The Scottish town celebrating Halloween six days early - and here's why

Known as ‘Killieween’, the residents of Kilmarnock celebrate Halloween on the final Friday of October, regardless of the date.

This year those celebrations fall on October 25 - almost a full week before Halloween is marked across the rest of Scotland.

Theories about this little known tradition range from the Gaelic festival of Samhain to witches being burned or the clocks going back on the Sunday. However, it is not known exactly why ‘Killieween’ exists.

The main suggested reason relates back to the town's industrial past. The final Friday of the month was when payday fell, meaning this was when the majority of the residents would have money to spend on the celebrations.

Historian Frank Beattie has lived in Kilmarnock since 1952.

He told the BBC: “Kilmarnock was an industrial town and men were paid on a Friday. Children knew that there was a better chance of getting something special on a Friday than on any other day of the week."

Mr Beattie recalled what Halloween was like when he was a child, saying expensive decorations and even pumpkins were unheard of.

“When I was growing up in the late 1950s, early 1960s, it was not highly commercialised,” he said.

"We used tumshies [turnips] for lanterns and we had to earn a treat by telling a joke, singing a song or reciting a poem.”

Another townsperson told The Scotsman: "It’s [the reason for the celebrations] never really been pinned down, but it is the day all the major employers paid their staff. Children clocked that dad came home with more money on a Friday even during the 1960s and ‘70s when industry went in decline.

"It was accepted most children would go out on the Friday knowing they would get a better treat. In England, it wasn't such a big thing until more American ideas came through on national television.

"I looked at old records and papers to try to pin it down, but I couldn't find anything. I'm happy that the origin seems to be the massive employment and Friday is just when the workmen got paid."

Events to feature in Kilmarnock this year are Killieween’s Sinister Circus - a circus-themed trail - and an extravaganza, including live music, food and games, at the Kilmarnock Fire Station.

Kilmarnock resident Necole Connell, 29, said: “I always figured that everywhere celebrated Halloween on the same day as us because to me it makes so much sense that we celebrate it on a Friday night.

"Who wants to go trick or treating through the week then go to school the next day?

“Killieween, for me growing up, was your school disco on the Thursday night then dressing up for school on the Friday and trick or treating on the Friday night with all your friends.

"By October 31, there's no pumpkins, no costumes left in the stop, everything is done."