{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_20644/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_20644","id":"gutenberg_20644","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20644","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Other","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Halloween"],"text":"Produced by Suzan Flanagan, Ted Garvin and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: HALLOWE'EN FESTIVITIES.\n\n_From an Old English Print_]\n\n\n\n The\n Book of Hallowe'en\n\n By\n\n RUTH EDNA KELLEY, A. M.\n\n _Lynn Public Library_\n\n _ILLUSTRATED_\n\n BOSTON\n\n LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.\n\n * * * * *\n\n Published, August, 1919\n\n COPYRIGHT, 1919,\n BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.\n\n _All Rights Reserved_\n\n The Book of Hallowe'en\n\n Norwood Press\n BERWICK & SMITH CO.\n NORWOOD, MASS.\n U. S. A.\n\n * * * * *\n\n _To my Mother and the memory of my Father\n who inspired and encouraged me\n in the writing of this\n book_\n\n * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThis book is intended to give the reader an account of the origin\nand history of Hallowe'en, how it absorbed some customs belonging\nto other days in the year,--such as May Day, Midsummer, and\nChristmas. The context is illustrated by selections from ancient\nand modern poetry and prose, related to Hallowe'en ideas.\n\nThose who wish suggestions for readings, recitations, plays, and\nparties, will find the lists in the appendix useful, in addition to\nthe books on entertainments and games to be found in any public\nlibrary.\n\nSpecial acknowledgment is made to Messrs. E. P. Dutton & Company\nfor permission to use the poem entitled \"Hallowe'en\" from \"The\nSpires of Oxford and Other Poems,\" by W. M. Letts; to Messrs.\nLongmans, Green & Company for the poem \"Pomona,\" by William Morris;\nand to the Editors of _The Independent_ for the use of five poems.\n\n RUTH EDNA KELLEY.\n\n LYNN, _1919_.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nCHAP. PAGE\n\nI. SUN-WORSHIP. THE SOURCES OF HALLOWE'EN 1\n\nII. THE CELTS: THEIR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 5\n\nIII. SAMHAIN 16\n\nIV. POMONA 23\n\nV. THE COMING OF CHRISTIANITY. ALL SAINTS'. ALL SOULS' 27\n\nVI. ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF HALLOWE'EN OMENS 33\n\nVII. HALLOWE'EN BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS IN IRELAND 35\n\nVIII. HALLOWE'EN BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS IN SCOTLAND\n AND THE HEBRIDES 59\n\nIX. HALLOWE'EN BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS IN ENGLAND AND MAN 82\n\nX. HALLOWE'EN BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS IN WALES 101\n\nXI. HALLOWE'EN BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS IN BRITTANY AND FRANCE 107\n\nXII. THE TEUTONIC RELIGION. WITCHES 119\n\nXIII. WALPURGIS NIGHT 136\n\nXIV. MORE HALLOWTIDE BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS 142\n\nXV. HALLOWE'EN IN AMERICA 149\n\n \"FOUR POEMS\" 172\n\n MAGAZINE REFERENCES TO HALLOWE'EN ENTERTAINMENTS 179\n\n SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF READINGS, RECITATIONS, AND PLAYS 182\n\n INDEX TO QUOTATIONS 184\n\n INDEX 188\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\nHallowe'en Festivities _Frontispiece_\n FACING PAGE\nIn Hallowe'en Time 34\n\nThe Witch of the Walnut-Tree 100\n\nThe Witches' Dance (_Valpurgisnacht_) 138\n\nFortune-Telling 148\n\nHallowe'en Tables, I 156\n\nHallowe'en Tables, II 158\n\nNo Hallowe'en without a Jack-o'-lantern 178\n\n\n\n\nThe Book of Hallowe'en\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nSUN-WORSHIP. THE SOURCES OF HALLOWE'EN\n\n\nIf we could ask one of the old-world pagans whom he revered as his\ngreatest gods, he would be sure to name among them the sun-god;\ncalling him Apollo if he were a Greek; if an Egyptian, Horus or\nOsiris; if of Norway, Sol; if of Peru, Bochica. As the sun is the\ncenter of the physical universe, so all primitive peoples made it\nthe hub about which their religion revolved, nearly always\nbelieving it a living person to whom they could say prayers and\noffer sacrifices, who directed their lives and destinies, and could\neven snatch men from earthly existence to dwell for a time with\nhim, as it draws the water from lakes and seas.\n\nIn believing this they followed an instinct of all early peoples, a\ndesire to make persons of the great powers of nature, such as the\nworld of growing things, mountains and water, the sun, moon, and\nstars; and a wish for these gods they had made to take an interest\nin and be part of their daily life. The next step was making\nstories about them to account for what was seen; so arose myths and\nlegends.\n\nThe sun has always marked out work-time and rest, divided the year\ninto winter idleness, seed-time, growth, and harvest; it has always\nbeen responsible for all the beauty and goodness of the earth; it\nis itself splendid to look upon. It goes away and stays longer and\nlonger, leaving the land in cold and gloom; it returns bringing the\nlong fair days and resurrection of spring. A Japanese legend tells\nhow the hidden sun was lured out by an image made of a copper plate\nwith saplings radiating from it like sunbeams, and a fire kindled,\ndancing, and prayers; and round the earth in North America the\nCherokees believed they brought the sun back upon its northward\npath by the same means of rousing its curiosity, so that it would\ncome out to see its counterpart and find out what was going on.\n\nAll the more important church festivals are survivals of old rites\nto the sun. \"How many times the Church has decanted the new wine of\nChristianity into the old bottles of heathendom.\" Yule-tide, the\npagan Christmas, celebrated the sun's turning north, and the old\nmidsummer holiday is still kept in Ireland and on the Continent as\nSt. John's Day by the lighting of bonfires and a dance about them\nfrom east to west as the sun appears to move. The pagan Hallowe'en\nat the end of summer was a time of grief for the decline of the\nsun's glory, as well as a harvest festival of thanksgiving to him\nfor having ripened the grain and fruit, as we formerly had\nhusking-bees when the ears had been garnered, and now keep our own\nThanksgiving by eating of our winter store in praise of God who\ngives us our increase.\n\nPomona, the Roman goddess of fruit, lends us the harvest element of\nHallowe'en; the Celtic day of \"summer's end\" was a time when\nspirits, mostly evil, were abroad; the gods whom Christ dethroned\njoined the ill-omened throng; the Church festivals of All Saints'\nand All Souls' coming at the same time of year--the first of\nNovember--contributed the idea of the return of the dead; and the\nTeutonic May Eve assemblage of witches brought its hags and their\nattendant beasts to help celebrate the night of October 31st.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE CELTS: THEIR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS\n\n\nThe first reference to Great Britain in European annals of which we\nknow was the statement in the fifth century B. C. of the Greek\nhistorian Herodotus, that Ph[oe]nician sailors went to the British\nIsles for tin. He called them the \"Tin Islands.\" The people with\nwhom these sailors traded must have been Celts, for they were the\nfirst inhabitants of Britain who worked in metal instead of stone.\n\nThe Druids were priests of the Celts centuries before Christ came.\nThere is a tradition in Ireland that they first arrived there in\n270 B. C., seven hundred years before St. Patrick. The account of\nthem written by Julius C\u00e6sar half a century before Christ speaks\nmainly of the Celts of Gaul, dividing them into two ruling classes\nwho kept the people almost in a state of slavery; the knights, who\nwaged war, and the Druids who had charge of worship and sacrifices,\nand were in addition physicians, historians, teachers, scientists,\nand judges.\n\nC\u00e6sar says that this cult originated in Britain, and was\ntransferred to Gaul. Gaul and Britain had one religion and one\nlanguage, and might even have one king, so that what C\u00e6sar wrote of\nGallic Druids must have been true of British.\n\nThe Celts worshipped spirits of forest and stream, and feared the\npowers of evil, as did the Greeks and all other early races. Very\nmuch of their primitive belief has been kept, so that to Scotch,\nIrish, and Welsh peasantry brooks, hills, dales, and rocks abound\nin tiny supernatural beings, who may work them good or evil, lead\nthem astray by flickering lights, or charm them into seven years'\nservitude unless they are bribed to show favor.\n\nThe name \"Druid\" is derived from the Celtic word \"druidh,\" meaning\n\"sage,\" connected with the Greek word for oak, \"drus,\"\n\n \"The rapid oak-tree--\n Before him heaven and earth quake:\n Stout door-keeper against the foe.\n In every land his name is mine.\"\n\n TALIESIN: _Battle of the Trees._\n\nfor the oak was held sacred by them as a symbol of the omnipotent\ngod, upon whom they depended for life like the mistletoe growing\nupon it. Their ceremonies were held in oak-groves.\n\nLater from their name a word meaning \"magician\" was formed, showing\nthat these priests had gained the reputation of being dealers in\nmagic.\n\n \"The Druid followed him and suddenly, as we are told, struck him\n with a druidic wand, or according to one version, flung at him a\n tuft of grass over which he had pronounced a druidical\n incantation.\"\n\n O'CURRY: _Ancient Irish._\n\nThey dealt in symbols, common objects to which was given by the\ninterposition of spirits, meaning to signify certain facts, and\npower to produce certain effects. Since they were tree-worshippers,\ntrees and plants were thought to have peculiar powers.\n\nC\u00e6sar provides them with a galaxy of Roman divinities, Mercury,\nMars, Jupiter, and Minerva, who of course were worshipped under\ntheir native names. Their chief god was Baal, of whom they believed\nthe sun the visible emblem. They represented him by lowlier tokens,\nsuch as circles and wheels. The trefoil, changed into a figure\ncomposed of three winged feet radiating from a center, represented\nthe swiftness of the sun's journey. The cross too was a symbol of\nthe sun, being the appearance of its light shining upon dew or\nstream, making to the half-closed eye little bright crosses. One\nform of the cross was the swastika.\n\nTo Baal they made sacrifices of criminals or prisoners of war,\noften burning them alive in wicker images. These bonfires lighted\non the hills were meant to urge the god to protect and bless the\ncrops and herds. From the appearance of the victims sacrificed in\nthem, omens were taken that foretold the future. The gods and other\nsupernatural powers in answer to prayer were thought to signify\ntheir will by omens, and also by the following methods: the ordeal,\nin which the innocence or guilt of a person was shown by the way\nthe god permitted him to endure fire or other torture; exorcism,\nthe driving out of demons by saying mysterious words or names over\nthem. Becoming skilled in interpreting the will of the gods, the\nDruids came to be known as prophets.\n\n \"O Deirdr\u00e9, terrible child,\n For thee, red star of our ruin,\n Great weeping shall be in Eri--\n Woe, woe, and a breach in Ulla.\n\n * * * * *\n\n \"Thy feet shall trample the mighty\n Yet stumble on heads thou lovest.\"\n\n TODHUNTER: _Druid song of Cathvah._\n\nThey kept their lore for the most part a secret, forbidding it to\nbe written, passing it down by word of mouth. They taught the\nimmortality of the soul, that it passed from one body to another at\ndeath.\n\n \"If, as those Druids taught, which kept the British rites,\n And dwelt in darksome groves, there counselling with sprites,\n When these our souls by death our bodies do forsake\n They instantly again do other bodies take----\"\n\n DRAYTON: _Polyolbion._\n\nThey believed that on the last night of the old year (October 31st)\nthe lord of death gathered together the souls of all those who had\ndied in the passing year and had been condemned to live in the\nbodies of animals, to decree what forms they should inhabit for the\nnext twelve months. He could be coaxed to give lighter sentences by\ngifts and prayers.\n\nThe badge of the initiated Druid was a glass ball reported to be\nmade in summer of the spittle of snakes, and caught by the priests\nas the snakes tossed it into the air.\n\n \"And the potent adder-stone\n Gender'd 'fore the autumnal moon\n When in undulating twine\n The foaming snakes prolific join.\"\n\n MASON: _Caractacus._\n\nIt was real glass, blown by the Druids themselves. It was supposed\nto aid the wearer in winning lawsuits and securing the favor of\nkings.\n\nAn animal sacred to the Druids was the cat.\n\n\"A slender black cat reclining on a chain of old silver\" guarded\ntreasure in the old days. For a long time cats were dreaded by the\npeople because they thought human beings had been changed to that\nform by evil means.\n\nThe chief festivals of the Druids fell on four days, celebrating\nphases of the sun's career. Fires of sacrifice were lighted\nespecially at spring and midsummer holidays, by exception on\nNovember 1st.\n\nMay Day and November Day were the more important, the beginning and\nend of summer, yet neither equinoxes nor solstices. The time was\ndivided then not according to sowing and reaping, but by the older\nmethod of reckoning from when the herds were turned out to pasture\nin the spring and brought into the fold again at the approach of\nwinter--by a pastoral rather than an agricultural people.\n\nOn the night before Beltaine (\"Baal-fire\"), the first of May, fires\nwere burned to Baal to celebrate the return of the sun bringing\nsummer. Before sunrise the houses were decked with garlands to\ngladden the sun when he appeared; a rite which has survived in\n\"going maying.\" The May-Day fires were used for purification.\nCattle were singed by being led near the flames, and sometimes bled\nthat their blood might be offered as a sacrifice for a prosperous\nseason.\n\n \"When lo! a flame,\n A wavy flame of ruddy light\n Leaped up, the farmyard fence above.\n And while his children's shout rang high,\n His cows the farmer slowly drove\n Across the blaze,--he knew not why.\"\n\n KICKHAM: _St. John's Eve._\n\nA cake was baked in the fire with one piece blacked with charcoal.\nWhoever got the black piece was thereby marked for sacrifice to\nBaal, so that, as the ship proceeded in safety after Jonah was cast\noverboard, the affairs of the group about the May-Eve fire might\nprosper when it was purged of the one whom Baal designated by lot.\nLater only the symbol of offering was used, the victim being forced\nto leap thrice over the flames.\n\nIn history it was the day of the coming of good. Partholon, the\ndiscoverer and promoter of Ireland, came thither from the other\nworld to stay three hundred years. The gods themselves, the\ndeliverers of Ireland, first arrived there \"through the air\" on May\nDay.\n\nJune 21st, the day of the summer solstice, the height of the sun's\npower, was marked by midnight fires of joy and by dances. These\nwere believed to strengthen the sun's heat. A blazing wheel to\nrepresent the sun was rolled down hill.\n\n \"A happy thought.\n Give me this cart-wheel.\n I'll have it tied with ropes and smeared with pitch,\n And when it's lighted, I will roll it down\n The steepest hillside.\"\n\n HAUPTMANN: _Sunken Bell._\n (Lewisohn _trans._)\n\nSpirits were believed to be abroad, and torches were carried about\nthe fields to protect them from invasion. Charms were tried on that\nnight with seeds of fern and hemp, and dreams were believed to be\nprophetic.\n\nLugh, in old Highland speech \"the summer sun\"\n\n \"The hour may hither drift\n When at the last, amid the o'erwearied Shee--\n Weary of long delight and deathless joys--\n One you shall love may fade before your eyes,\n Before your eyes may fade, and be as mist\n Caught in the sunny hollow of Lu's hand,\n Lord of the Day.