Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-29
Fun and FroIic in Places of Old
Halloween Fears.
ONCE WERE BELIEVED in
Myth of the Witches and Their Do
ings of Ancient Origin.
LOVE TESTS SLOW TO PASS
Once Believed Infal1ible, They Have
Still a Few Youthful
Devotees.
Who said witches?

Who said witches?
Sh-h!-better be careful. Halloween Is
due Monday night.
Those who have inherited an Ivanhoe
dialect, or a pIaidie that the witches
have ever set their green eyes on. must
be douby vigilant, or the COLLINS will
everybody knows what the COLLINS Will
do
There is only one way to dodge the
Scotch witches. This is the recipe: Keep
the tongue busy saying kind words ana
wrap the plaidie around some shtver1ng
child The good souls who will be walk
ing the earth on their last penance before
rising to heaven on All Saints day will
pick up your kind words and deed and
stone the witches with them until they
draw one drop of red blood and one drop
of black poison from their left shoulder
blade. and that settles the witch cues
ton.
Old Scottish Superstitions.
According to Scottish superstitions, Hal
loween is the time when witches. devils,
fairies and imp-elyes hold their annual
holiday. They muster at night to con-
program, each anoints feet and Shout
ders with the fat of a murdered babe,
and then off on broomsticks to harry
their victims till dawn. Just before cock
crow they reasSemble and dance with
their backs to each other.
There's 10 telling what prompted the
doingS of third century witches. but may
he the sight O. Inc anothers' faces after
their night of evil deeds would have
scared them all to death. Which means
.hor rhar ha Hon IN
let us be thankful for backs.
Halloween is a myth, not history.
There's a difference History is written
up and myth is handed down.
To go back to the misty days before
date limitations. Halloween is a tumble
of mythology, Druidic beliefs and Chris
tian legends The anniversary night is
partly due to the festival of Pomona, cele-
brated by pagan Rome at the season of
apples and nuts. That accounts for nut
crack and snapapple night" of ancient
Britain. Also, 1t was at the time at
which the Druids held their autumn feast
to the sun in thanksgiving for the har-
vest. The Druids believed In transmigra-
ton and taught that on the eve of the
festival the Lord of Death called to-
gether the wicked souls who had for a
twelvemonth been condemned to occupy
the bodies of animals-and there you have
the supernatural element of Halloween.
Also, it was at this celebration that the
Druids lighted bOnf1res in honor of Baal.
ing and games.
The Christian spirit of Halloween
Legends is of the souls who are walking
md waiting for the dawning of All Saints
lay to give them eternal rest and joy.
Now Day for Fun.
The quaint old Halloween of the worlds
childhood now merely serves as an op-
portunity for fun. sometimes over prank
ish, perhaps. but always wholesome in
that it upsets the routine grind of study
and work.
Washington has rather outgrown even
these observanceS. Police activities have
put stop to the unhinging of fence gates.
he sprinkling OF flour on the clothes of
unsUspecting pOSserS-by, or the tying
If strings across the pavement to upset
hem. The decoy pocketbook seems to
games are told about instead of played
by worldly-wise young people of the
present.
True there will be Halloween dances
and games, but the spirit of the anniver-
sary will be fun. not mystery Education
has taken away the faith that stakes the
future on the crack Of a nut on hot Goals
or the shape Of an apple pairing as 1t falls
to the floor. And Yet nuts will be roasted
and apples will be ducked for. and par
ings will be cast over the left shoulders
And there will be josts and pranks and
the rich, unstudied laughter of joyous
the way back days-why, even when
Washington was just a decade younger
remember?
Did you ever throw ball of blue yarn
out of the window. and then rewind it.
hoping TO find your true love at the end
of the string? And did the true love ever
show up?
Everything Had to Be Backward.
And did you-oh, did you?-ever walk
around the block backward with your
mouth fun of salt expecting to meet that
same true love at the point you started
from? Nothing ever happened, of course
but it was great old test In its way
And there was that candle rite in which
you walked upstairs Northumberland
thing had to be backward in those old
Gays that were backward themselves-un-
III you got to your room and turned Your
head backward over Your left shoulder
expecting to see in the mirror the an
partition OF your young man, or your
chum young manor any young man
that was a nice young man
OF course you never did, but say-iust
TO look back at those dear. ridiculous old
halloween nights Is enough to bring q
smile-isn't it?-and a tear or two.
Oh, yes, there'll be lots of fun In this
town Monday night, but the fact stands
that the only witches around will be the
gray straggle-haired. broom-perched, lam
tern crones that have been bought i'm the
shops
To the stores-prosperity bless them-be-
long the honor OF keeping alive the tradi-
tons of the Halloween of the past. Their
WINDOWS and counters are gay these DAYS
with pumpkin elves and fairies-and there
rs no counting the merry post cards that
Illustrate by verse and picture the revels
OF what was once the most uncanny and
IS now the funniest night in the year.