbing}}
{{Halloween|state=expanded}}