\"\n\n SHARP: _Immortal Hour._\n\nhad for father one of the gods and for mother the daughter of a\nchief of the enemy. Hence he possessed some good and some evil\ntendencies. He may be the Celtic Mercury, for they were alike\nskilled in magic and alchemy, in deception, successful in combats\nwith demons, the bringers of new strength and cleansing to the\nnation. He said farewell to power on the first of August, and his\nfoster-mother had died on that day, so then it was he set his\nfeast-day. The occasion was called \"Lugnasad,\" \"the bridal of Lugh\"\nand the earth, whence the harvest should spring. It was celebrated\nby the offering of the first fruits of harvest, and by races and\nathletic sports. In Meath, Ireland, this continued down into the\nnineteenth century, with dancing and horse-racing the first week of\nAugust.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nSAMHAIN\n\n\nOn November first was Samhain (\"summer's end\").\n\n \"Take my tidings:\n Stags contend;\n Snows descend--\n Summer's end!\n\n \"A chill wind raging,\n The sun low keeping,\n Swift to set\n O'er seas high sweeping.\n\n \"Dull red the fern;\n Shapes are shadows;\n Wild geese mourn\n O'er misty meadows.\n\n \"Keen cold limes each weaker wing,\n Icy times--\n Such I sing!\n Take my tidings.\"\n\n GRAVES: _First Winter Song._\n\nThen the flocks were driven in, and men first had leisure after\nharvest toil. Fires were built as a thanksgiving to Baal for\nharvest. The old fire on the altar was quenched before the night of\nOctober 31st, and the new one made, as were all sacred fires, by\nfriction. It was called \"forced-fire.\" A wheel and a spindle were\nused: the wheel, the sun symbol, was turned from east to west,\nsunwise. The sparks were caught in tow, blazed upon the altar, and\nwere passed on to light the hilltop fires. The new fire was given\nnext morning, New Year's Day, by the priests to the people to light\ntheir hearths, where all fires had been extinguished. The blessed\nfire was thought to protect the year through the home it warmed. In\nIreland the altar was Tlactga, on the hill of Ward in Meath, where\nsacrifices, especially black sheep, were burnt in the new fire.\nFrom the death struggles and look of the creatures omens for the\nfuture year were taken.\n\nThe year was over, and the sun's life of a year was done. The\nCelts thought that at this time the sun fell a victim for six\nmonths to the powers of winter darkness. In Egyptian mythology one\nof the sun-gods, Osiris, was slain at a banquet by his brother\nS\u00eetou, the god of darkness. On the anniversary of the murder, the\nfirst day of winter, no Egyptian would begin any new business for\nfear of bad luck, since the spirit of evil was then in power.\n\nFrom the idea that the sun suffered from his enemies on this day\ngrew the association of Samhain with death.\n\n \"The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year,\n Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sere.\n Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the wither'd leaves lie dead;\n They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit's tread.\n The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrub the jay\n And from the wood-top calls the crow, through all the gloomy day.\n\n \"The wind-flower and the violet, they perished long ago,\n And the wild rose and the orchis died amid the summer glow:\n But on the hill the golden-rod, and the aster in the wood,\n And the yellow sun-flower by the brook in autumn beauty stood,\n Till fell the frost from the cold clear heaven, as falls the\n plague on men,\n And the brightness of their smile was gone from upland, glade,\n and glen.\"\n\n BRYANT: _Death of the Flowers._\n\nIn the same state as those who are dead, are those who have never\nlived, dwelling right in the world, but invisible to most mortals\nat most times. Seers could see them at any time, and if very many\nwere abroad at once others might get a chance to watch them too.\n\n \"There is a world in which we dwell,\n And yet a world invisible.\n And do not think that naught can be\n Save only what with eyes ye see:\n I tell ye that, this very hour,\n Had but your sight a spirit's power,\n Ye would be looking, eye to eye,\n At a terrific company.\"\n\n COXE: _Hallowe'en._\n\nThese supernatural spirits ruled the dead. There were two classes:\nthe Tuatha De Danann, \"the people of the goddess Danu,\" gods of\nlight and life; and spirits of darkness and evil. The Tuatha had\ntheir chief seat on the Isle of Man, in the middle of the Irish\nSea, and brought under their power the islands about them. On a\nMidsummer Day they vanquished the Fir Bolgs and gained most of\nIreland, by the battle of Moytura.\n\nA long time afterwards--perhaps 1000 B. C.--the Fomor, sea-demons,\nafter destroying nearly all their enemies by plagues, exacted from\nthose remaining, as tribute, \"a third part of their corn, a third\npart of their milk, and a third part of their children.\" This tax\nwas paid on Samhain. It was on the week before Samhain that the\nFomor landed upon Ireland. On the eve of Samhain the gods met them\nin the second battle of Moytura, and they were driven back into the\nocean.\n\nAs Tigernmas, a mythical king of Ireland, was sacrificing \"the\nfirstlings of every issue, and the scions of every clan\" to Crom\nCroich, the king idol, and lay prostrate before the image, he and\nthree-fourths of his men mysteriously disappeared.\n\n \"Then came\n Tigernmas, the prince of Tara yonder\n On Hallowe'en with many hosts.\n A cause of grief to them was the deed.\n Dead were the men\n Of Bamba's host, without happy strength\n Around Tigernmas, the destructive man of the north,\n From the worship of Crom Cruaich. 'T was no luck for them.\n For I have learnt,\n Except one-fourth of the keen Gaels,\n Not a man alive--lasting the snare!\n Escaped without death in his mouth.\"\n\n _Dinnsenchus of Mag Slecht_ (Meyer _trans._).\n\nThis was direct invocation, but the fire rites which were continued\nso long afterwards were really only worshipping the sun by proxy,\nin his nearest likeness, fire.\n\nSamhain was then a day sacred to the death of the sun, on which had\nbeen paid a sacrifice of death to evil powers. Though overcome at\nMoytura evil was ascendant at Samhain. Methods of finding out the\nwill of spirits and the future naturally worked better then, charms\nand invocations had more power, for the spirits were near to help,\nif care was taken not to anger them, and due honors paid.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nPOMONA\n\n\nOps was the Latin goddess of plenty. Single parts of her province\nwere taken over by various other divinities, among whom was Pomona\n(_pomorum patrona_, \"she who cares for fruits\"). She is represented\nas a maiden with fruit in her arms and a pruning-knife in her hand.\n\n \"I am the ancient apple-queen.\n As once I was so am I now--\n For evermore a hope unseen\n Betwixt the blossom and the bough.\n\n \"Ah, where's the river's hidden gold!\n And where's the windy grave of Troy?\n Yet come I as I came of old,\n From out the heart of summer's joy.\"\n\n MORRIS: _Pomona._\n\nMany Roman poets told stories about her, the best known being by\nOvid, who says that she was wooed by many orchard-gods, but\npreferred to remain unmarried. Among her suitors was Vertumnus\n(\"the changer\"), the god of the turning year, who had charge of the\nexchange of trade, the turning of river channels, and chiefly of\nthe change in nature from flower to ripe fruit. True to his\ncharacter he took many forms to gain Pomona's love. Now he was a\nploughman (spring), now a fisherman (summer), now a reaper\n(autumn).\n\nAt last he took the likeness of an old woman (winter), and went to\ngossip with Pomona. After sounding her mind and finding her averse\nto marriage, the woman pleaded for Vertumnus's success.\n\n \"Is not he the first to have the fruits which\n are thy delight? And does he not hold thy\n gifts in his joyous right hand?\"\n\n OVID: _Vertumnus and Pomona._\n\nThen the crone told her the story of Anaxarete who was so cold to\nher lover Iphis that he hanged himself, and she at the window\nwatching his funeral train pass by was changed to a marble statue.\nAdvising Pomona to avoid such a fate, Vertumnus donned his proper\nform, that of a handsome young man, and Pomona, moved by the story\nand his beauty, yielded and became his wife.\n\nVertumnus had a statue in the Tuscan Way in Rome, and a temple. His\nfestival, the Vortumnalia, was held on the 23d of August, when the\nsummer began to wane. Garlands and garden produce were offered to\nhim.\n\nPomona had been assigned one of the fifteen _flamina_, priests\nwhose duty it was to kindle the fire for special sacrifices. She\nhad a grove near Ostia where a harvest festival was held about\nNovember first. Not much is known of the ceremonies, but from the\nsimilar August holiday much may be deduced. Then the deities of\nfire and water were propitiated that their disfavor might not ruin\nthe crops. On Pomona's day doubtless thanks was rendered them for\ntheir aid to the harvest. An offering of first-fruits was made in\nAugust; in November the winter store of nuts and apples was opened.\nThe horses released from toil contended in races.\n\nFrom Pomona's festival nuts and apples, from the Druidic Samhain\nthe supernatural element, combined to give later generations the\ncharms and omens from nuts and apples which are made trial of at\nHallowe'en.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE COMING OF CHRISTIANITY. ALL SAINTS'. ALL SOULS'\n\n\nThe great power which the Druids exercised over their people\ninterfered with the Roman rule of Britain. Converts were being made\nat Rome. Augustus forbade Romans to became initiated, Tiberius\nbanished the priestly clan and their adherents from Gaul, and\nClaudius utterly stamped out the belief there, and put to death a\nRoman knight for wearing the serpent's-egg badge to win a lawsuit.\nForbidden to practise their rites in Britain, the Druids fled to\nthe isle of Mona, near the coast of Wales. The Romans pursued them,\nand in 61 A. D. they were slaughtered and their oak groves cut\ndown. During the next three centuries the cult was stifled to\ndeath, and the Christian religion substituted.\n\nIt was believed that at Christ's advent the pagan gods either died\nor were banished.\n\n \"The lonely mountains o'er\n And the resounding shore\n A voice of weeping heard, and loud lament.\n From haunted spring and dale,\n Edged with poplar pale,\n The parting genius is with sighing sent.\n With flower-inwoven tresses torn\n The nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn.\"\n\n MILTON: _On the Morning of Christ's Nativity._\n\nThe Christian Fathers explained all oracles and omens by saying\nthat there was something in them, but that they were the work of\nthe evil one. The miraculous power they seemed to possess worked\n\"black magic.\"\n\nIt was a long, hard effort to make men see that their gods had all\nthe time been wrong, and harder still to root out the age-long\ngrowth of rite and symbol. But on the old religion might be grafted\nnew names; Midsummer was dedicated to the birth of Saint John;\nLugnasad became Lammas. The fires belonging to these times of year\nwere retained, their old significance forgotten or reconsecrated.\nThe rowan, or mountain ash, whose berries had been the food of the\nTuatha, now exorcised those very beings. The trefoil signified the\nTrinity, and the cross no longer the rays of the sun on water, but\nthe cross of Calvary. The fires which had been built to propitiate\nthe god and consume his sacrifices to induce him to protect them\nwere now lighted to protect the people from the same god, declared\nto be an evil mischief-maker. In time the autumn festival of the\nDruids became the vigil of All Hallows or All Saints' Day.\n\nAll Saints' was first suggested in the fourth century, when the\nChristians were no longer persecuted, in memory of all the saints,\nsince there were too many for each to have a special day on the\nchurch calendar. A day in May was chosen by Pope Boniface IV in 610\nfor consecrating the Pantheon, the old Roman temple of all the\ngods, to the Virgin and all the saints and martyrs. Pope Gregory\nIII dedicated a chapel in St. Peter's to the same, and that day was\nmade compulsory in 835 by Pope Gregory IV, as All Saints'. The day\nwas changed from May to November so that the crowds that thronged\nto Rome for the services might be fed from the harvest bounty. It\nis celebrated with a special service in the Greek and Roman\nchurches and by Episcopalians.\n\nIn the tenth century St. Odilo, Bishop of Cluny, instituted a day\nof prayer and special masses for the souls of the dead. He had been\ntold that a hermit dwelling near a cave\n\n \"heard the voices and howlings of devils, which complained\n strongly because that the souls of them that were dead were taken\n away from their hands by alms and by prayers.\"\n\n DE VORAGINE: _Golden Legend._\n\nThis day became All Souls', and was set for November 2d.\n\nIt is very appropriate that the Celtic festival when the spirits of\nthe dead and the supernatural powers held a carnival of triumph\nover the god of light, should be followed by All Saints' and All\nSouls'. The church holy-days were celebrated by bonfires to light\nsouls through Purgatory to Paradise, as they had lighted the sun to\nhis death on Samhain. On both occasions there were prayers: the\npagan petitions to the lord of death for a pleasant dwelling-place\nfor the souls of departed friends; and the Christian for their\nspeedy deliverance from torture. They have in common the\ncelebrating of death: the one, of the sun; the other, of mortals:\nof harvest: the one, of crops; the other, of sacred memories. They\nare kept by revelry and joy: first, to cheer men and make them\nforget the malign influences abroad; second, because as the saints\nin heaven rejoice over one repentant sinner, we should rejoice over\nthose who, after struggles and sufferings past, have entered into\neverlasting glory.\n\n \"Mother, my Mother, Mother-Country,\n Yet were the fields in bud.\n And the harvest,--when shall it rise again\n Up through the fire and flood?\n\n * * * * *\n\n \"Mother, my Mother, Mother-Country,\n Was it not all to save\n Harvest of bread?--Harvest of men?\n And the bright years, wave on wave?\n\n _\"Search not, search not, my way-worn;\n Search neither weald nor wave.\n One is their heavy reaping-time\n To the earth, that is one wide grave.\"_\n\n MARKS: _All Souls' Eve._\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF HALLOWE'EN OMENS\n\n\nThe custom of making tests to learn the future comes from the old\nsystem of augury from sacrifice. Who sees in the nuts thrown into\nthe fire, turning in the heat, blazing and growing black, the\nwrithing victim of an old-time sacrifice to an idol?\n\nMany superstitions and charms were believed to be active at any\ntime, but all those and numerous special ones worked best on\nNovember Eve. All the tests of all the Celtic festivals have been\nallotted to Hallowe'en. Cakes from the May Eve fire, hemp-seed and\nprophetic dreams from Midsummer, games and sports from Lugnasad\nhave survived in varied forms.\n\nTests are very often tried blindfold, so that the seeker may be\nguided by fate. Many are mystic--to evoke apparitions from the\npast or future. Others are tried with harvest grains and fruits.\nBecause skill and undivided attention is needed to carry them\nthrough successfully, many have degenerated into mere contests of\nskill, have lost their meaning, and become rough games.\n\nAnswers are sought to questions about one's future career; chiefly\nto: when and whom shall I marry? what will be my profession and\ndegree of wealth, and when shall I die?\n\n[Illustration: IN HALLOWE'EN TIME.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nHALLOWE'EN BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS IN IRELAND\n\n\nIreland has a literature of Hallowe'en, or \"Samhain,\" as it used to\nbe called. Most of it was written between the seventh and the\ntwelfth centuries, but the events were thought to have happened\nwhile paganism still ruled in Ireland.\n\nThe evil powers that came out at Samhain lived the rest of the time\nin the cave of Cruachan in Connaught, the province which was given\nto the wicked Fomor after the battle of Moytura. This cave was\ncalled the \"hell-gate of Ireland,\" and was unlocked on November Eve\nto let out spirits and copper-colored birds which killed the farm\nanimals. They also stole babies, leaving in their place\nchangelings, goblins who were old in wickedness while still in the\ncradle, possessing superhuman cunning and skill in music. One way\nof getting rid of these demon children was to ill-treat them so\nthat their people would come for them, bringing the right ones\nback; or one might boil egg-shells in the sight of the changeling,\nwho would declare his demon nature by saying that in his centuries\nof life he had never seen such a thing before.