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HALLOWEEN
MYTHS AND FROLICS
By Henry Frederic Reddall
Every one knows that All-Hallow Eve, or
Halloween, falls on the last day of October, and that the day
following, the first of November, is set apart in honor of saints
and martyrs by the Western Churches—whence comes its name, All
Saints' Day.
This feast was kept in the Greek Church
as early as the fourth century, though it did not become common in
the West till the beginning of the seventh century.
The setting apart of one day sacred to
the memory of these saintly departed ones arose from the fact that
the number of saints multiplied as the Church grew and prospered,
and it was found too burdensome to devote a feast-day to each.
Indeed, so great was the number of the canonized, that there were
"scarce hours enough in the year to distribute among them all." So
it was decided to commemorate on one special day those who had no
particular days of their own. In the English Church the day is
sometimes called All-Hallowmas. But it is the eve of the festival
that we write about.
In the seventh century the Pantheon, the
Roman temple dedicated to all the pagan gods, was consecrated to the
worship of the Virgin and the Martyrs. The new festival was held at
first on May 11th in each year, but later it was shifted to Nov.
1st.
Halloween was thereby made to fall on
the same day as did an ancient festival among the Druids, those
strange priests of a stranger religion who were scattered over many portions of northern Europe before Christianity became its creed.
They had many strange ceremonies. For instance: three times in each
year -- on May 1st at the time of sowing; at the June 21st summer
solstice for the ripening of the crops; and on October 31st at the
harvest season -- these priests built fires on the hill-tops in
Britain, Ireland, and in France, in honor of the sun-god.
At the latter festival the Druids, for
miles round, gathered in snow-white robes at the altar of stones on
some hill. Here rested an emblem of the luminary they worshiped,
and on the altar was the sacred fire which bad been carefully kept
alive during the past year. The Druids grouped themselves around it,
and at a given signal quenched it, amid absolute silence on the part
of the assembled people.
Then a new fire was kindled on the
cairn, a mound of stones, as the multitude raised a mighty shout,
and from every eminence for miles around other fires blazed into
view. The same night the fire was put out in every cabin and
farmhouse, only to be rekindled with embers from the sacred fire of
the priests, which was believed to protect each homestead from peril
as long as it remained burning.
In those days faith in the existence of
fairies and goblins, witches and sprites, was very strong, and as
the Druidic faith faded before the advance of Christianity the
heathen festivals lost much of their old grandeur and former
significance, and took on a lower character. So, on the night of
October 31st, the simple country-folk believed that the fairies came
out of their grottos while witches and goblins gathered in forest
glades, or plotted against mankind in the shadows of ruinous castles
and keeps.
By a very natural transition the
Halloween fire came to be looked on as a charm against these
sprites. As a result, late as the seventeenth century, it was
customary for farmers to make the circuit of their fields with a
lighted torch in hand, to protect them from harm during the year,
chanting or singing a doggerel rhyme the while.
Because these unseen magic powers were
deemed to be so near at this season, Halloween was thought to be the
night of all nights on which to pry into the secrets of the future,
and thus arose all those simple ceremonies by which it was claimed
that one's fate might be learned. Of course, no sensible person now
believes that by cracking nuts, ducking one's head in a tub of water
for apples, dropping melted lead in a goblet, pulling kale, or
eating an apple before a mirror, anything supernatural or ghostly
will be seen or heard; but the pleasant fireside revelries survive,
though they have lost their superstitious significance.
In England, Scotland, America, and even
in far-off Australia — wherever, in fact, the Saxon tongue is spoken
— these Halloween festivities are kept up by young and old. But it
is in the two first-named countries that Halloween frolics are seen
at their best. Great bonfires are still kindled in many places,
around which the villagers join hands in a merry dance. Then, as the
flames subside into a pile of glowing embers, the real fun begins.
The first ceremony in Scotland consists
in "pulling the kale." Kale is a sort of cabbage. Lads and lasses go
out in couples, hand in hand, with eyes shut, and pull the first
head of kale they touch. The fact of its being crooked or straight,
large or small, is said to be emblematic of the height and figure of
the coming husband or wife. If any earth clings to the roots, that
means money; while the sweet or bitter taste of the heart of the
kale denotes the disposition of the prospective life-partner.
BURNING NUTS
Burning nuts is another equally famous
charm. Two hazelnuts are placed in the fire, having been previously
named for the particular lad and lass about to try their fortune.
Accordingly as they burn quietly side by side, or crack and sputter
and break apart, will be the result of the wooing. Says Burns:
The auld gudewife's weel hoarded
nits
Are round and round divided,
And monie lads' and lasses' fates
Are there that night decided.
Some kindle, couthie, side by side,
And burn thegither trimly;
Some start awa' with saucy pride,
And jump out-owre the chimlie.
In England the following charm is
frequently tried: Three dishes are taken; one is empty; one is
filled with clear water; and the third with dirty water. A boy is
blindfolded and led to the hearth where the dishes are set in a row.
Then he dips the left hand in one of the dishes — if in the dish
with clean water his wife will be a maid, if in the dish with the
foul water she will be a widow, if in the empty dish he will remain
''a horrid old bachelor." The trial should be made three times,
meanwhile the dishes should be shifted about.
In the country districts of Scotland
much faith is reposed in this formula: Go to a south-running stream,
and dip your sleeve in it at a spot where the lands of three lands
come together. Then go home, hang the wet garment before the fire,
and go to bed in full view of it. Keep awake, and sometime near
midnight you will be rewarded by seeing an apparition, bearing an
exact likeness to the future husband or wife, come and turn the
sleeve "as if to dry the other side of it."
Doubtless many an American girl of
English or Scotch ancestry has heard of, or tried, the
"looking-glass spell." The curious one must go, candle in hand, to a
mirror, eat an apple while standing before it, and in due time the
face of her destined husband will be seen reflected in the glass
across her shoulder.
There is a mirth-provoking game played
in England on Halloween — perhaps in America too. A hoop from a
flour-barrel is taken, and around it is fastened alternately at
regular intervals apples, cakes, candies, and candle-ends. The hoop
is then suspended from the ceiling and set to revolving. The players
gather in a circle round it, and each in turn tries to bite one of
the edibles. The boy or girl who is so unfortunate as to seize one
of the candles pays forfeit.
In England and in America, Halloween
frolics are nowadays mere harmless sports. Although in Scotland they
still retain a more or less superstitious character, it is clear
that, in being repeated from year to year as simple holiday
merrymakings, the mysteries of Halloween have arrived at their final
stage; and perhaps, as more years have flown they will perchance be
forgotten.
Written by Henry
Frederic Reddale.
Published in the “Christian Advocate” in 1884.
Edited by Rebecca Haug |
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