Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-10-28
HALLOWEEN.
- netting About its Origin and the
Queer Franks Which are
Played
Something About its Origin. J

net been accomplished in few
years nor yet a few hundred years
The beginning of the mystic in Hal
lowe'en dates not as is popularity
supposed from the churchly All
Saints Day, but seems rather a rel
ic of pagan ages in Germany, or
perhaps medieval superstition
that ante-dated religion in the en-
pire of the warlord. The confusion
of dates has for many years associ-
ated the two as closely allied, but
there is nothing in the peaceful cele-
bration of All Saints Day to suggest
evil of the superstition which gave
birth to our Halloween of today.
And yet, strangely enough it is
from the religious holiday that the
Halloween is taken. And somehow
the solemn sound of the name just
fits the mystic beauty of the old SUI
perstition.
Walpurgis Night of pagan Ger
many the witch festival or assemb-
ling of evil spirits on the summit
of the Broken in the Hartz noun
tains is legend that is almost coe-
val with the beginning of the cele-
bration of the day dedicated to
Christian martyrs or saints. There
4=1
is nothing churchly about the Wal
purgis, however. Under this power
full superstition this was regarded as
the night Of nights when supernat-
ural influences prevail and which
set apart this evening for the uni
versal walking abroad of spirits,
both of the visible and the invisible
world, for on this mystic night it
was believed that even the human
spirit might detach itself from the
body and wander abroad. or
It's introduction into England
proved one step in its development
and it's significance in the affairs of
true lovers seems have dated from
its celebration in ''merrie England.
Here it was that apples and nuts
first became a part of the celebra-
ton, particularly the latter and Rob
ert, Burns, in immortal verse, tells
of, their. significance:
The old guidwife's well-hoordit nits
Are round and round divided,
And mony lads and lassies' fates
Are there, that night decided
The grand sport of ducking or
"bobbing'' for apples here became
popular, too, but It was in our own
colonial days that Halloween came
into it's own when the mask began
to make it's appearance in the par
,ors of society folk and the mas
querade ball, with the quaint minu-
ct and the inimitably lovely Virginia
reel to enhance its picturesqueness.
Then there came the era when
rude horseplay and coarse practical
jokes prevailed during the Hallow-
cen season. In many cities and
towns, October 80 is known as corn
might" and pedestrians on the streets
are showered with shelled corn that
may strike them in the face or eye
and do an inestimable amount of
damage to the complete uncOncern
of the perpetrators. Fortunately, this
sort of thing is dying away along
with the horsep,ay that approached
and sometimes overstepped wanda
ism
Men and women who have lived
in small towns where this particu-
lar brand of fun was most popular
will all remember the ridiculous
sights of the morning AFTER when
wagon or buggy might have been
seen hanging suspended from the
crossarms of a telegraph pole; all
sorts of vehicles piled on the roofs
of small shops; the wheels on We
ihicles i'm barns exchanged giving the
appearance, truly, of lowbacked
car; the keyholes Of business houses
and shops plugged with putty or
soap or even melted sealing wax and
their windows smeared with what
ever substance could be secured to
look the worse; horse or cow tied
/ to the outside, so that when the
householder pulled open the door OF
his domicile, some domestic animal
of his bitterest enemy or dearest
friend stalked bovinely into the
room. If possible it was the enc
my's COW, which was so maltreated,
for everybody knows everybody
else's pet likes and dislikes and
they can play upon the strings OF
human temper and Feasibility much
more effectively when they know the
subject upon which they work.
Coarse and unkind as these Jests
usually were, they were not without
an element of humor and were taken
very largely, in good part; but their
day has passed, and in their place