\n\nBrides too were stolen.\n\n \"You shall go with me, newly married bride,\n And gaze upon a merrier multitude;\n White-armed Nuala and \u00c6ngus of the birds,\n And Feacra of the hurtling foam, and him\n Who is the ruler of the western host,\n Finvarra, and the Land of Heart's Desire,\n Where beauty has no ebb, decay no flood,\n But joy is wisdom, time an endless song.\"\n\n YEATS: _Land of Heart's Desire._\n\nIn the first century B. C. lived Ailill and his queen Medb. As they\nwere celebrating their Samhain feast in the palace,\n\n \"Three days before Samhain at all times,\n And three days after, by ancient custom\n Did the hosts of high aspiration\n Continue to feast for the whole week.\"\n\n O'CIARAIN: _Loch Garman._\n\nthey offered a reward to the man who should tie a bundle of twigs\nabout the feet of a criminal who had been hanged by the gate. It\nwas dangerous to go near dead bodies on November Eve, but a bold\nyoung man named Nera dared it, and tied the twigs successfully. As\nhe turned to go he saw\n\n \"the whole of the palace as if on fire before him, and the heads\n of the people of it lying on the ground, and then he thought he\n saw an army going into the hill of Cruachan, and he followed\n after the army.\"\n\n GREGORY: _Cuchulain of Muirthemne._\n\nThe door was shut. Nera was married to a fairy woman, who betrayed\nher kindred by sending Nera to warn King Ailill of the intended\nattack upon his palace the next November Eve. Nera bore summer\nfruits with him to prove that he had been in the fairy _sid_. The\nnext November Eve, when the doors were opened Ailill entered and\ndiscovered the crown, emblem of power, took it away, and plundered\nthe treasury. Nera never returned again to the homes of men.\n\nAnother story of about the same time was that of Angus, the son of\na Tuatha god, to whom in a dream a beautiful maiden appeared. He\nwasted away with love for her, and searched the country for a girl\nwho should look like her. At last he saw in a meadow among a\nhundred and fifty maidens, each with a chain of silver about her\nneck, one who was like the beauty of his dream. She wore a golden\nchain about her throat, and was the daughter of King Ethal Anbual.\nKing Ethal's palace was stormed by Ailill, and he was forced to\ngive up his daughter. He gave as a reason for withholding his\nconsent so long, that on Samhain Princess Caer changed from a\nmaiden to a swan, and back again the next year.\n\n \"And when the time came Angus went to the loch, and he saw the\n three times fifty white birds there with their silver chains\n about their necks, and Angus stood in a man's shape at the edge\n of the loch, and he called to the girl: 'Come and speak with me,\n O Caer!'\n\n \"'Who is calling me?' said Caer.\n\n \"'Angus calls you,' he said, 'and if you do come, I swear by my\n word I will not hinder you from going into the loch again.'\"\n\n GREGORY: _Cuchulain of Muirthemne._\n\nShe came, and he changed to a swan likewise, and they flew away to\nKing Dagda's palace, where every one who heard their sweet singing\nwas charmed into a sleep of three days and three nights.\n\nPrincess Etain, of the race of the Tuatha, and wife of Midir, was\nborn again as the daughter of Queen Medb, the wife of Ailill. She\nremembers a little of the land from which she came, is never quite\nhappy,\n\n \"But sometimes--sometimes--tell me: have you heard,\n By dusk or moonset have you never heard\n Sweet voices, delicate music? Never seen\n The passage of the lordly beautiful ones\n Men call the Shee?\"\n\n SHARP: _Immortal Hour._\n\neven when she wins the love of King Eochaidh. When they have been\nmarried a year, there comes Midir from the Land of Youth. By\nwinning a game of chess from the King, he gets anything he may ask,\nand prays to see the Queen. When he sees her he sings a song of\nlonging to her, and Eochaidh is troubled because it is Samhain, and\nhe knows the great power the hosts of the air \"have then over those\nwho wish for happiness.\"\n\n \"Etain, speak!\n What is the song the harper sings, what tongue\n Is this he speaks? for in no Gaelic lands\n Is speech like this upon the lips of men.\n No word of all these honey-dripping words\n Is known to me. Beware, beware the words\n Brewed in the moonshine under ancient oaks\n White with pale banners of the mistletoe\n Twined round them in their slow and stately death.\n It is the feast of S\u00e1veen\" (Samhain).\n\n SHARP: _Immortal Hour._\n\nIn vain Eochaidh pleads with her to stay with him. She has already\nforgotten all but Midir and the life so long ago in the Land of\nYouth.\n\n \"In the Land of Youth\n There are pleasant places;\n Green meadows, woods,\n Swift grey-blue waters.\n\n \"There is no age there,\n Nor any sorrow.\n As the stars in heaven\n Are the cattle in the valleys.\n\n \"Great rivers wander\n Through flowery plains.\n Streams of milk, of mead,\n Streams of strong ale.\n\n \"There is no hunger\n And no thirst\n In the Hollow Land,\n In the Land of Youth.\"\n\n SHARP: _Immortal Hour._\n\nShe and Midir fly away in the form of two swans, linked by a chain\nof gold.\n\nCuchulain, hopelessly sick of a strange illness brought on by Fand\nand Liban, fairy sisters, was visited the day before Samhain by a\nmessenger, who promised to cure him if he would go to the\nOtherworld. Cuchulain could not make up his mind to go, but sent\nLaeg, his charioteer. Such glorious reports did Laeg bring back\nfrom the Otherworld,\n\n \"If all Erin were mine,\n And the kingship of yellow Bregia,\n I would give it, no trifling deed,\n To dwell for aye in the place I reached.\"\n\n _Cuchulain's Sick-bed._ (Meyer _trans._)\n\nthat Cuchulain went thither, and championed the people there\nagainst their enemies. He stayed a month with the fairy Fand. Emer,\nhis wife at home, was beset with jealousy, and plotted against\nFand, who had followed her hero home. Fand in fear returned to her\ndeserted husband, Emer was given a Druidic drink to drown her\njealousy, and Cuchulain another to forget his infatuation, and they\nlived happily afterward.\n\nEven after Christianity was made the vital religion in Ireland, it\nwas believed that places not exorcised by prayers and by the sign\nof the cross, were still haunted by Druids. As late as the fifth\ncentury the Druids kept their skill in fortune-telling. King Dathi\ngot a Druid to foretell what would happen to him from one\nHallowe'en to the next, and the prophecy came true. Their religion\nwas now declared evil, and all evil or at any rate suspicious\nbeings were assigned to them or to the devil as followers.\n\n \"_Maire Bruin:_\n Are not they, likewise, the children of God?\n\n _Father Hart:_\n Colleen, they are the children of the fiend,\n And they have power until the end of Time,\n When God shall fight with them a great pitched battle\n And hack them into pieces.\"\n\n YEATS: _Land of Heart's Desire._\n\nThe power of fairy music was so great that St. Patrick himself was\nput to sleep by a minstrel who appeared to him on the day before\nSamhain. The Tuatha De Danann, angered at the renegade people who\nno longer did them honor, sent another minstrel, who after laying\nthe ancient religious seat Tara under a twenty-three years' charm,\nburned up the city with his fiery breath.\n\nThese infamous spirits dwelt in grassy mounds, called \"forts,\"\nwhich were the entrances to underground palaces full of treasure,\nwhere was always music and dancing. These treasure-houses were open\nonly on November Eve\n\n \"For the fairy mounds of Erinn are always\n opened about Hallowe'en.\"\n\n _Expedition of Nera._ (Meyer _trans._)\n\nwhen the throngs of spirits, fairies, and goblins trooped out for\nrevels about the country. The old Druid idea of obsession, the\nbesieging of a person by an evil spirit, was practised by them at\nthat time.\n\n \"This is the first day of the winter, and to-day the\n Hosts of the Air are in their greatest power.\"\n\n WARREN: _Twig of Thorn._\n\nIf the fairies wished to seize a mortal--which power they had as\nthe sun-god could take men to himself--they caused him to give\nthem certain tokens by which he delivered himself into their hands.\nThey might be milk and fire--\n\n \"_Maire Bruin:_\n A little queer old woman cloaked in green,\n Who came to beg a porringer of milk.\n\n _Bridget Bruin:_\n The good people go asking milk and fire\n Upon May Eve--woe to the house that gives,\n For they have power over it for a year.\"\n\n YEATS: _Land of Heart's Desire._\n\nor one might receive a fairy thorn such as Oonah brings home, which\nshrivels up at the touch of St. Bridget's image;\n\n \"Oh, ever since I kept the twig of thorn and hid it, I have seen\n strange things, and heard strange laughter and far voices\n calling.\"\n\n WARREN: _Twig of Thorn._\n\nor one might be lured by music as he stopped near the fort to watch\nthe dancing, for the revels were held in secret, as those of the\nDruids had been, and no one could look on them unaffected.\n\nA story is told of Paddy More, a great stout uncivil churl, and\nPaddy Beg, a cheerful little hunchback. The latter, seeing lights\nand hearing music, paused by a mound, and was invited in. Urged to\ntell stories, he complied; he danced as spryly as he could for his\ndeformity; he sang, and made himself so agreeable that the fairies\ndecided to take the hump off his back, and send him home a straight\nmanly fellow. The next Hallowe'en who should come by the same place\nbut Paddy More, and he stopped likewise to spy at the merrymaking.\nHe too was called in, but would not dance politely, added no\nstories nor songs. The fairies clapped Paddy Beg's hump on his\nback, and dismissed him under a double burden of discomfort.\n\nA lad called Guleesh, listening outside a fort on Hallowe'en heard\nthe spirits speaking of the fatal illness of his betrothed, the\ndaughter of the King of France. They said that if Guleesh but knew\nit, he might boil an herb that grew by his door and give it to the\nprincess and make her well. Joyfully Guleesh hastened home,\nprepared the herb, and cured the royal girl.\n\nSometimes people did not have the luck to return, but were led away\nto a realm of perpetual youth and music.\n\n \"_Father Hart._ What are you reading?\n\n _Maire Bruin._ How a Princess Edane,\n A daughter of a King of Ireland, heard\n A voice singing on a May Eve like this,\n And followed, half awake and half asleep,\n Until she came into the land of faery,\n Where nobody gets old and godly and grave,\n Where nobody gets old and crafty and wise,\n Where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue;\n And she is still there, busied with a dance,\n Deep in the dewy shadow of a wood,\n Or where stars walk upon a mountain-top.\"\n\n YEATS: _Land of Heart's Desire._\n\nIf one returned, he found that the space which seemed to him but\none night, had been many years, and with the touch of earthly sod\nthe age he had postponed suddenly weighed him down. Ossian,\nreleased from fairyland after three hundred years dalliance there,\nrode back to his own country on horseback. He saw men imprisoned\nunder a block of marble and others trying to lift the stone. As he\nleaned over to aid them the girth broke. With the touch of earth\n\"straightway the white horse fled away on his way home, and Ossian\nbecame aged, decrepit, and blind.\"\n\nNo place as much as Ireland has kept the belief in all sorts of\nsupernatural spirits abroad among its people. From the time when on\nthe hill of Ward, near Tara, in pre-Christian days, the sacrifices\nwere burned and the Tuatha were thought to appear on Samhain, to as\nlate as 1910, testimony to actual appearances of the \"little\npeople\" is to be found.\n\n \"'Among the usually invisible races which I have seen in Ireland,\n I distinguish five classes. There are the Gnomes, who are\n earth-spirits, and who seem to be a sorrowful race. I once saw\n some of them distinctly on the side of Ben Bulbin. They had\n rather round heads and dark thick-set bodies, and in stature were\n about two and one-half feet. The Leprechauns are different, being\n full of mischief, though they, too, are small. I followed a\n Leprechaun from the town of Wicklow out to the Carraig Sidhe,\n \"Rock of the Fairies,\" a distance of half a mile or more, where\n he disappeared. He had a very merry face, and beckoned to me with\n his finger. A third class are the Little People, who, unlike the\n Gnomes and Leprechauns, are quite good-looking; and they are very\n small. The Good People are tall, beautiful beings, as tall as\n ourselves.... They direct the magnetic currents of the earth. The\n Gods are really the Tuatha De Danann, and they are much taller\n than our race.'\"\n\n WENTZ: _Fairy-faith in Celtic Countries._\n\nThe sight of apparitions on Hallowe'en is believed to be fatal to\nthe beholder.\n\n \"One night my lady's soul walked along the wall like a cat. Long\n Tom Bowman beheld her and that day week fell he into the well and\n was drowned.\"\n\n PYLE: _Priest and the Piper._\n\nOne version of the Jack-o'-lantern story comes from Ireland. A\nstingy man named Jack was for his inhospitality barred from all\nhope of heaven, and because of practical jokes on the Devil was\nlocked out of hell. Until the Judgment Day he is condemned to walk\nthe earth with a lantern to light his way.\n\nThe place of the old lord of the dead, the Tuatha god Saman, to\nwhom vigil was kept and prayers said on November Eve for the good\nof departed souls, was taken in Christian times by St. Colomba or\nColumb Kill, the founder of a monastery in Iona in the fifth\ncentury. In the seventeenth century the Irish peasants went about\nbegging money and goodies for a feast, and demanding in the name of\nColumb Kill that fatted calves and black sheep be prepared. In\nplace of the Druid fires, candles were collected and lighted on\nHallowe'en, and prayers for the souls of the givers said before\nthem. The name of Saman is kept in the title \"Oidhche Shamhna,\"\n\"vigil of Saman,\" by which the night of October 31st was until\nrecently called in Ireland.\n\nThere are no Hallowe'en bonfires in Ireland now, but charms and\ntests are tried. Apples and nuts, the treasure of Pomona, figure\nlargely in these. They are representative winter fruits, the\ncommonest. They can be gathered late and kept all winter.\n\nA popular drink at the Hallowe'en gathering in the eighteenth\ncentury was milk in which crushed roasted apples had been mixed. It\nwas called lambs'-wool (perhaps from \"La Mas Ubhal,\" \"the day of\nthe apple fruit\"). At the Hallowe'en supper \"callcannon,\" mashed\npotatoes, parsnips, and chopped onions, is indispensable. A ring is\nburied in it, and the one who finds it in his portion will be\nmarried in a year, or if he is already married, will be lucky.\n\n \"They had colcannon, and the funniest things were found in\n it--tiny dolls, mice, a pig made of china, silver sixpences, a\n thimble, a ring, and lots of other things. After supper was over\n all went into the big play-room, and dived for apples in a tub of\n water, fished for prizes in a basin of flour; then there were\n games----\"\n\n TRANT: _Hallowe'en in Ireland._\n\nA coin betokened to the finder wealth; the thimble, that he would\nnever marry.\n\nA ring and a nut are baked in a cake. The ring of course means\nearly marriage, the nut signifies that its finder will marry a\nwidow or a widower. If the kernel is withered, no marriage at all\nis prophesied. In Roscommon, in central Ireland, a coin, a sloe,\nand a bit of wood were baked in a cake. The one getting the sloe\nwould live longest, the one getting the wood was destined to die\nwithin the year.\n\nA mould of flour turned out on the table held similar tokens. Each\nperson cut off a slice with a knife, and drew out his prize with\nhis teeth.\n\nAfter supper the tests were tried. In the last century nut-shells\nwere burned. The best-known nut test is made as follows: three nuts\nare named for a girl and two sweethearts. If one burns steadily\nwith the girl's nut, that lover is faithful to her, but if either\nhers or one of the other nuts starts away, there will be no happy\nfriendship between them.