You're probably familiar with the Halloween tradition of "Trick or Treating".
But here in Scotland, we call it "Guising".
Children make costumes, cut eyeholes from bedsheets, paint their faces or wear masks to conceal their identity. On October 31st, they'll go around neighbourhoods knocking on house front doors, to tell jokes or sing songs, all in the hope for a handful of sweets.
"In Scotland, trick-or-treating is known as guising, a custom that traces back to a time when children were disguised as spirits to blend in with those active on Samhain night. When guising, children receive gifts to ward off evil in exchange for a story or song."
- Lyndsey Croal via X
Guising has always stuck with me. It's a fun way to become someone or indeed, something else entirely.
Wearing glasses is a bit like that.
They’re your own everyday mask. A persona that people recognise you by that becomes part of your everyday character.
Throughout history, facial coverings been used as disguise, uniform and costume. Listed below are some of the most fascinating examples.
1. Masquerade & Carnival – The Venetian Mask
Venice’s famous bauta mask, with its blank expression and glassy eyeholes, concealed gender and class. Behind it, anyone could dance, flirt, or gossip without fear of recognition. The mask created freedom — a disguise sanctioned by society.
2. Theatre & Stage – The Greek Tragedy Mask
Greek actors wore oversized masks with cut-out eyes that projected emotion to the crowd while hiding the actor’s true face. Centuries later, Japanese Noh masks worked in the same way: once the eyes are framed, the self disappears, replaced by character or spirit.
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3. Sunglasses as Concealment – Smoked Quartz Lenses
In 12th-century China, court judges wore smoked quartz lenses during trials. They were known as Ai Tai (meaning "dark clouds") These weren't to improve vision, but to conceal their expressions and remain impartial during court hearings, interrogations or legal proceedings. Fast-forward to the 20th century, and Jackie Kennedy’s oversized sunglasses did the same thing — shielding her private self from public scrutiny.
4. Spies & Detectives – The Trench Coat and Dark Glasses
Cinema gave us the spy archetype: hat brim low, collar turned up, sunglasses hiding the eyes. From Hitchcock thrillers to Cold War dramas to James Bond, dark glasses became shorthand for secrecy and hidden agendas. Slip them on, and you instantly vanish into character.
5. The Clark Kent Effect – Superman’s Glasses
The simplest disguise in pop culture. Swap a cape for heavy-rimmed specs and Superman becomes Clark Kent. Ordinary, mild, unassuming. It’s a comic cliché, but it works because glasses genuinely shape how others perceive us — softening features, signalling intellect, or creating distance.
6. Uniforms & Professions – The Aviator
Invented in the 1930s for US military pilots, Ray-Ban Aviators shielded eyes at high altitude. Their teardrop lenses soon became synonymous with confidence and authority. Today they’re still worn by police forces and pilots — eyewear as both functional uniform and instant symbol.
7. Cultural Icons – John Lennon's Granny Glasses
Some people turn glasses into their signature costume. John Lennon’s round wire rims became the emblem of 1960s counterculture. Elton John’s glittering, rhinestone-encrusted specs turned eyewear into theatre. Anna Wintour’s black sunglasses are now as recognisable as her haircut.
Lesson? The glasses maketh the person.
8. Ritual & Religion – The Tribal Mask
Across West Africa, carved wooden masks with bold, staring eyes are used in ceremonies to represent ancestors, spirits, or animals. Decorated with shells, beads or pigments, they allow the wearer to shed their own identity and take on another presence.
In many cultures, covering the eyes has had the same purpose: to conceal the human and reveal the symbolic. From African rituals to Japanese Noh theatre, masking the eyes transforms the wearer into something larger than themselves.
9. Everyday Persona – Your Own Frames
For most of us, glasses are less dramatic but no less powerful. They’re how people picture us. A bold square frame can feel assertive whilst round rims can have a certain quintessential intellect about them. Swap your frames and you shift your identity. That’s the everyday magic of eyewear.
The history of guising
In Scotland and Ireland, Halloween has long been marked by "guising". The word itself comes from “disguise” — the idea of masking who you are. Traditionally, children (and sometimes adults) would dress up, knock on doors, and offer something in return for a gift. A song, a joke, a poem or a short performance was the price of admission before sweets or coins were handed over.
The roots of guising run deep. The practice can be traced back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhuinn, the point in the year when the boundary between the living and spirit worlds was thought to be at its thinnest. People wore masks and costumes to protect themselves, blending in with whatever might be roaming that night. To disguise yourself was to stay safe.
As the centuries passed, guising shifted from ritual to entertainment. The protective mask became a playful costume, and the performance a chance for children to earn food, money or later, the modern handful of sweets.
It’s often compared to American trick-or-treating, but with one key difference: guising traditionally demanded effort. 'Guisers' had to give something — a recitation, a tune, a dance — before receiving their reward.
To this day, guising remains a distinctly Scottish take on Halloween. It’s a reminder that costumes aren’t only about hiding — they’re about transformation, performance and tradition.
Other Celtic names for Guising include 'Skekling' (Shetland) and 'Souling' (England).
Short personal story
When I was young, I couldn't really go "guising" like the other kids.
You see, I grew up rurally with no neighbours.
Just farms.
But one Halloween, my sister and I decided to dress up as ghosts because we wanted to go out knocking on doors for sweets - just like we'd hear about at school.
So, being the legend she was, our Mum shoved us both outside into the freezing dark night, both wearing our ghost outfits holding little empty bags. She told us to "wait five minutes, come back and knock the front door. Maybe you'll get some sweets?!"
I'd never felt so much excitement.
Solid parenting.
Thanks for reading. I hope you found it all interesting.
Jamie, co-founder x