The Irish standard., 1904-10-29

THE
has given rise to the many curious and
Superstitious practices of Halloween.
Not only was it the ghosts of the
departed that were permitted to return
to earth, but all the countless legions
of fairies, elves, brownies, and lepra-
chauns that dwelt in earth, air, and
water, We're also liberated and given
carte blanche to disport themselves as
they pleased with mortals on this night
of nights.
Small wonder, then, that, to the fer
vid Celtic imagination of the Gael,
whether Scotch or Irish, the very at
mosphere Of Halloween is charged
with the weird and the supernatural,
and all their doings, whether sportive
or serious, bear the impress of the oc-
cult world.
The day is religiously kept as fast,
but the feasting begins with the even
ing meal, and no family is so poor but
at least two candles shed their light
upon the festal board. This custom is
probably survival of the sun wo1-
ship of their forefathers. At supper,
the piece de resistance is huge dish
of mashed potatoes, usually with a
flavor of cabbage in it, and therefore
called by the natives, "kolcannon."
The evening is given up to diversion,
the maddest pranks being perpetrated
by alleged COLLINS, and accepted by the
victims in Il spirit of cheerful gocu
humor. The man who would resent a
Halloween joke would be regarded as
a churl by, his neighbors.
Many and strange are the devices to
which love-lorn SWANS and maidens
resort to learn their fate.
Burns alludes to some of these in his
poem, viz: burning nuts and pulling
kale or cabbage stocks. By the first
two nuts were named for young man
fire. If, in burning, they leaped to-
and young woman, and place in the
wards one another or their flames MIN
gled, wedding might be looked for;
but if no such signs appeared it betok-
ened disappointed hopes.
To conjure by means of kale stock
the parties must go blindfolded into
the kale yard and pull the first cab
bage they met. Its size, shape, and
smoothness were prophetic of the quail
tiles that would be found in the future
spouse. If any earth adhered to the
root, it signiied fortunte or "tocher."
From this, doubtless, has originated
the practice of mischievous youngs-
sters devastating the cabbage patches
of the unsuspecting, and throwing the
cabbages ut the neighbors' doors.
Other tricks We're to find out the
grand object of all the spells-the fu-
ture wife or husband.
If girl should eat salt herring
and go to bed backward without
speaking thereafter, her intended lord
woul certainly appear, and bring a
drink Of water to allay her thirst.
Another way to decide the same
momentous question was for the maid
en- who desired to know if she was to
be granted her hearts desire, to hold
mirror over q well or a stream of
water, repeating at the same time
magic incarnation, and the face of her
future husband would be reflected in
the glass. The ordeal was an extraor-
binary test Of courage, as it was told
in awesome whispers that more than
one curious maiden who was not es-
tined for an earthly lover had seen the
grisly face of the bridegroom, Death,
leering triumphantly at her from the
polished surface of the mirror.
But those quaint customs Of Hallow-
cen do not take kindly to transplant
ing away from their native soil, and
in the atmosphere of cold incredulity
they droop, wither and die.
They require the congenial environ
ment and association as we'll as the
background of tradition that is found,
in it's full flower, nowhere but on the
"old sod"
The merry sprites of fairy land re-
coil from crossing the stormy Atlantic,
and the fancful myths and legends that
tell the tales of their wonderful deeds
collapse pathetically under the broad
glare of slSepticism that is poured upon
them on the hither side of the ocean.
Even there, in their own beloved
haunts across the water, the iconoclast-
fc spirit Of the age is driving them far
ther and farther into the mountain
glens. Soon, perhaps, all that will sur
vive Of them, even in Burns own spell
haunted Ayr, will be found in some
dusty tome of forgotten folk lore on
the library shelf.
Nan D2frh aL MHn s..