\n\nApples are snapped from the end of a stick hung parallel to the\nfloor by a twisted cord which whirls the stick rapidly when it is\nlet go. Care has to be taken not to bite the candle burning on the\nother end. Sometimes this test is made easier by dropping the\napples into a tub of water and diving for them, or piercing them\nwith a fork dropped straight down.\n\nGreen herbs called \"livelong\" were plucked by the children and hung\nup on Midsummer Eve. If a plant was found to be still green on\nHallowe'en, the one who had hung it up would prosper for the year,\nbut if it had turned yellow or had died, the child would also die.\n\nHemp-seed is sown across three furrows, the sower repeating:\n\"Hemp-seed, I saw thee, hemp-seed, I saw thee; and her that is to\nbe my true love, come after me and draw thee.\" On looking back over\nhis shoulder he will see the apparition of his future wife in the\nact of gathering hemp.\n\nSeven cabbage stalks were named for any seven of the company, then\npulled up, and the guests asked to come out, and \"see their\nsowls.\"\n\n \"One, two, three, and up to seven;\n If all are white, all go to heaven;\n If one is black as Murtagh's evil,\n He'll soon be screechin' wi' the devil.\"\n\nRed Mike \"was a queer one from his birth, an' no wonder, for he\nfirst saw the light atween dusk an' dark o' a Hallowe'en Eve.\" When\nthe cabbage test was tried at a party where Mike was present, six\nstalks were found to be white, but Mike's was \"all black an' fowl\nwi' worms an' slugs, an' wi' a real bad smell ahint it.\" Angered at\nthe ridicule he received, he cried: \"I've the gift o' the night, I\nhave, an' on this day my curse can blast whatever I choose.\" At\nthat the priest showed Mike a crucifix, and he ran away howling,\nand disappeared through a bog into the ground.\n\n SHARP: _Threefold Chronicle._\n\nTwelve of the party may learn their future, if one gets a clod of\nearth from the churchyard sets up twelve candles in it, lights and\nnames them. The fortune of each will be like that of the\ncandle-light named for him,--steady, wavering, or soon in darkness.\n\nA ball of blue yarn was thrown out of the window by a girl who held\nfast to the end. She wound it over on her hand from left to right,\nsaying the Creed backwards. When she had nearly finished, she\nexpected the yarn would be held. She must ask \"Who holds?\" and the\nwind would sigh her sweetheart's name in at the window.\n\nIn some charms the devil was invoked directly. If one walked about\na rick nine times with a rake, saying, \"I rake this rick in the\ndevil's name,\" a vision would come and take away the rake.\n\nIf one went out with nine grains of oats in his mouth, and walked\nabout until he heard a girl's name called or mentioned, he would\nknow the name of his future wife, for they would be the same.\n\nLead is melted, and poured through a key or a ring into cold water.\nThe form each spoonful takes in cooling indicates the occupation\nof the future husband of the girl who poured it.\n\n \"Now something like a horse would cause the jubilant maiden to\n call out, 'A dragoon!' Now some dim resemblance to a helmet would\n suggest a handsome member of the mounted police; or a round\n object with a spike would seem a ship, and this of course meant a\n sailor; or a cow would suggest a cattle-dealer, or a plough a\n farmer.\"\n\n SHARP: _Threefold Chronicle._\n\nAfter the future had been searched, a piper played a jig, to which\nall danced merrily with a loud noise to scare away the evil\nspirits.\n\nJust before midnight was the time to go out \"alone and unperceived\"\nto a south-running brook, dip a shirt-sleeve in it, bring it home\nand hang it by the fire to dry. One must go to bed, but watch till\nmidnight for a sight of the destined mate who would come to turn\nthe shirt to dry the other side.\n\nAshes were raked smooth on the hearth at bedtime on Hallowe'en, and\nthe next morning examined for footprints. If one was turned from\nthe door, guests or a marriage was prophesied; if toward the door,\na death.\n\nTo have prophetic dreams a girl should search for a briar grown\ninto a hoop, creep through thrice in the name of the devil, cut it\nin silence, and go to bed with it under her pillow. A boy should\ncut ten ivy leaves, throw away one and put the rest under his head\nbefore he slept.\n\nIf a girl leave beside her bed a glass of water with a sliver of\nwood in it, and say before she falls asleep:\n\n \"Husband mine that is to be,\n Come this night and rescue me,\"\n\nshe will dream of falling off a bridge into the water, and of being\nsaved at the last minute by the spirit of her future husband. To\nreceive a drink from his hand she must eat a cake of flour, soot,\nand salt before she goes to bed.\n\nThe Celtic spirit of yearning for the unknown, retained nowhere\nelse as much as in Ireland, is expressed very beautifully by the\npoet Yeats in the introduction to his _Celtic Twilight_.\n\n \"The host is riding from Knocknarea\n And over the grave of Clooth-na-bare;\n Caolte tossing his burning hair,\n And Niam calling: 'Away, come away;\n\n \"'And brood no more where the fire is bright,\n Filling thy heart with a mortal dream;\n For breasts are heaving and eyes a-gleam:\n Away, come away to the dim twilight\n\n \"'Arms are heaving and lips apart;\n And if any gaze on our rushing band,\n We come between him and the deed of his hand,\n We come between him and the hope of his heart.'\n\n \"The host is rushing twixt night and day,\n And where is there hope or deed as fair?\n Caolte tossing his burning hair,\n And Niam calling: 'Away, come away.'\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nIN SCOTLAND AND THE HEBRIDES\n\n\nAs in Ireland the Scotch Baal festival of November was called\nSamhain. Western Scotland, lying nearest Tara, center alike of\npagan and Christian religion in Ireland, was colonized by both the\npeople and the customs of eastern Ireland.\n\nThe November Eve fires which in Ireland either died out or were\nreplaced by candles were continued in Scotland. In Buchan, where\nwas the altar-source of the Samhain fire, bonfires were lighted on\nhilltops in the eighteenth century; and in Moray the idea of fires\nof thanksgiving for harvest was kept to as late as 1866. All\nthrough the eighteenth century in the Highlands and in Perthshire\ntorches of heath, broom, flax, or ferns were carried about the\nfields and villages by each family, with the intent to cause good\ncrops in succeeding years. The course about the fields was sunwise,\nto have a good influence. Brought home at dark, the torches were\nthrown down in a heap, and made a fire. This blaze was called\n\"Samhnagan,\" \"of rest and pleasure.\" There was much competition to\nhave the largest fire. Each person put in one stone to make a\ncircle about it. The young people ran about with burning brands.\nSupper was eaten out-of-doors, and games played. After the fire had\nburned out, ashes were raked over the stones. In the morning each\nsought his pebble, and if he found it misplaced, harmed, or a\nfootprint marked near it in the ashes, he believed he should die in\na year.\n\nIn Aberdeenshire boys went about the villages saying: \"Ge's a peat\nt' burn the witches.\" They were thought to be out stealing milk and\nharming cattle. Torches used to counteract them were carried from\nwest to east, against the sun. This ceremony grew into a game, when\na fire was built by one party, attacked by another, and defended.\nAs in the May fires of purification the lads lay down in the smoke\nclose by, or ran about and jumped over the flames. As the fun grew\nwilder they flung burning peats at each other, scattered the ashes\nwith their feet, and hurried from one fire to another to have a\npart in scattering as many as possible before they died out.\n\nIn 1874, at Balmoral, a royal celebration of Hallowe'en was\nrecorded. Royalty, tenants, and servants bore torches through the\ngrounds and round the estates. In front of the castle was a heap of\nstuff saved for the occasion. The torches were thrown on. When the\nfire was burning its liveliest, a hobgoblin appeared, drawing in a\ncar the figure of a witch, surrounded by fairies carrying lances.\nThe people formed a circle about the fire, and the witch was tossed\nin. Then there were dances to the music of bag-pipes.\n\nIt was the time of year when servants changed masters or signed up\nanew under the old ones. They might enjoy a holiday before resuming\nwork. So they sang:\n\n \"This is Hallaeven,\n The morn is Halladay;\n Nine free nichts till Martinmas,\n As soon they'll wear away.\"\n\nChildren born on Hallowe'en could see and converse with\nsupernatural powers more easily than others. In Ireland, evil\nrelations caused Red Mike's downfall (q. v.). For Scotland Mary\nAvenel, in Scott's _Monastery_, is the classic example.\n\n \"And touching the bairn, it's weel kenn'd she was born on\n Hallowe'en, and they that are born on Hallowe'en whiles see mair\n than ither folk.\"\n\nThere is no hint of dark relations, but rather of a\nclear-sightedness which lays bare truths, even those concealed in\nmen's breasts. Mary Avenel sees the spirit of her father after he\nhas been dead for years. The White Lady of Avenel is her peculiar\nguardian.\n\nThe Scottish Border, where Mary lived, is the seat of many\nsuperstitions and other worldly beliefs. The fairies of Scotland\nare more terrible than those of Ireland, as the dells and streams\nand woods are of greater grandeur, and the character of the people\nmore serious. It is unlucky to name the fairies, here as elsewhere,\nexcept by such placating titles as \"Good Neighbors\" or \"Men of\nPeace.\" Rowan, elm, and holly are a protection against them.\n\n \"I have tied red thread round the bairns' throats, and given ilk\n ane of them a riding-wand of rowan-tree, forbye sewing up a slip\n of witch-elm into their doublets; and I wish to know of your\n reverence if there be onything mair that a lone woman can do in\n the matter of ghosts and fairies?--be here! that I should have\n named their unlucky names twice ower!\"\n\n SCOTT: _Monastery._\n\n\"The sign of the cross disarmeth all evil spirits.\"\n\nThese spirits of the air have not human feelings or motives. They\nare conscienceless. In this respect Peter Pan is an immortal fairy\nas well as an immortal child. While like a child he resents\ninjustice in horrified silence, like a fairy he acts with no sense\nof responsibility. When he saves Wendy's brother from falling as\nthey fly,\n\n \"You felt it was his cleverness that interested him, and not the\n saving of human life.\"\n\n BARRIE: _Peter and Wendy._\n\nThe world in which Peter lived was so near the Kensington Gardens\nthat he could see them through the bridge as he sat on the shore of\nthe Neverland. Yet for a long time he could not get to them.\n\nPeter is a fairy piper who steals away the souls of children.\n\n \"No man alive has seen me,\n But women hear me play,\n Sometimes at door or window,\n Fiddling the souls away--\n The child's soul and the colleen's\n Out of the covering clay.\"\n\n HOPPER: _Fairy Fiddler._\n\nOn Hallowe'en all traditional spirits are abroad. The Scotch\ninvented the idea of a \"Samhanach,\" a goblin who comes out just at\n\"Samhain.\" It is he who in Ireland steals children. The fairies\npass at crossroads,\n\n \"But the night is Hallowe'en, lady,\n The morn is Hallowday;\n Then win me, win me, and ye will,\n For weel I wot ye may.\n\n \"Just at the mirk and midnight hour\n The fairy folk will ride.\n And they that wad their true-love win,\n At Miles Cross they maun bide.\"\n\n _Ballad of Tam Lin._\n\nand in the Highlands whoever took a three-legged stool to where\nthree crossroads met, and sat upon it at midnight, would hear the\nnames of those who were to die in a year. He might bring with him\narticles of dress, and as each name was pronounced throw one\ngarment to the fairies. They would be so pleased by this gift that\nthey would repeal the sentence of death.\n\nEven people who seemed to be like their neighbors every day could\nfor this night fly away and join the other beings in their revels.\n\n \"This is the nicht o' Hallowe'en\n When a' the witchie may be seen;\n Some o' them black, some o' them green,\n Some o' them like a turkey bean.\"\n\nA witches' party was conducted in this way. The wretched women who\nhad sold their souls to the Devil, left a stick in bed which by\nevil means was made to have their likeness, and, anointed with the\nfat of murdered babies flew off up the chimney on a broomstick with\ncats attendant. Burns tells the story of a company of witches\npulling ragwort by the roadside, getting each astride her ragwort\nwith the summons \"Up horsie!\" and flying away.\n\n \"The hag is astride\n This night for a ride,\n The devils and she together:\n Through thick and through thin,\n Now out and now in,\n Though ne'er so foul be the weather.\n\n * * * * *\n\n \"A thorn or a burr\n She takes for a spur,\n With a lash of the bramble she rides now.\n Through brake and through briers,\n O'er ditches and mires,\n She follows the spirit that guides now.\"\n\n HERRICK: _The Hag._\n\nThe meeting-place was arranged by the Devil, who sometimes rode\nthere on a goat. At their supper no bread or salt was eaten; they\ndrank out of horses' skulls, and danced, sometimes back to back,\nsometimes from west to east, for the dances at the ancient Baal\nfestivals were from east to west, and it was evil and ill-omened to\nmove the other way. For this dance the Devil played a bag-pipe made\nof a hen's skull and cats' tails.\n\n \"There sat Auld Nick, in shape o' beast;\n A tousie tyke, black, grim, and large,\n To gie them music was his charge:\n He screw'd the pipes and gart them skirl,\n Till roof and rafters a' did dirl.\"[1]\n\n BURNS: _Tam o' Shanter._\n\n[1] Ring.\n\nThe light for the revelry came from a torch flaring between the\nhorns of the Devil's steed the goat, and at the close the ashes\nwere divided for the witches to use in incantations. People\nimagined that cats who had been up all night on Hallowe'en were\ntired out the next morning.\n\nTam o' Shanter who was watching such a dance\n\n \"By Alloway's auld haunted kirk\"\n\nin Ayrshire, could not resist calling out at the antics of a\nneighbor whom he recognized, and was pursued by the witches. He\nurged his horse to top-speed,\n\n \"Now do thy speedy utmost, Meg,\n And win the key-stane of the brig;\n There at them thou thy tail may toss,\n A running stream they dare na cross!\"\n\n BURNS: _Tam o' Shanter._\n\nbut poor Meg had no tail thereafter to toss at them, for though she\nsaved her rider, she was only her tail's length beyond the middle\nof the bridge when the foremost witch grasped it and seared it to\na stub.\n\nSuch witches might be questioned about the past or future.\n\n \"He that dare sit on St. Swithin's Chair,\n When the Night-Hag wings the troubled air,\n Questions three, when he speaks the spell,\n He may ask, and she must tell.\"\n\n SCOTT: _St. Swithin's Chair._\n\nChildren make of themselves bogies on this evening, carrying the\nlargest turnips they can save from harvest, hollowed out and carved\ninto the likeness of a fearsome face, with teeth and forehead\nblacked, and lighted by a candle fastened inside.\n\nIf the spirit of a person simply appears without being summoned,\nand the person is still alive, it means that he is in danger. If he\ncomes toward the one to whom he appears the danger is over. If he\nseems to go away, he is dying.\n\nAn apparition from the future especially is sought on Hallowe'en.\nIt is a famous time for divination in love affairs. A typical\neighteenth century party in western Scotland is described by Robert\nBurns.\n\nCabbages are important in Scotch superstition. Children believe\nthat if they pile cabbage-stalks round the doors and windows of the\nhouse, the fairies will bring them a new brother or sister.\n\n \"And often when in his old-fashioned way\n He questioned me,...\n Who made the stars? and if within his hand\n He caught and held one, would his fingers burn?\n If I, the gray-haired dominie, was dug\n From out a cabbage-garden such as he\n Was found in----\"\n\n BUCHANAN: _Willie Baird._\n\nKale-pulling came first on the program in Burns's _Hallowe'en_.\nJust the single and unengaged went out hand in hand blindfolded to\nthe cabbage-garden. They pulled the first stalk they came upon,\nbrought it back to the house, and were unbandaged. The size and\nshape of the stalk indicated the appearance of the future husband\nor wife.