Omaha daily bee., 1888-10-28
TRADITIONS OF HALLOWEEN.
A History oikCurious Spells and
Love Charms.
MATRIMONIAL FATEs FoRETOLD.
Customs OF thf Mystic Nisht-Quota.
ions From the oct Gay and
Other Administrations
ing into the Future.
'Hahlow'een.

All boys and girls know that next
Wednesday, Oct. 81, will be All Hallow
Eve, though most of them corrupt its
name to Holly Eve They know it is
a night of mirth and mystery specially
devoted to mischief, fun, nominations, |
divinations, charms and spells. but very
few Of them understand its real signifi-
canoe, or can tell whence it derives its |
name.
1t is many centuries since the church, |
finding it impossible, from the great
and constantly increasing multitude of
the saints. to set apart "a separate day
for each one, deereed that Nov. l should
thenceforth be kept as a day in honor
of all the saints and that it should be
known as All Hollow Mass or All Saints
Day, and that the night of Oct. 81, i'm
mediately preceding it, should there
after be kept as a vigil and be known as
All Hallow Eve, these occasions being
still observed in the Catholic, Episcopal
and Lutheran churches. ''.'.
From its first o%rigination Hallow Eve
has been invested with q peculiarly
mystic character. AS there is nothing
in the church celebration of the ensu-
1IlS uiN VI All calhlS W luSUllN llOSC
singular ideas and customs associated
with Hallow Eve, and as none of them
are of a religious character, we nay
Justly regard them as relics of pagan
times.
In the north of Europe in all ages
and countries Hallow Eve has been
deemed the occasion par excellence for
divining the answer to that momentous
question, which absorbs so large a share
of the thoughts of romantic young men
and maidens-who is to marry whom?
| The means employed to gain this much
desired information are as quaint and
curious as they are numerous and
varied. For this purpose every time
and every country has had its wv
charms and spells peculiar to itself, and
they have furnished an almost mex
haustible theme to folk poets and COM
| pliers of folklore.
Those of Scotland have been most
graphically described by that greatest
of all poets OF the people, Robert
Burns. In his poem of Halloween"
he has given usa most vivid account OF
more than half a score of hallow eve
charms and spells peculiar to the
Scottish peasantry.
In a veryold book called "Ye True
Arte to Reade the Future" | find the
following: 'If a maid would know We
name of We man She is to marry let her
on All Hallow Even, steal out to a lime
kiln and throw aclue of blue yarn, still
holding to we other end. Presently We
end in We kiln will be sharply pulled.
Then We maid must say who hOld?'
Whereupon We voice of her future hus-
band will pronounce his name-both We
christian and yesir name." The only
obstacle to the successful performance
Of this spell ID 1.-The, difficulty of finding
an old lime kiln,
Water, nuts apd apples bear a promi-
men part in the spells and charms of
Hallow Eve. A quaint old book of
charms, published in Edinburg in 1890:
entitled "Old Father Times Bundle Of
Faggots Newly Bound Up" declares
that an infallible means of getting a
view of yOar future husband and wife is
to go to bed on Hallow Eve with a glass
of water, in which a small silver of
wood has been placed, standing on
a table by your bedside. In the night
you will dream of falling from a bridge
into a river and of being rescued by
your future wife or husband, whom you
will see as distinctly as though viewed
with waking eyes. This charm is thus
alluded to by the English poet Gay:
Last hallow eve / longed my love To see,
And tried a spell to call her up to me.
| With wood and water standing by my side
l dreamed a dream and saw my own sweet
bride.
In a folklore book called eye Mys-
teries Of we Wytchecraft, " which is the
Oldest in my collection, there is given a
| charm by which a maid may know if
We man she loves be true" To perform
| this the maid is directed to pluck at
midnight on all hallow eve two monthly
roses with long stems, naming one for
| herself and the other for her lover. She
must then go directly to her sleeping
room without speaking to anyone, and
kneeling beside her bed, must Irvine the
stems of the two roses together and
then repeat the following lines, mean
while gazing intently upon the rose
named for her lover:
Irvine, Irvine and intertwine.
Let my love be wholly mine.
| If his love be kind and true,
Deeper grow his roses hue.
If her swain be faithful, the color OF
the rose representing him will grow
darker and more intense.
OF all the halloweve spells and
charms associated with nuts, one
| of the oldest is that which pre-
walls in some of E%ngland's northern
counties, and which is to the effect that
IL a young man or woman will go at
| midnight on Hallow Eve to a walnut
tree II walk around it three times,
crying out each time LET him Tor her)
that is to be my true love bring me some
walnuts," the future wife or husband
will be seen in the tree gathering its
fruit. The poet Gay thus refers, in his
"PastOrals," to this custom: .
"I.ast Hallow Eve / sought a walnut tree
IL hopes that my true loves face might
see. IN tN,
Three times Iicalled, three times l walked
apace, Il n
Then in the tree saw my true loves
face" Co
A very old .Hallow Eve d%ivination,
formerly much practiced by English
rustics to tell from what quarter OF the
compass the future husband or wife will
come, is performed by stealing out UNI
observed at midnight. nluckinG a small
lock of hair from e head and casting
it to the bredzeu Whatever direction it
is blown towardIis believed to be the
location of the future matrimonial part
ner. This diVinhtion is also mentioned
by Gay in his ''Pastorals' as follows:
81 pluck this lock of hair from ont my
head,
To tell whence comes the one that / shall
wed,
Fly, siiken hair, fly all the world around