The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-11-08
Witches Night.

From the earliest times men have been
trying to look ahead. The ancient Egyp-
tlans had Oraclcs where their gods were
supposed to answer the questions of men
ny dreams and other ways; the ancient
Greeks also had famous oraclcs, which poo-
pie came from far-oif lands to consult the
Romans killed certain fowls or animals, and
guessed at the future by the looks of their
internal organs the Hebrews and the 3a-
bylonians had their own peculiar ways of
finding out what was to happen. The
world has not outgrown the longing to look
ahead. The Hindu to-day sets II lamp
aloat on his sacred river, and judges of the
future by the length of time it burns ; the
Chinaman consults his "wse men," who
pretend to understand signs; the ignorant
African takes notice of the cries of birds
and animals; the English-not long ago
tried to learn by help Of what they called
witches; !" and Spiritualists, even now be-
lievc the predictions of q "medium."
No serious attempt to look into the flu
ture has been made for a long time by in
tclligcnt people, and the old customs have
become a frolicsamc trying of ''charms,"
especially on one night Of the year. 1t is
curious enough that the night selected is the
eve of the festival of All Saints, which was
established in the seventh century by Pope
OF Rome, in honor of all the saints VINO had
no particular day assigned to them. The
Romans brought this festival to England
there it became All Hallows, and the even
ing before it, Hallow-cvcn or Halloween.
and that was the night sacred to charms
and games. In the seventeenth century,
England gave up the night to feasting and
frolicking. Nuts and apples were plenty
from one end of the island to the other.
and "Nut-crack Night" was tho name given
to it. r
In England, the rcvels were for fun, such
as diving for apples floating in tub of wa
ter, and, of course, getting very wet or
trying TO snatch IN the teeth an apple on
one end Of stick which had lighted CAN
die at the other end, and, being hung by
string, could be spun around very last, so
that the players often seized the candle IN
stead of the fruit; or a playful fortune-tell-
ing Dy naming nuts, roasting them before
the fire and watching their conduct when
heated--whethcr they burned steadily or
bounced away, or burst with noise, each
movement Of the charmed nut being of
great Importance.
One nut test was tried by grinding and ,
mixing together walnut, hazle nut and
nutmeg, making into pills. with butter ard
sugar, and swallowing them on going to
bed Wonderful dreams would follow,
which was not surprising. r ~
In superstitious Scotland, the night was
given entirely to serious and sometimes
frlghtful attempts to peer into the future
DY means OF charms. One way of trying
fortune was to throw ball of blue yarn out
OF window and wind 1t again from the
other end Near the last something would
hold 1t fast, when the windcr must ask,
"Who holds 2" the answer w,uld name one
who was to have Importance in the q.les-
tiOncr's future. alsriisf 'I.a. i
Another Scotch custom was "pulling
kale-scalks. A young person went blind
folded into the garden, pulled UP the first
kalc or cabbage stalk he touched and car
ric,i it into the house. The whole future
was read from that stalk the size indi-
Gated the stature of the future partner i'm
life; the quantity of Garth at the roots
showed the amount Of his, or her fortune
the taste Of the pith told what the temper
would be {; and when the stalk was placed
over the door, tho first name of the person
entering was the fated name al3
The island of Lcwes on the coast of Scot
land, had some curious customs. Young
women made ''dumb cake" and baked It
before the fire with certain ceremonies and
IN perfect silence, expecting to SEQ VOL
ders; and the people also sacrificed to
sca-god called Shong, throwing cup Of
ale into the sea and calling on him to give
them plenty of sea-weed to enrich their
grounds. s.
In another Scotch trial, a girl would 90
into q barn holding q whnowed sieve, and