\n\n \"Maybe you would rather not pull a stalk that was tall and\n straight and strong--that would mean Alastair? Maybe you would\n rather find you had got hold of a withered old stump with a lot\n of earth at the root--a decrepit old man with plenty of money in\n the bank? Or maybe you are wishing for one that is slim and\n supple and not so tall--for one that might mean Johnnie Semple.\"\n\n BLACK: _Hallowe'en Wraith._\n\nA close white head meant an old husband, an open green head a young\none. His disposition would be like the taste of the stem. To\ndetermine his name, the stalks were hung over the door, and the\nnumber of one's stalk in the row noted. If Jessie put hers up third\nfrom the beginning, and the third man who passed through the\ndoorway under it was named Alan, her husband's first name would be\nAlan. This is practised only a little now among farmers. It has\nspecial virtue if the cabbage has been stolen from the garden of an\nunmarried person.\n\nSometimes the pith of a cabbage-stalk was pushed out, the hole\nfilled with tow, which was set afire and blown through keyholes on\nHallowe'en.\n\n \"Their runts clean through and through were bored,\n And stuffed with raivelins fou,\n And like a chimley when on fire\n Each could the reek outspue.\n\n \"Jock through the key-hole sent a cloud\n That reached across the house,\n While in below the door reek rushed\n Like water through a sluice.\"\n\n DICK: _Splores of a Hallowe'en._\n\nCabbage-broth was a regular dish at the Hallowe'en feast. Mashed\npotatoes, as in Ireland, or a dish of meal and milk holds symbolic\nobjects--a ring, a thimble, and a coin. In the cake are baked a\nring and a key. The ring signifies to the possessor marriage, and\nthe key a journey.\n\nApple-ducking is still a universal custom in Scotland. A sixpence\nis sometimes dropped into the tub or stuck into an apple to make\nthe reward greater. The contestants must keep their hands behind\ntheir backs.\n\nNuts are put before the fire in pairs, instead of by threes as in\nIreland, and named for a lover and his lass. If they burn to ashes\ntogether, long happy married life is destined for the lovers. If\nthey crackle or start away from each other, dissension and\nseparation are ahead.\n\n \"Jean slips in twa, wi' tentie[1] e'e;\n Wha 't was, she wadna tell;\n But this is _Jock_, an' this is _me_,\n She says in to hersel;\n He bleez'd owre her, an' she owre him,\n As they wad never mair part;\n Till fuff! he started up the lum,[2]\n And Jean had e'en a sair heart\n To see't that night.\"\n\n BURNS: _Hallowe'en._\n\n[1] Careful.\n\n[2] Chimney.\n\nThree \"luggies,\" bowls with handles like the Druid lamps, were\nfilled, one with clean, one with dirty water, and one left empty.\nThe person wishing to know his fate in marriage was blindfolded,\nturned about thrice, and put down his left hand. If he dipped it\ninto the clean water, he would marry a maiden; if into the dirty, a\nwidow; if into the empty dish, not at all. He tried until he got\nthe same result twice. The dishes were changed about each time.\n\nThis spell still remains, as does that of hemp-seed sowing. One\ngoes out alone with a handful of hemp-seed, sows it across ridges\nof ploughed land, and harrows it with anything convenient, perhaps\nwith a broom. Having said:\n\n \"Hemp-seed, I saw thee,\n An' her that is to be my lass\n Come after me an' draw thee----\"\n\n BURNS: _Hallowe'en._\n\nhe looks behind him to see his sweetheart gathering hemp. This\nshould be tried just at midnight with the moon behind.\n\n \"At even o' Hallowmas no sleep I sought,\n But to the field a bag of hemp-seed brought.\n I scattered round the seed on every side,\n And three times three in trembling accents cried,\n 'This hemp-seed with my virgin hand I sow,\n Who shall my true-love be, the crop shall mow.'\"\n\n GAY: _Pastorals._\n\nA spell that has been discontinued is throwing the clue of blue\nyarn into the kiln-pot, instead of out of the window, as in\nIreland. As it is wound backward, something holds it. The winder\nmust ask, \"Wha hauds?\" to hear the name of her future sweetheart.\n\n \"An' ay she win't, an' ay she swat--\n I wat she made nae jaukin;\n Till something held within the pat,\n Guid Lord! but she was quakin!\n But whether 't was the Deil himsel,\n Or whether 't was a bauk-en'[1]\n Or whether it was Andrew Bell,\n She did na wait on talkin\n To speir[2] that night.\"\n\n BURNS: _Hallowe'en._\n\n[1] Cross-beam.\n\n[2] Ask.\n\nAnother spell not commonly tried now is winnowing three measures of\nimaginary corn, as one stands in the barn alone with both doors\nopen to let the spirits that come in go out again freely. As one\nfinishes the motions, the apparition of the future husband will\ncome in at one door and pass out at the other.\n\n \"'I had not winnowed the last weight clean out, and the moon was\n shining bright upon the floor, when in stalked the presence of my\n dear Simon Glendinning, that is now happy. I never saw him\n plainer in my life than I did that moment; he held up an arrow as\n he passed me, and I swarf'd awa' wi' fright.... But mark the end\n o' 't, Tibb: we were married, and the grey-goose wing was the\n death o' him after a'.'\"\n\n SCOTT: _The Monastery._\n\nAt times other prophetic appearances were seen.\n\n \"Just as she was at the wark, what does she see in the moonlicht\n but her ain coffin moving between the doors instead of the\n likeness of a gudeman! and as sure's death she was in her coffin\n before the same time next year.\"\n\n ANON: _Tale of Hallowe'en._\n\nFormerly a stack of beans, oats, or barley was measured round with\nthe arms against sun. At the end of the third time the arms would\nenclose the vision of the future husband or wife.\n\nKale-pulling, apple-snapping, and lead-melting (see Ireland) are\nsocial rites, but many were to be tried alone and in secret. A\nHighland divination was tried with a shoe, held by the tip, and\nthrown over the house. The person will journey in the direction the\ntoe points out. If it falls sole up, it means bad luck.\n\nGirls would pull a straw each out of a thatch in Broadsea, and\nwould take it to an old woman in Fraserburgh. The seeress would\nbreak the straw and find within it a hair the color of the\nlover's-to-be. Blindfolded they plucked heads of oats, and counted\nthe number of grains to find out how many children they would have.\nIf the tip was perfect, not broken or gone, they would be married\nhonorably.\n\nAnother way of determining the number of children was to drop the\nwhite of an egg into a glass of water. The number of divisions was\nthe number sought. White of egg is held with water in the mouth,\nlike the grains of oats in Ireland, while one takes a walk to hear\nmentioned the name of his future wife. Names are written on papers,\nand laid upon the chimney-piece. Fate guides the hand of a\nblindfolded man to the slip which bears his sweetheart's name.\n\nA Hallowe'en mirror is made by the rays of the moon shining into a\nlooking-glass. If a girl goes secretly into a room at midnight\nbetween October and November, sits down at the mirror, and cuts an\napple into nine slices, holding each on the point of a knife before\nshe eats it, she may see in the moonlit glass the image of her\nlover looking over her left shoulder, and asking for the last piece\nof apple.\n\nThe wetting of the sark-sleeve in a south-running burn where \"three\nlairds' lands meet,\" and carrying it home to dry before the fire,\nwas really a Scotch custom, but has already been described in\nIreland.\n\n \"The last Hallowe'en I was waukin[1]\n My droukit[2] sark-sleeve, as ye kin--\n His likeness came up the house staukin,\n And the very grey breeks o' Tam Glen!\"\n\n BURNS: _Tam Glen._\n\n[1] Watching.\n\n[2] Drenched.\n\nJust before breaking up, the crowd of young people partook of\nsowens, oatmeal porridge cakes with butter, and strunt, a liquor,\nas they hoped for good luck throughout the year.\n\nThe Hebrides, Scottish islands off the western coast, have\nHallowe'en traditions of their own, as well as many borrowed from\nIreland and Scotland. Barra, isolated near the end of the island\nchain, still celebrates the Celtic days, Beltaine and November Eve.\n\nIn the Hebrides is the Irish custom of eating on Hallowe'en a cake\nof meal and salt, or a salt herring, bones and all, to dream of\nsome one bringing a drink of water. Not a word must be spoken, nor\na drop of water drunk till the dream comes.\n\nIn St. Kilda a large triangular cake is baked which must be all\neaten up before morning.\n\nA curious custom that prevailed in the island of Lewis in the\neighteenth century was the worship of Shony, a sea-god with a Norse\nname. His ceremonies were similar to those paid to Saman in\nIreland, but more picturesque. Ale was brewed at church from malt\nbrought collectively by the people. One took a cupful in his hand,\nand waded out into the sea up to his waist, saying as he poured it\nout: \"Shony, I give you this cup of ale, hoping that you'll be so\nkind as to send us plenty of sea-ware, for enriching our ground the\nensuing year.\" The party returned to the church, waited for a given\nsignal when a candle burning on the altar was blown out. Then they\nwent out into the fields, and drank ale with dance and song.\n\nThe \"dumb cake\" originated in Lewis. Girls were each apportioned a\nsmall piece of dough, mixed with any but spring water. They kneaded\nit with their left thumbs, in silence. Before midnight they pricked\ninitials on them with a new pin, and put them by the fire to bake.\nThe girls withdrew to the farther end of the room, still in silence.\nAt midnight each lover was expected to enter and lay his hand on\nthe cake marked with his initials.\n\nIn South Uist and Eriskay on Hallowe'en fairies are out, a source\nof terror to those they meet.\n\n \"Hallowe'en will come, will come,\n Witchcraft will be set a-going,\n Fairies will be at full speed,\n Running in every pass.\n Avoid the road, children, children.\"\n\nBut for the most part this belief has died out on Scottish land,\nexcept near the Border, and Hallowe'en is celebrated only by\nstories and jokes and games, songs and dances.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nIN ENGLAND AND MAN\n\n\nMan especially has a treasury of fairy tradition, Celtic and Norse\ncombined. Manx fairies too dwell in the middle world, since they\nare fit for neither heaven nor hell. Even now Manx people think\nthey see circles of light in the late October midnight, and little\nfolk dancing within.\n\nLongest of all in Man was Sauin (Samhain) considered New Year's\nDay. According to the old style of reckoning time it came on\nNovember 12.\n\n \"To-night is New Year's night.\n Hogunnaa!\"\n _Mummers' Song._\n\nAs in Scotland the servants' year ends with October.\n\nNew Year tests for finding out the future were tried on Sauin. To\nhear her sweetheart's name a girl took a mouthful of water and two\nhandfuls of salt, and sat down at a door. The first name she heard\nmentioned was the wished-for one. The three dishes proclaimed the\nfate of the blindfolded seeker as in Scotland. Each was blindfolded\nand touched one of several significant objects--meal for\nprosperity, earth for death, a net for tangled fortunes.\n\nBefore retiring each filled a thimble with salt, and emptied it out\nin a little mound on a plate, remembering his own. If any heap were\nfound fallen over by morning, the person it represented was\ndestined to die in a year. The Manx looked for prints in the\nsmooth-strewn ashes on the hearth, as the Scotch did, and gave the\nsame interpretation.\n\nThere had been Christian churches in Britain as early as 300 A. D.,\nand Christian missionaries, St. Ninian, Pelagius, and St. Patrick,\nwere active in the next century, and in the course of time St.\nAugustine. Still the old superstitions persisted, as they always do\nwhen they have grown up with the people.\n\nKing Arthur, who was believed to have reigned in the fifth century,\nmay be a personification of the sun-god. He comes from the\nOtherworld, his magic sword Excalibur is brought thence to him, he\nfights twelve battles, in number like the months, and is wounded to\ndeath by evil Modred, once his own knight. He passes in a boat,\nattended by his fairy sister and two other queens,\n\n \"'To the island-valley of Avilion;\n Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,\n Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies\n Deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard-lawns\n And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea----'\"\n\n TENNYSON: _Passing of Arthur._\n\nThe hope of being healed there is like that given to Cuchulain (q.\nv.), to persuade him to visit the fairy kingdom. Arthur was\nexpected to come again sometime, as the sun renews his course. As\nhe disappeared from the sight of Bedivere, the last of his knights,\n\n \"The new sun rose bringing the new year.\"\n\n _Ibid._\n\nAvilion means \"apple-island.\" It was like the Hesperides of Greek\nmythology, the western islands where grew the golden apples of\nimmortality.\n\nIn Cornwall after the sixth century, the sun-god became St.\nMichael, and the eastern point where he appeared St. Michael's\nseat.\n\n \"Where the great vision of the guarded mount\n Looks toward Namancos, and Bayona's hold.\"\n\n MILTON: _Lycidas._\n\nAs fruit to Pomona, so berries were devoted to fairies. They would\nnot let any one cut a blackthorn shoot on Hallowe'en. In Cornwall\nsloes and blackberries were considered unfit to eat after the\nfairies had passed by, because all the goodness was extracted. So\nthey were eaten to heart's content on October 31st, and avoided\nthereafter. Hazels, because they were thought to contain wisdom and\nknowledge, were also sacred.\n\nBesides leaving berries for the \"Little People,\" food was set out\nfor them on Hallowe'en, and on other occasions. They rewarded this\nhospitality by doing an extraordinary amount of work.\n\n \"--how the drudging goblin sweat\n To earn his cream-bowl duly set,\n When in one night, ere glimpse of morn,\n His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn\n That ten day-laborers could not end.\n Then lies him down the lubbar fiend,\n And stretcht out all the chimney's length\n Basks at the fire his hairy strength.\"\n\n MILTON: _L'Allegro._\n\nSuch sprites did not scruple to pull away the chair as one was\nabout to sit down, to pinch, or even to steal children and leave\nchangelings in their places. The first hint of dawn drove them back\nto their haunts.\n\n \"When larks 'gin sing,\n Away we fling;\n And babes new borne steal as we go,\n And elfe in bed\n We leave instead,\n And wend us laughing, ho, ho, ho!\"\n\n JONSON: _Robin Goodfellow._\n\nSoulless and without gratitude or memory spirits of the air may be,\nlike Ariel in _The Tempest_. He, like the fairy harpers of Ireland,\nputs men to sleep with his music.\n\n \"_Sebastian._ What, art thou waking?\n\n _Antonio._ Do you not hear me speak?\n\n _Sebastian._ I do; and, surely,\n It is a sleepy language; and thou speak'st\n Out of thy sleep: What is it thou didst say?\n This is a strange repose, to be asleep\n With eyes wide open; standing, speaking, moving,\n And yet so fast asleep.\"\n\n SHAKSPERE: _The Tempest._\n\nThe people of England, in common with those who lived in the other\ncountries of Great Britain and in Europe, dreaded the coming of\nwinter not only on account of the cold and loneliness, but because\nthey believed that at this time the powers of evil were abroad and\nascendant. This belief harked back to the old idea that the sun had\nbeen vanquished by his enemies in the late autumn. It was to forget\nthe fearful influences about them that the English kept festival\nso much in the winter-time. The Lords of Misrule, leaders of the\nrevelry, \"beginning their rule on All Hallow Eve, continued the\nsame till the morrow after the Feast of the Purification, commonlie\ncalled Candelmas day: In all of which space there were fine and\nsubtle disguisinges, Maskes, and Mummeries.\" This was written of\nKing Henry IV's court at Eltham, in 1401, and is true of centuries\nbefore and after. They gathered about the fire and made merry while\nthe October tempests whirled the leaves outside, and shrieked round\nthe house like ghosts and demons on a mad carousal.\n\n \"The autumn wind--oh hear it howl:\n Without--October's tempests scowl,\n As he troops away on the raving wind!\n And leaveth dry leaves in his path behind.