FOR centuries it has been at the core of all good Halloween parties.
But dooking for apples has been watered down after claims it is unhygienic.
Pupils at schools across Scotland celebrated Halloween with parties last week, but many did so without getting so much as their fringes wet.
Many primary heads have n
ow banned the ancient game – consigning it to the same 'nanny state' bin as conkers, ice-sliding and photographs at nativity plays. Instead, an increasing number of children are told to prong apples with forks.
"Some of the headteachers have decided – because it's right for their school – that they will dook for apples with forks," a spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council, the country's biggest education provider, said yesterday. "Some of the schools are saying they have taken that decision for hygiene reasons."
Experts, however, insisted dooking was perfectly safe. Bacteriologist Hugh Pennington dismissed the notion of any real danger. "It is sort of unhygienic, but no more unhygienic than breathing air," the retired Aberdeen University professor said. "Dooking for apples on my scale of risk is so low that the fun you get from it far outweighs any possible risks."
Glasgow and other councils yesterday said they had never banned dooking (or, for that matter, conkers or ice-sliding). Instead, officials said some schools have decided against the game.
But purists are furious. Jock Ferguson, an actor whose firm Herald Events runs traditional Halloween parties, last night despaired that any schoolchild should miss out on a tradition for hygiene reasons. "The Scots are a hardy race," he said. "We have more than enough antibodies to put our faces in dooking watter."
One of the schools to turn its back on traditional dooking is Knightswood Primary in Glasgow. Headteacher Janet Hutchison yesterday insisted bobbing with forks was fun too. "There is quite a lot of skilled involved and you don't get half as wet."
Ken Cunningham, the former head of Glasgow's Hillhead High and chief executive of Schools Leaders Scotland, believes teachers will often have practical reasons for not allowing dooking.
