Halloween night used to be a night full of tricks and divining a future mate. It is a shame that most kids these days have never heard of these little bits of magic even though they are perfect for small Halloween parties.
A Night’s Fun
It Is The Night Of Fate
Halloween is a relic of the roistering days of Paganism. But just when the exact established observance commenced it is impossible to say. It is known the ancient Druids performed certain rites on what is now known as Hallowmas Eve. We are told that on this night fires were lit deep in remote forests, upon the hilltops and great plains and mystic rites performed. It was the belief that on this night the powers of darkness held a sort of annual mustering within the domain of mortals, and that therefore care must be taken that the living were not brought under the evil influence. Within more recent times the superstition has more or less died out, giving way to the much more pleasant nut-cracking, apple ducking, etc.
It has nothing to do with the church observance of the following day of All Saints, and there is nothing in All Saints to have originated such extraordinary and absurd tricks as have from ancient times attached themselves to this evening.
If you look into folk lore and fairy lore you will find that, in the days when princes and princesses were changed into wild beasts, the evening of Oct. 31 was an important one, for it was then for one brief night they were permitted to assume their natural form.
Halloween is a delightful combination of mystery and mirth; the night most eagerly anticipated of the whole year among children. Small boys go nutting weeks beforehand, to gather their harvest for this occasion, and in the north of England Halloween is still known as nut cracking night. In Scotland Halloween is a great holiday, and Burns in his poem on Halloween refers to its love making properties thus:
The auld gudewife’s weel hoordit nits
Are round and round divided,
And mony lads’ and lasses’ fates
Are there that night decided.
Some kindle couthie side by side,
And burn together trimly;
Some start awa’ wi’ saucy pride
And jump out over the chimly,
Fu’ high that night.
Halloween, as we know it, is confined to tricks, all of which have for their denouement the discovery of one’s own true love, of the unravelment of a love affair. Notwithstanding the fact that Halloween is the night of true love, it is not considered a propitious thing to receive a proposal on this night. If your lover proposes on Halloween, let him bind you by tying a blue ribbon on your wedding ring finger. It is well in dressing for the evening to have somewhere about your person the requisite bit of ribbon, lest, if you should receive a proposal and accept it, the ribbon might be lacking, the spell would be broken, and your lover would surely leave you within a twelvemonth.
The Apple Trick
A favorite Halloween divination is the apple trick. You suspend an apple in the doorway so that it hangs five feet above the floor, and as many persons as pass under it, so many months will elapse before you marry. This trick should not be told to the rest of the family or they may attempt to thwart you by dodging under the apple. If the tenth person hit the apple you will marry ten months from this date, or next August.
Shake Hands
If on Halloween you shake hands with a very blond man you will have a proposal before the bells shall have rung in the new year of ’98. If, on the other hand, you shake hands with a very dark man, you will not have a proposal within a year. If with a medium man, you will receive one next June.
Midnight
You must by no means retire before midnight on Halloween, but must be awake to listen for the sound of bells from the church steeples. There will always be a midnight toll of bells, and it is these that hold your fate. If they reach your ears in bold, distinct notes you may get ready your wedding trousseau; but if they come to you dull and faint, you must pass your while in patience for another year.
Halloween is the night for deciding if you have two lovers and are not clear in your mind just which you prefer. Think of both just before you go to sleep, you will dream of the one that you should marry.
Cellar At Midnight
The nerviest Halloween test is the best. It is to descend into the cellar at midnight, just as the bells are tolling. In one hand you carry a candle, in the other a looking glass. On the way down the shadows throw their fantastic shapes into the glass to scare you, but you must walk on and on until you shall have reached the cellar bottom. You grope your way on to the furthest corner, and there you stand looking into the depths of the glass. A shape will creep over it until it lies there before you distinctly. This is the face of your future husband. A little imagination is needed to bring out the features, but of course imagination is in keeping with Halloween.
Bonfire
If you have an outdoor place there is an excellent test. On one side of the house build a bonfire so as to make the blackness more intense. Take a ball of cord in your hand and tie the end of the string around your finger. Throw the ball as far as you can. Now wind the cord around your finger, chanting in a solemn tune:
“Slowly I wind, I wind,
My true love to find.”
Before you have finished and drawn the ball to you, with its slow creeping, you will see your true love in the fire. Either it will die down, leaving his face in the embers, or its shadows will show him to you.
Apple Games
The apple games are many. The apple seed trick of sticking an apple seed on each eye lid is ever new and true. Name each seed, and the seed that sticks longest will stick to you through life.
Source: The Herald. Newspaper. October 31, 1897.