\n\n * * * * *\n\n \"'Tis the night--the night\n Of the graves' delight,\n And the warlock[1] are at their play!\n\n Ye think that without\n The wild winds shout,\n But no, it is they--it is they!\"\n\n COXE: _Hallowe'en._\n\n[1] Devils.\n\nWitchcraft--the origin of which will be traced farther on--had a\nstrong following in England. The three witches in _Macbeth_ are\nreally fates who foretell the future, but they have a kettle in\nwhich they boil\n\n \"Fillet of a fenny snake,\n\n * * * * *\n\n Eye of newt, and toe of frog,\n Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,\n Adder's fork, and blindworm's sting,\n Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,\n For a charm of powerful trouble----\"\n\n SHAKSPERE: _Macbeth._\n\nThey connect themselves thereby with those evil creatures who\npursued Tam o' Shanter, and were servants of the Devil. In 1892 in\nLincolnshire, people believed that if they looked in through the\nchurch door on Hallowe'en they would see the Devil preaching his\ndoctrines from the pulpit, and inscribing the names of new witches\nin his book.\n\nThe Spectre Huntsman, known in Windsor Forest as Herne the Hunter,\nand in Todmorden as Gabriel Ratchets, was the spirit of an ungodly\nhunter who for his crimes was condemned to lead the chase till the\nJudgment Day. In a storm on Hallowe'en is heard the belling of his\nhounds.\n\n \"Still, still shall last the dreadful chase\n Till time itself shall have an end;\n By day they scour earth's cavern'd space,\n At midnight's witching hour, ascend.\n\n \"This is the horn, the hound, and horse,\n That oft the lated peasant hears:\n Appall'd, he signs the frequent cross,\n When the wild din invades his ears.\"\n\n SCOTT: _Wild Huntsman._\n\nIn the north of England Hallowe'en was called \"nut-crack\" and\n\"snap-apple night.\" It was celebrated by \"young people and\nsweethearts.\"\n\nA variation of the nut test is, naming two for two lovers before\nthey are put before the fire to roast. The unfaithful lover's nut\ncracks and jumps away, the loyal burns with a steady ardent flame\nto ashes.\n\n \"Two hazel-nuts I threw into the flame,\n And to each nut I gave a sweetheart's name.\n This with the loudest bounce me sore amaz'd,\n That in a flame of brightest color blaz'd;\n As blaz'd the nut, so may thy passion grow,\n For 't was thy nut that did so brightly glow.\"\n\n GAY: _The Spell._\n\nIf they jump toward each other, they will be rivals. If one of the\nnuts has been named for the girl and burns quietly with a lover's\nnut, they will live happily together. If they are restless, there\nis trouble ahead.\n\n \"These glowing nuts are emblems true\n Of what in human life we view;\n The ill-matched couple fret and fume,\n And thus in strife themselves consume,\n Or from each other wildly start\n And with a noise forever part.\n But see the happy, happy pair\n Of genuine love and truth sincere;\n\n With mutual fondness, while they burn\n Still to each other kindly turn:\n And as the vital sparks decay,\n Together gently sink away.\n Till, life's fierce ordeal being past,\n Their mingled ashes rest at last.\"\n\n GRAYDON: _On Nuts Burning, Allhallows Eve._\n\nSometimes peas on a hot shovel are used instead.\n\nDown the centuries from the Druid tree-worship comes the spell of\nthe walnut-tree. It is circled thrice, with the invocation: \"Let\nher that is to be my true-love bring me some walnuts;\" and directly\na spirit will be seen in the tree gathering nuts.\n\n \"Last Hallow Eve I sought a walnut-tree,\n In hope my true Love's face that I might see;\n Three times I called, three times I walked apace;\n Then in the tree I saw my true Love's face.\"\n\n GAY: _Pastorals._\n\nThe seeds of apples were used in many trials. Two stuck on cheeks\nor eyelids indicated by the time they clung the faithfulness of the\nfriends named for them.\n\n \"See from the core two kernels brown I take:\n This on my cheek for Lubberkin is worn,\n And Booby Clod on t'other side is borne;\n But Booby Clod soon drops upon the ground,\n A certain token that his love's unsound;\n While Lubberkin sticks firmly to the last.\n Oh! were his lips to mine but joined so fast.\"\n\n GAY: _Pastorals._\n\nIn a tub float stemless apples, to be seized by the teeth of him\ndesirous of having his love returned. If he is successful in\nbringing up the apple, his love-affair will end happily.\n\n \"The rosy apple's bobbing\n Upon the mimic sea--\n 'T is tricksy and elusive,\n And glides away from me.\n\n \"One moment it is dreaming\n Beneath the candle's glare,\n Then over wave and eddy\n It glances here and there.\n\n \"And when at last I capture\n The prize with joy aglow,\n I sigh, may I this sunshine\n Of golden rapture know\n\n \"When I essay to gather\n In all her witchery\n Love's sweetest rosy apple\n On Love's uncertain sea.\"\n\n MUNKITTRICK: _Hallowe'en Wish._\n\nAn apple is peeled all in one piece, and the paring swung three\ntimes round the head and dropped behind the left shoulder. If it\ndoes not break, and is looked at over the shoulder it forms the\ninitial of the true sweetheart's name.\n\n \"I pare this pippin round and round again,\n My sweetheart's name to flourish on the plain:\n I fling the unbroken paring o'er my head.\n A perfect 'L' upon the ground is read.\"\n\n GAY: _Pastorals._\n\nIn the north of England was a unique custom, \"the scadding of\npeas.\" A pea-pod was slit, a bean pushed inside, and the opening\nclosed again. The full pods were boiled, and apportioned to be\nshelled and the peas eaten with butter and salt. The one finding\nthe bean on his plate would be married first. Gay records another\ntest with peas which is like the final trial made with kale-stalks.\n\n \"As peascods once I plucked I chanced to see\n One that was closely filled with three times three;\n Which when I crop'd, I safely home convey'd,\n And o'er the door the spell in secret laid;--\n The latch moved up, when who should first come in,\n But in his proper person--Lubberkin.\"\n\n GAY: _Pastorals._\n\nCandles, relics of the sacred fire, play an important part\neverywhere on Hallowe'en. In England too the lighted candle and the\napple were fastened to the stick, and as it whirled, each person in\nturn sprang up and tried to bite the apple.\n\n \"Or catch th' elusive apple with a bound,\n As with the taper it flew whizzing round.\"\n\nThis was a rough game, more suited to boys' frolic than the ghostly\ndivinations that preceded it. Those with energy to spare found\nmaterial to exercise it on. In an old book there is a picture of a\nyouth sitting on a stick placed across two stools. On one end of\nthe stick is a lighted candle from which he is trying to light\nanother in his hand. Beneath is a tub of water to receive him if he\nover-balances sideways. These games grew later into practical\njokes.\n\nThe use of a goblet may perhaps come from the story of \"The Luck of\nEdenhall,\" a glass stolen from the fairies, and holding ruin for\nthe House by whom it was stolen, if it should ever be broken. With\nring and goblet this charm was tried: the ring, symbol of marriage,\nwas suspended by a hair within a glass, and a name spelled out by\nbeginning the alphabet over each time the ring struck the glass.\n\nWhen tired of activity and noise, the party gathered about a\nstory-teller, or passed a bundle of fagots from hand to hand, each\nselecting one and reciting an installment of the tale till his\nstick burned to ashes.\n\n \"I tell ye the story this chill Hallowe'en,\n For it suiteth the spirit-eve.\"\n\n COXE: _Hallowe'en._\n\nTo induce prophetic dreams the wood-and-water test was tried in\nEngland also.\n\n \"Last Hallow Eve I looked my love to see,\n And tried a spell to call her up to me.\n With wood and water standing by my side\n I dreamed a dream, and saw my own sweet bride.\"\n\n GAY: _Pastorals._\n\nThough Hallowe'en is decidedly a country festival, in the\nseventeenth century young gentlemen in London chose a Master of the\nRevels, and held masques and dances with their friends on this\nnight.\n\nIn central and southern England the ecclesiastical side of\nHallowtide is stressed.\n\nBread or cake has till recently (1898) been as much a part of\nHallowe'en preparations as plum pudding at Christmas. Probably this\noriginated from an autumn baking of bread from the new grain. In\nYorkshire each person gets a triangular seed-cake, and the evening\nis called \"cake night.\"\n\n \"Wife, some time this weeke, if the wether hold cleere,\n An end of wheat-sowing we make for this yeare.\n Remember you, therefore, though I do it not,\n The seed-cake, the Pasties, and Furmentie-pot.\"\n\n TUSSER: _Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry_, 1580.\n\nCakes appear also at the vigil of All Souls', the next day. At a\ngathering they lie in a heap for the guests to take. In return they\nare supposed to say prayers for the dead.\n\n \"A Soule-cake, a Soule-cake; have mercy on\n all Christen souls for a Soule-cake.\"\n\n _Old Saying._\n\nThe poor in Staffordshire and Shropshire went about singing for\nsoul-cakes or money, promising to pray and to spend the alms in\nmasses for the dead. The cakes were called Soul-mass or \"somas\"\ncakes.\n\n \"Soul! Soul! for a soul-cake;\n Pray, good mistress, for a soul-cake.\n One for Peter, two for Paul,\n Three for them who made us all.\"\n\n _Notes and Queries._\n\nIn Dorsetshire Hallowe'en was celebrated by the ringing of bells in\nmemory of the dead. King Henry VIII and later Queen Elizabeth\nissued commands against this practice.\n\nIn Lancashire in the early nineteenth century people used to go\nabout begging for candles to drive away the gatherings of witches.\nIf the lights were kept burning till midnight, no evil influence\ncould remain near.\n\nIn Derbyshire, central England, torches of straw were carried about\nthe stacks on All Souls' Eve, not to drive away evil spirits, as in\nScotland, but to light souls through Purgatory.\n\nLike the Bretons, the English have the superstition that the dead\nreturn on Hallowe'en.\n\n \"'Why do you wait at your door, woman,\n Alone in the night?'\n 'I am waiting for one who will come, stranger,\n To show him a light.\n He will see me afar on the road,\n And be glad at the sight.'\n\n \"'Have you no fear in your heart, woman,\n To stand there alone?\n There is comfort for you and kindly content\n Beside the hearthstone.'\n But she answered, 'No rest can I have\n Till I welcome my own.'\n\n \"'Is it far he must travel to-night,\n This man of your heart?'\n 'Strange lands that I know not, and pitiless seas\n Have kept us apart,\n And he travels this night to his home\n Without guide, without chart.'\n\n \"'And has he companions to cheer him?'\n 'Aye, many,' she said.\n 'The candles are lighted, the hearthstones are swept,\n The fires glow red.\n We shall welcome them out of the night--\n Our home-coming dead.'\"\n\n LETTS: _Hallowe'en._\n\n[Illustration: THE WITCH OF THE WALNUT-TREE.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nIN WALES\n\n\nIn Wales the custom of fires persisted from the time of the Druid\nfestival-days longer than in any other place. First sacrifices were\nburned in them; then instead of being burned to death, the\ncreatures merely passed through the fire; and with the rise of\nChristianity fire was thought to be a protection against the evil\npower of the same gods.\n\nPontypridd, in South Wales, was the Druid religious center of\nWales. It is still marked by a stone circle and an altar on a hill.\nIn after years it was believed that the stones were people changed\nto that form by the power of a witch.\n\nIn North Wales the November Eve fire, which each family built in\nthe most prominent place near the house, was called Coel Coeth.\nInto the dying fire each member of the family threw a white stone\nmarked so that he could recognize it again. Circling about the fire\nhand-in-hand they said their prayers and went to bed. In the\nmorning each searched for his stone, and if he could not find it,\nhe believed that he would die within the next twelve months. This\nis still credited. There is now the custom also of watching the\nfires till the last spark dies, and instantly rushing down hill,\n\"the devil (or the cutty black sow) take the hindmost.\" A\nCardiganshire proverb says:\n\n \"A cutty[1] black sow\n On every stile,\n Spinning and carding\n Every Allhallows' Eve.\"\n\n[1] Short-tailed.\n\nNovember Eve was called \"Nos-Galan-Gaeof,\" the night of the winter\nCalends, that is, the night before the first day of winter. To the\nWelsh it was New Year's Eve.\n\nWelsh fairy tradition resembles that in the near-by countries.\nThere is an old story of a man who lay down to sleep inside a\nfairy ring, a circle of greener grass where the fairies danced by\nnight. The fairies carried him away and kept him seven years, and\nafter he had been rescued from them he would neither eat nor speak.\n\nIn the sea was the Otherworld, a\n\n \"Green fairy island reposing\n In sunlight and beauty on ocean's calm breast.\"\n\n PARRY: _Welsh Melodies._\n\nThis was the abode of the Druids, and hence of all supernatural\nbeings, who were\n\n \"Something betwixt heaven and hell,\n Something that neither stood nor fell.\"\n\n SCOTT: _The Monastery._\n\nAs in other countries the fairies or pixies are to be met at\ncrossroads, where happenings, such as funerals, may be witnessed\nweeks before they really occur.\n\nAt the Hallow Eve supper parsnips and cakes are eaten, and nuts and\napples roasted. A \"puzzling jug\" holds the ale. In the rim are\nthree holes that seem merely ornamental. They are connected with\nthe bottom of the jug by pipes through the handle, and the\nunwitting toper is well drenched unless he is clever enough to see\nthat he must stop up two of the holes, and drink through the third.\n\nSpells are tried in Wales too with apples and nuts. There is\nducking and snapping for apples. Nuts are thrown into the fire,\ndenoting prosperity if they blaze brightly, misfortune if they pop,\nor smoulder and turn black.\n\n \"Old Pally threw on a nut. It flickered and then blazed up.\n Maggee tossed one into the fire. It smouldered and gave no\n light.\"\n\n MARKS: _All-Hallows Honeymoon._\n\nFate is revealed by the three luggies and the ball of yarn thrown\nout of the window: Scotch and Irish charms. The leek takes the\nplace of the cabbage in Scotland. Since King Cadwallo decorated his\nsoldiers with leeks for their valor in a battle by a leek-garden,\nthey have been held in high esteem in Wales. A girl sticks a knife\namong leeks at Hallowe'en, and walks backward out of the garden.\nShe returns later to find that her future husband has picked up the\nknife and thrown it into the center of the leek-bed.\n\nTaking two long-stemmed roses, a girl goes to her room in silence.\nShe twines the stems together, naming one for her sweetheart and\nthe other for herself, and thinking this rhyme:\n\n \"Twine, twine, and intertwine.\n Let his love be wholly mine.\n If his heart be kind and true,\n Deeper grow his rose's hue.\"\n\nShe can see, by watching closely, her lover's rose grow darker.\n\nThe sacred ash figures in one charm. The party of young people seek\nan even-leaved sprig of ash. The first who finds one calls out\n\"cyniver.\" If a boy calls out first, the first girl who finds\nanother perfect shoot bears the name of the boy's future wife.\n\nDancing and singing to the music of the harp close the evening.\n\nInstead of leaving stones in the fire to determine who are to die,\npeople now go to church to see by the light of a candle held in the\nhand the spirits of those marked for death, or to hear the names\ncalled. The wind \"blowing over the feet of the corpses\" howls about\nthe doors of those who will not be alive next Hallowe'en.\n\nOn the Eve of All Souls' Day, twenty-four hours after Hallowe'en,\nchildren in eastern Wales go from house to house singing for\n\n \"An apple or a pear, a plum or a cherry,\n Or any good thing to make us merry.\"\n\nIt is a time when charity is given freely to the poor. On this\nnight and the next day, fires are burned, as in England, to light\nsouls through Purgatory, and prayers are made for a good wheat\nharvest next year by the Welsh, who keep the forms of religion very\ndevoutly.