Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-01
HALLOWEEN.
One of the Most Cherished of
All Yearly Periods.
A BROOD OF SUPERSTITI0NS.
How the Night Was Observed at Balmoral
Castle---Queen Victoria a Participant.
Description of Halloween F~tivity
Among tho Peasantry OF Ireland.
Difference Between Celt and
Saxon Illustrated.
Special Cores pondence o, the Gazette.

Saxon Illustrated
| Special Correspondence Of the Gazette.
LONDON, Oct. 20.-One often hears it said
that the old customs and traditions are all
forever passing away. Perhaps those who
| feel and say this are themselves merely
! growing away from them, and in manner
passing, through age and shifting condition,
| out of their own former environment.
| Some OF the more ancient customs are
surely becoming obsolete, and with no loss
| to humankind. But there will ever remain
| to the Christian world few of the sweet
| old days OF mirth and merrymaklng, which
| no change or iconoclasm can mar or dispel.
Halloween is one of these. 1t is growing
| upon American people in countryside quar-
| tiers and even in city homes. The contin-
| uous strong. firm and fine incoming OF Eng
| lish, Irish and Scottish folk among those
| who have preceded them long enough to be-
come distinctively American" is gradual
| ly ENGRAVING the beloved olden memories
| upon our new social trunk. Halloween,
next to Christmas-tide, must ever remain
| the most cherished of all recurring yearly
| periods when the mysteries have most
| afluent and the most forgivable, if often
| grotesque, expression, through the Iongings
| and vagaries of the human heart.
Whether its origin was pagan or Chris
| tian, Is OF no consequence. Halloween
would have been invested with just the
| same tender brood of superstitions and
practices if it had fallen upon the eve of
| Easter, ST. Johns day or the Fourth of
| July-if the latter had had the white beard
of age upon it. The hearts Of men and
women, maids and youths, fixed upon
TINE FOR CUPID WORSHIP;
| for the plighting of troths; for the divining
| of what love might have in store. Sacred
| as all other things ever have been or ever
will ta &c. fhn inI of lion of fh..
| sweetest emotions. No more fitting time
| could be for this than the night before All
| Hallows. All Holy or All Saints day; and
| the mellowing of the centuries has cur
| tanned this eve of All Hallows with such
| misty draperies, and set behind them such
| a wealth of innocent memories, that even
| age and austerity, turning to their witch
| ing maze in youthward gaze and longing,
| ever draws them aside with a tender and
| loving hand.
In the remoter districts of England. and
| especially in the ancient villages where
| little change has taken place for centuries,
| the older and more innocent features of
| Halloween are still preserved and enjoyed
| with unbounded zest. In the larger cities
and villages the observance has never been
much above "horSe-play' and rude bur-
| lesque. The Saxon mind is not so retentive
| of sweet old custom and tender supersti-
| ton as is the Celtic. In a large sense it
while ignoring Halloween practices, uni
| versally make mental defense of the Hal
| loween time and spirit, and are affected, in
passive and admissive manner, by its
| hold on them through literature rather
| than through its direct spell upon their
| natures, as with all folk of Celtic origin.
| Therefore while its recognition by the En-
| glish is complete, its observance is tolera-
| tive rather than active.
The queen herself was the chief person
age in marked illustration of this fact in
1876. Halloween was celebrated with un-
usual ceremony at her Balmoral castle, in
Aberdeenshire, Scotland, by the tenantry
and servants of Balmoral and Invergeldie.
There were torchlight process sions, extraor-
binary bonfires and the burning in effigy of
| witches and warlocks. Nearly two hundred
torch bearers assembled at the castle as the
shadows of evening fell. They separated
into two parties, one band proceeding to
Invergeldie, the other remaining at Bal
moral. When the torches were lighted at
o'clock the queen and Princess Beatrice
were driven to Invergeldie. followed by the
Balmoral torch-bearers. Here both parties
united and returned in procession to Bal
moral. A tremendous bonfire was then
lighted, the queens pipers playing the
while. Refreshments, comprising every
dish dear to Halloween memory, were
served to all. when dancing to the strains
of the bagpipes was
BEGUN ON THE GREEoswARD.
When the frolic was at its height there
suddenly appeared from the rear of the
castle a grotesque figure representing a
PENDANTS. All these made every possible
demonstration of terror at sight Of the huge
bonfire. Then followed an ogre of demon
iacal aspect and shape, followed by another
hideous warlock drawing a Car on which
was seated the efigy of witch, surrounded
b,y oil fffrfar. in tn nf 4
demons. These unearthly intruders were
marched several times around the bonfire,
and finally the chief figure, the embodiment
Of witchdom, was taken from the car and
hurled into the blazing pile amid weird
shrieks and bowls from the masked demons,
cheers of the multitude mingled with the
the widest strains of the bagpipes and
great display Of fireworks.
An attendant present at the time told me
that the scene was impressive and pictur-
esque, Lochnagar and other mountains :.
the neighborhood being covered with snow;
that dancing and all manner of Halloween
festivities were kept up until morning; and
that the queen, precisely as any other NOR.
tai present, entered into the spirit OF the
extraordinary occasion, assisting in
some of the preparations with her own
hands
WITH THE UTMOST INTEREST AND zEsr
lions have held their own against all
change and progress, though undoubtedly
having largely passed by gradual evolution
from the status of almost savage belief to
that Of loved and cherished custom, there
is not another more priced time in the whole
year for Difference to the universal sway Of
gentle witchery and ogerish charm. l have
found that the same, in degree, holds true
in northumberland, Durham, Northern
Yorkshire, Cumberland and Westmoreland,
and in Wales and the Isle Of Man. The peo-
pie Of all these regions wese originally Gel
tic. To me the conclusion seems irresist-
ible that the traditions, superstitions and
practices are not only largely of Celtic
origin. but that Halloween memories and
charms hold closest and longest in the
hearts Of all folk having descent affinities
tc the Celtic parent race. My attention
was first called to study Of these lines of
distinction through the interest awakened
in the personal enjoyment of q Halloween
festivity, while wandering among the peas
antry of ireland.
Irwas night-fall ere my peasant-host and
myself, who had been passing the day
among the Donegal glens and. mountains,
reached the farmhouse, where quite
number of country-folk were already await
ing our arrival The house itself was some
what larger than the average Irish cabin.