Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-11-17
ALL.HALLOW EVE MYTHS.

AS the world grows old and wise it
ceases to believe in many of its super
stitions. But, although they are no
longer believed in. the customs con-
nected with them do not always die out;
they often linger on through centuries,
and, from having once been serious re-
lieious rites, or something real in the
life of people, they become at last mere
children's plays or empty usages. often
most zealously enjoyed by those who
do not understand their meaning.
Still other customs have been parts
of a heather religion, and when that
religion was supplanted by Christianity.
the people held on to the old customs,
although they had lost their first sig
nificance.
For instance. when a party of boys
wind dies down, some one SAYS:
"Whistle for the wind" A boy whls-
ties, and they all laugh. for it seems q
good joke TO think of raising the wind
by whistle. But it was serious
thing to the sailors of old time, for to
them the whistle was an imitation of
the sound of the winds. and their in
tention in making it was that the gods
might hear, and make the real winds
blow. But better illustration of all
this is our All-hallow Eve festival. Its
history is that of custom which has
passed from the worship of heather
gods into the festivities of the Christian
church, and has sunk at last into mere
sport.
All-hallOw Eve is now, in our coun-
try towns, time of careless frolic, and
of great bontires, which, L hear, are
still kindled on the bill-tops in some
places. We also find these fires in En-
gland, Scotland and Ireland, and from
their history we learn the meaning OF
our celebration. Some of you may
know that the early inhabitants of Great
Britain, Ireland and parts of France
were known as Celts, and that their re-
ligiOn was directed by strange priests
called Druids. Three times in the year.
on the first of May, for the sowing; at
the solstice, June u, for the ripenng
and turn of the year; and on the eve of
November /, for the harvesting, those
Mysterious priests of the Celts. the
Druids, built fires on the hill-tOps in
France, Britain and Ireland, in honor
of the sun. At this last festival the
Druids of all the region gathered in
their white robes around the stone al
tar or cairn on the hilltop. Here
stood an emblem Of the sun, and on the
cairn was the sacred fire, which had
been kept burning through the year.
The Druids formed about the fire. and,
at signal, quenched it, while deep
silence rested on the mountains and
valleys. Then the new fire CLEANED on
the cairn, the people in the valley
raised a joyous shout. and from hilltop
to hilltop other fires answered the sa-
cred flame. On this night, all hearth
fires in the region had been put out.
and thev were rekindled with brands
from the sacred fire, which was be-
lieved to guard the household through
the year.
But the Druids disappeared from
their sacred places, the cairns on the
hill-tops became the monuments of q
dead religion, and. Christianity spread
to the barbarous inhabitants of France
and the British Islands. Yet the peo-
pie still clung to their old customs, and
felt much of the old awe for them. Still
they built their fires on the first of May
at the solstice in June--and on the
eve of November 1st. The church
found that it could not all at once sepa-
rate the people from their old ways, so
it gradually turned these ways to its
own use, and the harvest festival of the
Druids became in the Catholic Calendar
the Eve of All Saints, for that is the
meaning of the name "All-hallow
Eve" In the seventh century, the
Pantheon, the ancient Roman temple of
all the gods, was consecrated anew to
the worship of the Virgin and of all
holy MARTYRS. The festival of the con-
secration was held at first on May 18th,
| but it was afterward changed to No
vember LIST, and thus All Saints Day, as
it is now called, was brought into con-
nection with the Druid festival This
union of holy day of the church with
pagan customs gave new meaning to
| the heather rites in the minds of the
common people, and the fires which
once were built in honor of the sun.
they came to think were kindled to
tighten Christian souls out of purgatory.
At All hailow-tide the church bells OF
England used to ring for all Christian
souls, until Henry VIII. and Elizabeth
forbade the practice.
| But by it's separation from the solemn
| character of the Druid festival, AL
hallow Eve lost much of its ancient
dignity, and became the carnival-night
of the year for wild, grotesquc rites.
AS century after century passed by. it
came to be spoken of as the time when
the magic powers. with which the peas
antry, ali the world over. filed the wastes
and ruins, were supposed to swarm
abroad to help or injure men. 1t was
the time when those first jewellers in
every land, the fairies. were said to
come out from their grots and lurking.
places; and in the darkness of the for.