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nIN BRITTANY AND FRANCE\n\n\nThe Celts had been taught by their priests that the soul is\nimmortal. When the body died the spirit passed instantly into\nanother existence in a country close at hand. We remember that the\nOtherworld of the British Isles, peopled by the banished Tuatha and\nall superhuman beings, was either in caves in the earth, as in\nIreland, or in an island like the English Avalon. By giving a\nmortal one of their magic apples to eat, fairies could entice him\nwhither they would, and at last away into their country.\n\nIn the Irish story of Nera (q. v.), the corpse of the criminal is\nthe cause of Nera's being lured into the cave. So the dead have the\nsame power as fairies, and live in the same place. On May Eve and\nNovember Eve the dead and the fairies hold their revels together\nand make excursions together. If a young person died, he was said\nto be called away by the fairies. The Tuatha may not have been a\nrace of gods, but merely the early Celts, who grew to godlike\nproportions as the years raised a mound of lore and legends for\ntheir pedestal. So they might really be only the dead, and not of\nsuperhuman nature.\n\nIn the fourth century A. D., the men of England were hard pressed\nby the Picts and Scots from the northern border, and were helped in\ntheir need by the Teutons. When this tribe saw the fair country of\nthe Britons they decided to hold it for themselves. After they had\ndriven out the northern tribes, in the fifth century, when King\nArthur was reigning in Cornwall, they drove out those whose cause\nthey had fought. So the Britons were scattered to the mountains of\nWales, to Cornwall, and across the Channel to Armorica, a part of\nFrance, which they named Brittany after their home-land. In lower\nBrittany, out of the zone of French influence, a language something\nlike Welsh or old British is still spoken, and many of the Celtic\nbeliefs were retained more untouched than in Britain, not clear of\npaganism till the seventeenth century. Here especially did\nChristianity have to adapt the old belief to her own ends.\n\nGaul, as we have seen from C\u00e6sar's account, had been one of the\nchief seats of Druidical belief. The religious center was Carnutes,\nnow Chartrain. The rites of sacrifice survived in the same forms as\nin the British Isles. In the fields of Deux-S\u00e8vres fires were built\nof stubble, ferns, leaves, and thorns, and the people danced about\nthem and burned nuts in them. On St. John's Day animals were burned\nin the fires to secure the cattle from disease. This was continued\ndown into the seventeenth century.\n\nThe pagan belief that lasted the longest in Brittany, and is by no\nmeans dead yet, was the cult of the dead. C\u00e6sar said that the Celts\nof Gaul traced their ancestry from the god of death, whom he called\nDispater. Now figures of l'Ankou, a skeleton armed with a spear,\ncan be seen in most villages of Brittany. This mindfulness of\ndeath was strengthened by the sight of the prehistoric cairns of\nstones on hilltops, the ancient altars of the Druids, and dolmens,\nformed of one flat rock resting like a roof on two others set up on\nend with a space between them, ancient tombs; and by the Bretons\nbeing cut off from the rest of France by the nature of the country,\nand shut in among the uplands, black and misty in November, and\nblown over by chill Atlantic winds. Under a seeming dull\nindifference and melancholy the Bretons conceal a lively\nimagination, and no place has a greater wealth of legendary\nliterature.\n\nWhat fairies, dwarfs, pixies, and the like are to the Celts of\nother places, the spirits of the dead are to the Celts of Brittany.\nThey possess the earth on Christmas, St. John's Day, and All\nSaints'. In Finist\u00e8re, that western point of France, there is a\nsaying that on the Eve of All Souls' \"there are more dead in every\nhouse than sands on the shore.\" The dead have the power to charm\nmortals and take them away, and to foretell the future. They must\nnot be spoken of directly, any more than the fairies of the\nScottish border, or met with, for fear of evil results.\n\nBy the Bretons of the sixth century the near-by island of Britain,\nwhich they could just see on clear days, was called the Otherworld.\nAn historian, Procopius, tells how the people nearest Britain were\nexempted from paying tribute to the Franks, because they were\nsubject to nightly summons to ferry the souls of the dead across in\ntheir boats, and deliver them into the hands of the keeper of\nsouls. Farther inland a black bog seemed to be the entrance to an\notherworld underground. One location which combined the ideas of an\nisland and a cave was a city buried in the sea. The people imagined\nthey could hear the bells of Ker-Is ringing, and joyous music\nsounding, for though this was a city of the dead, it resembled the\nfairy palaces of Ireland, and was ruled by King Grallon and his\nfair daughter Dahut, who could lure mortals away by her beauty and\nenchantments.\n\nThe approach of winter is believed to drive like the flocks, the\nsouls of the dead from their cold cheerless graves to the food and\nwarmth of home. This is why November Eve, the night before the\nfirst day of winter, was made sacred to them.\n\n \"When comes the harvest of the year\n Before the scythe the wheat will fall.\"\n\n BOTREL: _Songs of Brittany._\n\nThe harvest-time reminded the Bretons of the garnering by that\nreaper, Death. On November Eve milk is poured on graves, feasts and\ncandles set out on the tables, and fires lighted on the hearths to\nwelcome the spirits of departed kinsfolk and friends.\n\nIn France from the twelfth to the fourteenth century stone\nbuildings like lighthouses were erected in cemeteries. They were\ntwenty or thirty feet high, with lanterns on top. On Hallowe'en\nthey were kept burning to safeguard the people from the fear of\nnight-wandering spirits and the dead, so they were called\n\"lanternes des morts.\"\n\nThe cemetery is the social center of the Breton village. It is at\nonce meeting-place, playground, park, and church. The tombs that\noutline the hills make the place seem one vast cemetery. On All\nSouls' Eve in the mid-nineteenth century the \"procession of tombs\"\nwas held. All formed a line and walked about the cemetery, calling\nthe names of those who were dead, as they approached their\nresting-places. The record was carefully remembered, so that not\none should seem to be forgotten.\n\n\"We live with our dead,\" say the Bretons. First on the Eve of All\nSouls' comes the religious service, \"black vespers.\" The\nblessedness of death is praised, the sorrows and shortness of life\ndwelt upon. After a common prayer all go out to the cemetery to\npray separately, each by the graves of his kin, or to the \"place of\nbones,\" where the remains of those long dead are thrown all\ntogether in one tomb. They can be seen behind gratings, by the\npeople as they pass, and rows of skulls at the sides of the\nentrance can be touched. In these tombs are Latin inscriptions\nmeaning: \"Remember thou must die,\" \"To-day to me, and to-morrow to\nthee,\" and others reminding the reader of his coming death.\n\nFrom the cemetery the people go to a house or an inn which is the\ngathering-place for the night, singing or talking loudly on the\nroad to warn the dead who are hastening home, lest they may meet.\nReunions of families take place on this night, in the spirit of the\nRoman feast of the dead, the Feralia, of which Ovid wrote:\n\n \"After the visit to the tombs and to the ancestors who are no\n longer with us, it is pleasant to turn towards the living; after\n the loss of so many, it is pleasant to behold those who remain of\n our blood, and to reckon up the generations of our descendants.\"\n\n _Fasti._\n\nA toast is drunk to the memory of the departed. The men sit about\nthe fireplace smoking or weaving baskets; the women apart, knitting\nor spinning by the light of the fire and one candle. The children\nplay with their gifts of apples and nuts. As the hour grows later,\nand mysterious noises begin to be heard about the house, and a\ncurtain sways in a draught, the thoughts of the company already\ncentred upon the dead find expression in words, and each has a tale\nto tell of an adventure with some friend or enemy who has died.\n\nThe dead are thought to take up existence where they left it off,\nworking at the same trades, remembering their old debts, likes and\ndislikes, even wearing the same clothes they wore in life. Most of\nthem stay not in some distant, definite Otherworld, but frequent\nthe scenes of their former life. They never trespass upon daylight,\nand it is dangerous to meet them at night, because they are very\nready to punish any slight to their memory, such as selling their\npossessions or forgetting the hospitality due them. L'Ankou will\ncome to get a supply of shavings if the coffins are not lined with\nthem to make a softer resting-place for the dead bodies.\n\nThe lively Celtic imagination turns the merest coincidence into an\nencounter with a spirit, and the poetic temperament of the\nnarrators clothes the stories with vividness and mystery. They tell\nhow the presence of a ghost made the midsummer air so cold that\neven wood did not burn, and of groans and footsteps underground as\nlong as the ghost is displeased with what his relatives are doing.\n\nJust before midnight a bell-man goes about the streets to give\nwarning of the hour when the spirits will arrive.\n\n \"They will sit where we sat, and will talk of us as we talked of\n them: in the gray of the morning only will they go away.\"\n\n LE BRAZ: _Night of the Dead._\n\nThe supper for the souls is then set out. The poor who live in the\nmountains have only black corn, milk, and smoked bacon to offer,\nbut it is given freely. Those who can afford it spread on a white\ncloth dishes of clotted milk, hot pancakes, and mugs of cider.\n\nAfter all have retired to lie with both eyes shut tight lest they\nsee one of the guests, death-singers make their rounds, chanting\nunder the windows:\n\n \"You are comfortably lying in your bed,\n But with the poor dead it is otherwise;\n You are stretched softly in your bed\n While the poor souls are wandering abroad.\n\n \"A white sheet and five planks,\n A bundle of straw beneath the head,\n Five feet of earth above\n Are all the worldly goods we own.\"\n\n LE BRAZ: _Night of the Dead._\n\nThe tears of their deserted friends disturb the comfort of the\ndead, and sometimes they appear to tell those in sorrow that their\nshrouds are always wet from the tears shed on their graves.\n\nWakened by the dirge of the death-singers the people rise and pray\nfor the souls of the departed.\n\nDivination has little part in the annals of the evening, but one in\nFinist\u00e8re is recorded. Twenty-five new needles are laid in a dish,\nand named, and water is poured upon them. Those who cross are\nenemies.\n\nIn France is held a typical Continental celebration of All Saints'\nand All Souls'. On October 31st the children go asking for flowers\nto decorate the graves, and to adorn the church. At night bells\nring to usher in All Saints'. On the day itself the churches are\ndecorated gaily with flowers, candles, and banners, and a special\nservice is held. On the second day of November the light and color\ngive way to black drapings, funeral songs, and prayers.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nTHE TEUTONIC RELIGION. WITCHES\n\n\nThe Teutons, that race of northern peoples called by the Romans,\n\"barbarians,\" comprised the Goths and Vandals who lived in\nScandinavia, and the Germans who dwelt north of Italy and east of\nGaul.\n\nThe nature of the northern country was such that the people could\nnot get a living by peaceful agriculture. So it was natural that in\nthe intervals of cattle-tending they should explore the seas all\nabout, and ravage neighboring lands. The Romans and the Gauls\nexperienced this in the centuries just before and after Christ, and\nEngland from the eighth to the tenth centuries. Such a life made\nthe Norsemen adventurous, hardy, warlike, independent, and quick of\naction, while the Celts were by nature more slothful and fond of\npeaceful social gatherings, though of quicker intellect and wit.\n\nLike the Greeks and Romans, the Teutons had twelve gods and\ngoddesses, among whom were Odin or Wotan, the king, and his wife\nFreya, queen of beauty and love. Idun guarded the apples of\nimmortality, which the gods ate to keep them eternally young. The\nchief difference in Teutonic mythology was the presence of an evil\ngod, Loki. Like Vulcan, Loki was a god of fire, like him, Loki was\nlame because he had been cast out of heaven. Loki was always\nplotting against the other gods, as Lucifer, after being banished\nfrom Heaven by God, plotted against him and his people, and became\nSatan, \"the enemy.\"\n\n \"Him the Almighty Power\n Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky\n With hideous ruin and combustion down\n To bottomless perdition, there to dwell\n In adamantine chains and penal fire,\n Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.\"\n\n MILTON: _Paradise Lost._\n\nIt was this god of evil in Teutonic myth who was responsible for\nthe death of the bright beautiful sun-god, Baldur. Mistletoe was\nthe only thing in the world which had not sworn not to harm Baldur.\nLoki knew this, and gave a twig of mistletoe to Baldur's blind\nbrother, Hodur, and Hodur cast it at Baldur and \"unwitting slew\"\nhim. Vali, a younger brother of Baldur, avenged him by killing\nHodur. Hodur is darkness and Baldur light; they are brothers; the\nlight falls a victim to blind darkness, who reigns until a younger\nbrother, the sun of the next day, rises to slay him in turn.\n\nBelow these gods, all nature was peopled with divinities. There\nwere elves of two kinds: black elves, called trolls, who were\nfrost-spirits, and guarded treasure (seeds) in the ground; and\nwhite elves, who lived in mid-heaven, and danced on the earth in\nfairy rings, where a mortal entering died. Will-o'-the-wisps\nhovered over swamps to mislead travellers, and jack-o'-lanterns,\nthe spirits of murderers, walked the earth near the places of their\ncrimes.\n\nThe Otherworlds of the Teutons were Valhalla, the abode of the\nheroes whom death had found on the battlefield, and Niflheim, \"the\nmisty realm,\" secure from the cold outside, ruled over by Queen\nHel. Valkyries, warlike women who rode through the air on swift\nhorses, seized the heroes from the field of slaughter, and took\nthem to the halls of Valhalla, where they enjoyed daily combats,\nlong feasts, and drinking-bouts, music and story-telling.\n\nThe sacred tree of the Druids was the oak; that of the Teutonic\npriests the ash. The flat disk of the earth was believed to be\nsupported by a great ash-tree, Yggdrasil,\n\n \"An ash know I standing,\n Named Yggdrasil,\n A stately tree sprinkled\n With water the purest;\n Thence come the dewdrops\n That fall in the dales;\n Ever-blooming, it stands\n O'er the Urdar-fountain.\"\n\n _V\u00f6luspa saga._ (Blackwell _trans._)\n\nguarded by three fates, Was, Will, and Shall Be. The name of Was\nmeans the past, of Will, the power, howbeit small, which men have\nover present circumstances, and Shall Be, the future over which man\nhas no control. Vurdh, the name of the latter, gives us the word\n\"weird,\" which means fate or fateful. The three Weird Sisters in\n_Macbeth_ are seeresses.\n\nBesides the ash, other trees and shrubs were believed to have\npeculiar powers, which they have kept, with some changes of\nmeaning, to this day. The elder (elves' grave), the hawthorn, and\nthe juniper, were sacred to supernatural powers.\n\nThe priests of the Teutons sacrificed prisoners of war in\nconsecrated groves, to Tyr, god of the sword. The victims were not\nburned alive, as by the Druids, but cut and torn terribly, and\ntheir dead bodies burned. From these sacrifices auspices were\ntaken. A man's innocence or guilt was manifested by gods to men\nthrough ordeals by fire; walking upon red-hot ploughshares, holding\na heated bar of iron, or thrusting the hands into red-hot\ngauntlets, or into boiling water. If after a certain number of\ndays no burns appeared the person was declared innocent. If a\nsuspected man, thrown into the water, floated he was guilty; if he\nsank, he was acquitted.\n\nThe rites of the Celts were done in secret, and it was forbidden\nthat they be written down. Those of the Teutons were commemorated\nin Edda and Saga (poetry and prose).