The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-10-30
BUTTE YOUTHS ALL READY TO
CELEBRATE H0LLuWE'EN.
MANY FRANKS WILL BE PLAYED
Dozens Of Jolly Parties Arranged by
People Who Like to Keep Alive
the Traditions of Days That
Are Gone.

1cTQapS some Oh lueIu may 81 a -
farther than they really mean to, but its
all in fun, remember. Just think of the
time you were boy yourself, and don't
make life too miserable for the little
chaps-if you succeed in catching them.
The evening will be generally celebrated
all over Butte by parties and the like;
apple bobbing parties will be especially
numerous, and hundreds Of young people
will make merry until late hour.
You may have had a sort of confused
idea that Halloween was invented ex-
pressly for tic-tacs, wandering front
gates, decisions, signs and ghostly fig
ures stealing upon one unawares.
Holiday Of Hobgoblins.
Halloween has been hobgoblins' holi-
day from the time of the Druids of mer-
RE olde England, but since our boys and
girls have gone in so enthusiastically for
higher education, the gobble-uns have re-
treated to the Middle Ages in disgust
They can be coaxed down again-on
their own particular night-but only by
the most awesome practices. at dead Of
night, and in the loneliest places.
To really see a goblin, the trystirg
place must be as dark as pocket and
as still as the grave; COLLINS take shape
in gloom, and move and breathe like
phantoms, so that you are pretty apt to
feel them first, and see them afterward.
And if you are given to "seein' things
at night" so much the better for your
Halloween.
In Druid days there were stretches of
green" where the simple villagers as
sembled around huge bonfires shortly af-
ter dusk, where the witches could have
full play, and mischievous elves prank in
the shadows and smoke of the big fires.
There was also a god, Baal, who took
| it upon himself to liberate, for this one
night in the year, all the wicked spirits
| that had been condemned to inhabit the
bodies of animals.
Precaution Against Familiarity.
The bonfires were a precaution against
undue familiarity on the part of these
| malicious spirits
If a man were pursued by green
eyed, fiery-tong1ed demon, or if black
| ape Of sprite chung to his shoulders,
! hugging about his neck with strangling
claws, he had only to race through the
friendly flames, roll over and over on
| the ground, and 10! the venomous crea-
| ture had disappeared.
All our Halloween customs had their
origin in some sort of pagan supersti-
| ton. Rarely have they mingled with
church observances: the SPIRITUAL
element being the reverse of sanity, and
the conjuring quiet outside the pale.
But on the Isle OF Lewes, off the coast
of Scotland, they used to have pretty
practice combining religion and SUPER
| stition with a beautiful impartiality.
| At Hallowtide the sea-god Shorty was
the first to be propitiated, because all
| the necessaries of life came to the ISL
] anders from the sea.
! Brewed INTO Ale.
Each family took peck of malt to the
j kirk, where it was brewed into ale. Then
| with a solemn Dx ousslon into the 0usky
night, the entire village moved down
! to the shore of the inscrutable sea; the
| strong man of the parish waded into the
water, waist deep, holding aloft burn
ing cup Of the fresh brewed ale
Chanting an invocation, charm, q
petition to Shorty, the all-powerful, the
ale was poured into the man of the
restless waters.
! In deep silence the procession Wended
| it's way back to the kirk, said its pray
| ers before the one candle burning at the
altar-and then went out on the village
green, drank ale, played tricks and
danced till daylight.
In Ireland and North Wales the bonfire
served as a sooth-sayer Every house
hold built it's own fire, and each member
of the family had a smooth, white hal
low stone" marked for the occasion.
"Just before going to bed the prayers
were said turning around the fire. the
stones were cast into the center Of the
blaze one by one, and the witches left
| to do their worst.
If on the morrow stone We're missing
| the owner was fated to die before the
end of the year-of fright, if not other
wise.
Fete Day for Goddess.
| Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruits
| and seeds, had fete day November I.
They had somehow heard of her in the
Celtic isle, and added one more observ-
ance to the Halloween feast.
The more the merrier-especialy when
it took the form of a famous brew-''Le
mas Ubhal." Anglicised into lambs
WOOL and foaming it's way into general
| favor.
How would it taste now, I wonder? A
mixture of freshly roasted apples. bruised
into a frotiy malt ale and served smok-
| ing hot, with side dishes of nuts and
barley cakes!
| The Princess Beatrice ordered steam
ing bowl Of it for her Halloween party
! but she took good care to have a COM
panion tankard - plain old English ale
The Princess Beatrice, you know. was
her majesty's favorite child, and being
| a willful slip of MISS she sometimes
| coaxed her mother away from the re-
straints of London palaces to the Scotch
estates, where she could have things just
! like other girls, who were not so UNI
fortunate as to be real princesses.
! Celebration By Queen.
| At Balmoral castle. in 1874 Queen Vic
! toria and the princess had a famous
| Halloween, with a few favored friends,
| and the regular retainers.
The queen and princess drove about in