Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-10-31


the ancient calendar of the church of
Rome is found the following observation
on the LIST of November. The feast of
old fools Is removed to this day. Per-
haps this setting apart of November 1,
as sacred to the old fools, as we'll as to
all the saints, is due to the many foolish
customs, charms, spells, lamentations
etc, which have long been practiced upon
the preceding night. or All-Hsliow even,
contracted By the Scotch to "H4Ilow
Gen. and commonly known to the juve>
nile mind of Young America as "Holly
Eve
There is no night in the year which
has been invested by popular Imagination
with a more peculiar character than the
3,st Of October, or Hallow eve. There is
nothing in the church observances of the
evening day of All Saints calculated to
give rise to such remarkable ideas as are
assoc sted with the night, or to touch
singu ar sports and customs as sre prac>
ticed upon its annual recurrence. That
supernatural influences then prevailed is
generally accepted superstition. Glen
dover asserts that all who choose to do
so can then "csll up spirits from the
wasty deep" 1t is said that all spirits,
both Of the visible and invisible worlds,
then walk the earth, and it is believed
hot "a auppinn ha Tar
ial principle existing in all things human
can detsch itself from all corporal re.
straints and wander against its will
through space. All devils and witches
are believed to be abroad, and the fairies
are said to hold high carnival There is
no date in the whole 12 months around
which cluster so many popular supersti-
tons. 1t is impossible to &C.
curately trace the origin of these,
but since they are wholly devoid of any
religious character they would clearly
seem, together with all the other associa-
tions connected with the occasion, to be
relics Of Pagan times. Nuts have always
borne a most prominent part. as they still
continue to do, in the festivities of Hall
lowe'en. Among the English. Scotch
and Irish peasantry, synonym for it is
nut crack night. from the custom of
cracking nuts with the teeth. with ham,
mers. or by throwing them into the fire.
In quaint old volume of poems by
Charles Graydon, published in Dublin.
1901. there is one called "On Nuts Burn
ing. All Hsllow's Eve" which also
slludes to this custom. as follows:
"These glowing nuts are emblems true
or Whist on human life we view,
The ili matched CO pie fret and fume,
And tn is in strife themselves consume:
Or from each other mildly start,
And nth a noise forever part,
But sec the happy, Happy pair,
OF genuine love and truth sincere;
With natural fondness while they Durn,
Still TO each other kindly turn;
And a. The vital sparks decay,
Together gently sink away;
Till life's fierce ordeal being past,
Their mingled ashes rest at last"
Another custom. somewhat similar to
this, is practiced IN Ireland. Young
women. anxious to know if their lovers
are faithful, put three nuts upon the bars
of the g rate, naming each nut for lover
If aut cracks or jumps, the lover for
whom it is named will prove unfsithful,
but if it quietly burns or blszes he loves
and is true to the girl making the trial.
Among he Irish pessantrY it was former
ly customary to burn the shells OF nuts
eaten op Hallow Eve, and to cause snails
to crawl through the ashes. AMI then trace
out the initials Of the future husbands or
wife's name.
Nuts, however, are far from monopo-
llzing Halloween customs. Apples con
tend vigorously with them for supremacy.
Every one knows what capital sport it is
to let q number of them float in a water
tub, and have a party OF blindfolded
youngsters--or oldsters, either-try to
seize them in their mouths, while both
hands are tied behind their backs. And
the familiar custom is for young girl to
take the skin of an apple which she has
pared, ard after swinging it three times
around her head. to throw ii to the
ground, where il is believed to present the
ssmblanoe of the first letter of her future
husbands name. In the North of Eng
land. while this divinstiou is being per-
formed, it Is customary to repeat the fol-
lowing lines:
IT pare this pippin round and round again,
NV sweeth sart's name TO flourish on the ?. ain;
fling thee unbrokeD DER my head,
NV sweeth arts letter on the ground IL reaa.
A mett cd of determining the constsncy
of lovers, practiced many times by nearly
eyery Am erican and English girl OF the
|. present day. and by her mother and
grandmother before her. is TO take two
wet apple seeds. name each for lover.
and place them one upon
each eyelid or each cheek.
The one which drops off fl st is faithless,
while the other, like the DOUGLAS famous
in song. il 'tender and true" Another
very old apple spell, pertaining to Hoi'
low cen. is to eat an apple before mir,
ror at mid night in room apart IRON an
other persons lighting ones sell oy q