Halloween conjures up images of witches, ghosts, and fortune telling. In folk belief, Halloween is also the best time to see into your future. Newspapers long ago would publish old and new fortune telling methods, such as in the article below from 1897.
Halloween
Take a Peep at the Future Tonight
“Auld Nature swears the lovely dears
Her noblest work she classes, O;
Her ‘prentice han’ she tried on man,
And then she made the lasses, O!”
This is the verse the young woman who would see her future husband must repeat the night of October 31st. That is the date of All Halloween, which embraces the period of darkness in which the mystery of future events is supposed to be wholly swept away from mortal eyes and the mortal tenement of man is alleged to be released from the thralldom of Mother Earth and given the power of locomotion, till the hour for the first streak of dawn arrives.
In the old days it was openly believed that the pixies, the leering gnomes and the Titanias of every kingdom of fairyland came out from retirement and devoted their best energies to reversing the ordinary way in which the world goes. To be sure, it was the eve of the festival of All Saints, which comes on November 1, and popular superstition has it that one of the things that brought this passion for mad pranks to the “little people” was that they all had to be pinks of propriety on All Saints’ day.
To mortals, All Halloween possesses astonishing significance, providing they accept in good faith the tales that have come down to us from our ancestors. This year of grace, 1897, young folk with the kind of permission of good Dame Fashion, are going to celebrate the festival in a manner that takes us back hundreds of years and inspires the thought that possibly there is a Renaissance in store for us.
That charming belief concerning womanhood quoted at the beginning of this article is the verse par excellence this year. But there are circumstances which accompany it, and to bring about the desired results, these circumstances must always be the same. While repeating the verse, the young woman must walk backwards down the cellar stairs of the house, if she has one, and of the flat building in which she lives, if it so happens. Her hair must be loosened and hang at length down her back. She must wear no shoes, because squeaky shoes and mysteries never should go together.
Stairs, Candle, And Mirror
Arriving at the foot of the stairs the young woman with a future instead of a past must turn carefully about twice, take ten steps, look carefully over her right shoulder, and then, holding the candle which she must of course carry in her hand, look directly into a glass, which, during some hour of the previous day, should have been hung on the cellar wall at a designated point. If fate has a marriage in store for her, when she looks of the reflection of her own face, that of the man who is to be all in all to her. This experience should take place as close to the hour of midnight as possible, for mysteries are partial to that hour, and on such an occasion it is always well to consult their wishes.
Ducking For Apples
There are other tests of the powers of interpretation of the future which are supposed to descend on us all on such occasions. One of them is shown in the accompanying illustration by the young person who is in the act of what is called “ducking for apples.” This is accomplished by filling a pan not less than three and a half inches deep with water, placing therein two apples, and then forcing the person who seeks to solve the mystery to close his eyes, open his mouth, and then endeavor to pick the apple from the bottom of the pan with his teeth.
Not so easy as it sounds, by any means. If the reader doubts this fact, let him put his face downward with open mouth into any water and see what happens. The art of this accomplishment lies in being able to pick the apple up three times in succession within five minutes. This done, the person who does it will dream of their future wife or husband when once they go to bed. Sometimes, and always long ago, a tub was used to contain the water instead of a pan, but modern custom has substitutes the latter for the former.
Hair Burning
Another opportunity which the young woman may seize to learn how long it will be before she is to be married is found in the burning of a hair. Take a hair from the back of the head. Light a match and let the hair take fire. If it burns an inch and then the fire dies out, marriage will come within a year. After that a year should be counted for every half inch which the flame destroys. This is said to be absolutely positive, and if the experiment ever proved unsuccessful there is no record of it.
Fortune Telling For Young Men
The young man also has his opportunities. He is not so ready to yield to superstitious fancies as his Dulcinea. The chance that will be given him this year lies in a dark room which he must enter alone and, standing directly before a looking glass placed therein, repeat this verse:
“To see her is to love her,
And love but her forever;
For nature made her what she is,
And never made another.”
When the door is opened leading from the room after this verse has been repeated, if the young man’s hopes have been realized, he will see outlined upon the looking glass a series of numbers, each number indicating the position in the alphabet of the letter of his future wife’s name. If he can remember these numbers, he can figure the whole story out of the alphabet.
Lead Dropping
Then there is the lead dropping, which involves more reading of history. For this it is necessary that at least six people should be together. An ordinary lump of lead is taken and melted. Then each person present dips a spoonful from the molten mass and drops it into a basin of water, where it, of course, instantly cools. When all have done this, and each piece of lead is in the possession of the person who dropped it, the gift of prophesy suddenly descends upon some member of the gathering and the fates, speaking through him or her, declare what the future is to be.
Chestnuts
Chestnuts have their part in Halloween and in a perfectly legitimate fashion. Two persons, always a man and a woman, select one chestnut each. These two chestnuts are placed upon the coals. If they gently roast together that is symbolical of the life that is before those who placed them there, but if they sputter and fly apart, then the lines of the lives of the two people are sure to lie apart.
And so it goes. For ways that are odd and tricks that are perhaps vain, All Halloween, like the heathen Chinee, is peculiar. And the same we are free to maintain.
Source: The Herald. Newspaper. October 31, 1897.
