Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1901-11-02
THE NIGHT OF FRANKS
SMALL Boys HAD TREIR IKNfNGs
THURSDAY NIGHT.
How Our Observances Differ From the
European--An SOULS Day tn vienna
where the Occasion Is One or
Solsmntfy.

r 1nurSuav was halkOWe eU anu tue
various pranks and pastimes were
enjoyed as usual The evening hi q
an air full Of mystery and cham, es-
peciallv TO the young. Witches seem
TO fill the breezes and princes and
fairies are floating about on every
hand Many maiden VIII find her
future told by mystic hands an
calistic signs. and the small boy vii
be all the more boisterous in order
to brighten off the witches.
OF the nights of the year, there is
none which popular imagination has
surrounded with more peculiar char
acter than the evening of the 3lst of
October known as All Hallow's Eve,
or Hallowe en-. On this night, above
all others, supernatural Influences are
supposed to prevail. If you will look
closely into folk lore, and fairy lore,
you will discover that the princess
and princesses who had been changed
| into beasts or birds were allowed, for
one brief period on Hallowe ZEN, to as
/ sumo their normal form, during
which. if the ia es We're propitious,
something happened to break the
SPELL 1t is the night set apart for
the universal walking of spirits, and
dlvination is supposed to attain its
highest power.
The fairies it is said, hold a grand
carnival, and everybody knows that
the fairies are always in sympathy
with those who are in love.
Just why the representative Chris
tian nations Of the earth have chosen
to perpetuate the heather customs in
connections with October 81. rather
than the solemn rites which more
properly belong TO All Hallow's Eve
aud All Souls Day. it is impossible
to determine Certain 1t is that the
attempts at divination, the supersti-
tious beliefs and the peculiar rites
and ceremonies which cluster around
our modern Halloween are entirely
heather, many of them Druidlcal.
They seem singularly inappropriate,
but custom has SO endeared them to
the average individual that they
will probably not go ont of fashion
for some time to come.
Travellers give charming picture
of All Saints Day as observed in
some places, notably in Vienna, where
it corresponds very near with the
| American Decoration Day. 1t is an
anniversary dedicated to the memory
of the dead. and is accordingly an
occasion Of great solemnity. In con-
tradistinction TO the gayety and
merriment which reigns II American
and English homes. the Viennese
assume some garb, eschew loud talk
ing and laughter, and repairing to
the cemeteries pray beside the graves
of their dead and decorate them with
| flowers On the tombs of the rich
hot house blooms repose; on those
of the middle class wreafhes of ber-.
ries and the more homely flowers,
and on those of the poor, tlnsel
wreathes and paper flowers. On every
grave there is some token of yremem-
| brance.
| The composer BeethovenlIes buried
in Watering Cemetery. Vienna and
upon the plain granite slab covering
his grave garlands of laurel dahlias
and lmmortelles are savjshly strewn.
Men and boys in passing remove
their hats, and some may be heard to
murmur "To Beethoven all honor,
may he rest in peace. Similar hon
ors are paid to the resting place of
| Schubert.
In the churches, choirs chant hymns
of triumpbaI character as eelebrat-
ing the victory of the saints. One of
the anthems most rendered is that
which proclainhs: ''As in Adam all
die, so in Christ all shall be made
alive. "
| In all the churches of Vienna,
Mass is solem,nly celebrated on All
Souls Day a black velvet catafalque,
covered with a;n embroidered pail up
! on which repoiies cross and "a crown
usually occupying place amid the
choir. After the benedictIon tie
priests sprinklel with holy water the
heads of the kneeling worshippers and
also the tombs within the church.
All theaters are CLOSED ON the evening
of All Souls DAY. In years past
many of the singing societies would
render verdi's beautiful Requiem, !"
the ladies of the GLORIOUS wearing
white with black wells.
Flower merchants take their stands
at the gates of tho cemeteries and do
profitable business. The scenes in
the cemertv of St. MARY, where Mo-
Fart is buried. and in the Central
Freidhof Cemeterlv, the largest in
Vienna, resemble those in wahriug.
ArTHE REEOR MED cHuRCH