\n\nIn the far north the shortness of summer and the length of winter\nso impressed the people that when they made a story about it they\ntold of a maiden, the Spring, put to sleep, and guarded, along with\na hoard of treasure, by a ring of fire. One knight only could break\nthrough the flames, awaken her and seize the treasure. He is the\nreturning sun, and the treasure he gets possession of is the wealth\nof summer vegetation. So there is the story of Brynhild, pricked by\nthe \"sleep-thorn\" of her father, Wotan, and sleeping until Sigurd\nwakens her. They marry, but soon Sigurd has to give her up to\nGunnar, the relentless winter, and Gunnar cannot rest until he has\nkilled Sigurd, and reigns undisturbed. Grimms' story of Rapunzel,\nthe princess who was shut up by a winter witch, and of Briar-Rose,\npricked by a witch's spindle, and sleeping inside a hedge which\nblooms with spring at the knight's approach, mean likewise the\nstruggle between summer and winter.\n\nThe chief festivals of the Teutonic year were held at Midsummer and\nMidwinter. May-Day, the very beginning of spring, was celebrated by\nMay-ridings, when winter and spring, personified by two warriors,\nengaged in a combat in which Winter, the fur-clad king of ice and\nsnow, was defeated. It was then that the sacred fire had been\nkindled, and the sacrificial feast held. Judgments were rendered\nthen.\n\nThe summer solstice was marked by bonfires, like those of the Celts\non May Eve and Midsummer. They were kindled in an open place or on\na hill, and the ceremonies held about them were similar to the\nCeltic. As late as the eighteenth century these same customs were\nobserved in Iceland.\n\nA May-pole wreathed with magical herbs is erected as the center of\nthe dance in Sweden, and in Norway a child chosen May-bride is\nfollowed by a procession as at a real wedding. This is a symbol of\nthe wedding of sun and earth deities in the spring. The May-pole,\nprobably imported from Celtic countries, is used at Midsummer\nbecause the spring does not begin in the north before June.\n\nYule-tide in December celebrated the sun's turning back, and was\nmarked by banquets and gayety. A chief feature of all these feasts\nwas the drinking of toasts to the gods, with vows and prayers.\n\nBy the sixth century Christianity had supplanted Druidism in the\nBritish Isles. It was the ninth before Christianity made much\nprogress in Scandinavia. After King Olaf had converted his nation,\nthe toasts which had been drunk to the pagan gods were kept in\nhonor of Christian saints; for instance, those to Freya were now\ndrunk to the Virgin Mary or to St. Gertrude.\n\nThe \"wetting of the sark-sleeve,\" that custom of Scotland and\nIreland, was in its earliest form a rite to Freya as the northern\ngoddess of love. To secure her aid in a love-affair, a maid would\nwash in a running stream a piece of fine linen--for Freya was fond\nof personal adornment--and would hang it before the fire to dry an\nhour before midnight. At half-past eleven she must turn it, and at\ntwelve her lover's apparition would appear to her, coming in at the\nhalf-open door.\n\n \"The wind howled through the leafless boughs, and there was every\n appearance of an early and severe winter, as indeed befell. Long\n before eleven o'clock all was hushed and quiet within the house,\n and indeed without (nothing was heard), except the cold wind\n which howled mournfully in gusts. The house was an old farmhouse,\n and we sat in the large kitchen with its stone floor, awaiting\n the first stroke of the eleventh hour. It struck at last, and\n then all pale and trembling we hung the garment before the fire\n which we had piled up with wood, and set the door ajar, for that\n was an essential point. The door was lofty and opened upon the\n farmyard, through which there was a kind of thoroughfare, very\n seldom used, it is true, and at each end of it there was a gate\n by which wayfarers occasionally passed to shorten the way. There\n we sat without speaking a word, shivering with cold and fear,\n listening to the clock which went slowly, tick, tick, and\n occasionally starting as the door creaked on its hinges, or a\n half-burnt billet fell upon the hearth. My sister was ghastly\n white, as white as the garment which was drying before the fire.\n And now half an hour had elapsed and it was time to turn.... This\n we did, I and my sister, without saying a word, and then we again\n sank on our chairs on either side of the fire. I was tired, and\n as the clock went tick-a-tick, I began to feel myself dozing. I\n did doze, I believe. All of a sudden I sprang up. The clock was\n striking one, two, but ere it could give the third chime, mercy\n upon us! we heard the gate slam to with a tremendous noise....\"\n\n \"Well, and what happened then?\"\n\n \"Happened! before I could recover myself, my sister had sprung to\n the door, and both locked and bolted it. The next moment she was\n in convulsions. I scarcely knew what happened; and yet it\n appeared to me for a moment that something pressed against the\n door with a low moaning sound. Whether it was the wind or not, I\n can't say. I shall never forget that night. About two hours\n later, my father came home. He had been set upon by a highwayman\n whom he beat off.\"\n\n BORROW: _Lavengro._\n\nFreya and Odin especially had had power over the souls of the dead.\nWhen Christianity turned all the old gods into spirits of evil,\nthese two were accused especially of possessing unlawful learning,\nas having knowledge of the hidden matters of death. This unlawful\nwisdom is the first accusation that has always been brought against\nwitches. A mirror is often used to contain it. Such are the\ncrystals of the astrologers, and the looking-glasses which on\nHallowe'en materialize wishes.\n\nFrom that time in the Middle Ages when witches were first heard of,\nit has nearly always been women who were accused. Women for the\nmost part were the priests in the old days: it was a woman to whom\nApollo at Delphi breathed his oracles. In all times it has been\nwomen who plucked herbs and concocted drinks of healing and\nrefreshment. So it was very easy to imagine that they experimented\nwith poisons and herbs of magic power under the guidance of the now\nevil gods. If they were so directed, they must go on occasions to\nconsult with their masters. The idea arose of a witches' Sabbath,\nwhen women were enabled by evil means to fly away, and adore in\nsecret the gods from whom the rest of the world had turned. There\nwere such meeting-places all over Europe. They had been places of\nsacrifice, of judgment, or of wells and springs considered holy\nunder the old religion, and whither the gods had now been banished.\nThe most famous was the Blocksberg in the Hartz mountains in\nGermany.\n\n \"Dame Baubo first, to lead the crew!\n A tough old sow and the mother thereon,\n Then follow the witches, every one.\"\n\n GOETHE: _Faust._ (Taylor _trans._)\n\nIn Norway the mountains above Bergen were a resort, and the\nDovrefeld, once the home of the trolls.\n\n \"It's easy to slip in here,\n But outward the Dovre-King's gate opens not.\"\n\n IBSEN: _Peer Gynt._ (Archer _trans._)\n\nIn Italy the witches met under a walnut tree near Benevento; in\nFrance, in Puy de Dome; in Spain, near Seville.\n\nIn these night-ridings Odin was the leader of a wild hunt. In\nstormy, blustering autumn weather\n\n \"The wonted roar was up among the woods.\"\n\n MILTON: _Comus._\n\nOdin rode in pursuit of shadowy deer with the Furious Host behind\nhim. A ghostly huntsman of a later age was Dietrich von Bern,\ndoomed to hunt till the Judgment Day.\n\nFrau Venus in Wagner's _Tannh\u00e4user_ held her revels in an\nunderground palace in the Horselberg in Thuringia, Germany. This\nwas one of the seats of Holda, the goddess of spring. Venus herself\nis like the Christian conception of Freya and Hel. She gathers\nabout her a throng of nymphs, sylphs, and those she has lured into\nthe mountain by intoxicating music and promises. \"The enchanting\nsounds enticed only those in whose hearts wild sensuous longings\nhad already taken root.\" Of these Tannh\u00e4user is one. He has stayed\na year, but it seems to him only one day. Already he is tired of\nthe rosy light and eternal music and languor, and longs for the\nfresh green world of action he once knew. He fears that he has\nforfeited his soul's salvation by being there at all, but cries,\n\n \"Salvation rests for me in Mary!\"\n\n WAGNER: _Tannh\u00e4user._\n\nAt the holy name Venus and her revellers vanish, and Tannh\u00e4user\nfinds himself in a meadow, hears the tinkling herd-bells, and a\nshepherd's voice singing,\n\n \"Frau Holda, goddess of the spring,\n Steps forth from the mountains old;\n She comes, and all the brooklets sing,\n And fled is winter's cold.\n\n * * * * *\n\n Play, play, my pipe, your lightest lay,\n For spring has come, and merry May!\"\n\n _Tannh\u00e4user._ (Huckel _trans._)\n\npraising the goddess in her blameless state.\n\nBy the fifteenth century Satan, taking the place of the gods,\nassumed control of the evil creatures. Now that witches were the\nfollowers of the Devil, they wrote their names in his book, and\nwere carried away by him for the revels by night. A new witch was\npricked with a needle to initiate her into his company. At the\nparty the Devil was adored with worship due to God alone. Dancing,\na device of the pagans, and hence considered wholly wicked, was\nindulged in to unseemly lengths. In 1883 in Sweden it was believed\nthat dances were held about the sanctuaries of the ancient gods,\nand that whoever stopped to watch were caught by the dancers and\nwhirled away. If they profaned holy days by this dancing, they were\ndoomed to keep it up for a year.\n\nAt the witches' Sabbath the Devil himself sometimes appeared as a\ngoat, and the witches were attended by cats, owls, bats, and\ncuckoos, because these creatures had once been sacred to Freya. At\nthe feast horse-flesh, once the food of the gods at banquets, was\neaten. The broth for the feast was brewed in a kettle held over the\nfire by a tripod, like that which supported the seat of Apollo's\npriestess at Delphi. The kettle may be a reminder of the one Thor\ngot, which gave to each guest whatever food he asked of it, or it\nmay be merely that used in brewing the herb-remedies which women\nmade before they were thought to practise witchcraft. In the kettle\nwere cooked mixtures which caused storms and shipwrecks, plagues,\nand blights. No salt was eaten, for that was a wholesome substance.\n\nThe witches of Germany did not have prophetic power; those of\nScandinavia, like the Norse Fates, did have it. The troll-wives of\nScandinavia were like the witches of Germany--they were cannibals,\nespecially relishing children, like the witch in _Hansel and\nGrethel_.\n\nFrom the fourteenth to the eighteenth century all through Europe\nand the new world people thought to be witches, and hence in the\ndevil's service, were persecuted. It was believed that they were\nable to take the form of beasts. A wolf or other animal is caught\nin a trap or shot, and disappears. Later an old woman who lives\nalone in the woods is found suffering from a similar wound. She is\nthen declared to be a witch.\n\n \"There was once an old castle in the middle of a vast thick wood;\n in it lived an old woman quite alone, and she was a witch. By day\n she made herself into a cat or a screech-owl, but regularly at\n night she became a human being again.\"\n\n GRIMM: _Jorinda and Joringel._\n\n\"Hares found on May morning are witches and should be stoned,\"\nreads an old superstition. \"If you tease a cat on May Eve, it will\nturn into a witch and hurt you.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nWALPURGIS NIGHT\n\n\nWalpurga was a British nun who went to Germany in the eighth\ncentury to found holy houses. After a pious life she was buried at\nEichstatt, where it is said a healing oil trickled from her\nrock-tomb. This miracle reminded men of the fruitful dew which fell\nfrom the manes of the Valkyries' horses, and when one of the days\nsacred to her came on May first, the wedding-day of Frau Holda and\nthe sun-god, the people thought of her as a Valkyrie, and\nidentified her with Holda. As, like a Valkyrie, she rode armed on\nher steed, she scattered, like Holda, spring flowers and fruitful\ndew upon the fields and vales. When these deities fell into\ndisrepute, Walpurga too joined the pagan train that swept the sky\non the eve of May first, and afterwards on mountain-tops to\nsacrifice and to adore Holda, as the priests had sacrificed for a\nprosperous season and a bountiful harvest.\n\nSo this night was called Walpurgis Night, when evil beings were\nabroad, and with them human worshippers who still guarded the old\nfaith in secret.\n\nThis is very like the occasion of November Eve, which shared with\nMay first Celtic manifestations of evil. Witches complete the list\nof supernatural beings which are out on Hallowe'en. All are to be\nmet at crossroads, with harm to the beholders. A superstition goes,\nthat if one wishes to see witches, he must put on his clothes wrong\nside out, and creep backward to a crossroads, or wear wild radish,\non May Eve.\n\nOn Walpurgis Night precaution must be taken against witches who may\nharm cattle. The stable doors are locked and sealed with three\ncrosses. Sprigs of ash, hawthorn, juniper, and elder, once sacred\nto the pagan gods, are now used as a protection against them.\nHorseshoes are nailed prongs up on the threshold or over the door.\nHoly bells are hung on the cows to scare away the witches, and they\nare guided to pasture by a goad which has been blessed. Shots are\nfired over the cornfield. If one wishes, he may hide in the corn\nand hear what will happen for a year.\n\nSigns and omens on Walpurgis Night have more weight than at other\ntimes except on St. John's Day.\n\n \"On Walpurgis Night rain\n Makes good crops of autumn grain,\"\n\nbut rain on May Day is harmful to them.\n\n[Illustration: THE WITCHES' DANCE (VALPURGISNACHT.)\n\n_From Painting by Von Kreling._]\n\nLovers try omens on this eve, as they do in Scotland on Hallowe'en.\nIf you sleep with one stocking on, you will find on May morning in\nthe toe a hair the color of your sweetheart's. Girls try to find\nout the temperament of their husbands-to-be by keeping a linen\nthread for three days near an image of the Madonna, and at midnight\non May Eve pulling it apart, saying:\n\n \"Thread, I pull thee;\n Walpurga, I pray thee,\n That thou show to me\n What my husband's like to be.\"\n\nThey judge of his disposition by the thread's being strong or\neasily broken, soft or tightly woven.\n\nDew on the morning of May first makes girls who wash in it\nbeautiful.\n\n \"The fair maid who on the first of May\n Goes to the fields at break of day\n And washes in dew from the hawthorn tree\n Will ever after handsome be.\"\n\n _Encyclopedia of Superstitions._\n\nA heavy dew on this morning presages a good \"butter-year.\" You will\nfind fateful initials printed in dew on a handkerchief that has\nbeen left out all the night of April thirtieth. On May Day girls\ninvoke the cuckoo:\n\n \"Cuckoo! cuckoo! on the bough,\n Tell me truly, tell me how\n Many years there will be\n Till a husband comes to me.\"\n\nThen they count the calls of the cuckoo until he pauses again.\n\nIf a man wears clothes made of yarn spun on Walpurgis Night to the\nMay-shooting, he will always hit the bull's-eye, for the Devil\ngives away to those he favors, \"freikugeln,\" bullets which always\nhit the mark.\n\nOn Walpurgis Night as on Hallowe'en strange things may happen to\none. Zschokke tells a story of a Walpurgis Night dream that is more\na vision than a dream. Led to be unfaithful to his wife, a man\nmurders the husband of a former sweetheart; to escape capture he\nfires a haystack, from which a whole village is kindled. In his\nflight he enters an empty carriage, and drives away madly, crushing\nthe owner under the wheels. He finds that the dead man is his own\nbrother. Faced by the person whom he believes to be the Devil,\nresponsible for his misfortunes, the wretched man is ready to\nworship him if he will protect him. He finds that the seeming Devil\nis in reality his guardian-angel who sent him this dream that he\nmight learn the depths of wickedness lying unfathomed in his\nheart, waiting an opportunity to burst out.\n\nBoth May Eve and St. John's Eve are times of freedom and\nunrestraint. People are filled with a sort of madness which makes\nthem unaccountable for their deeds.\n\n \"For you see, pastor, within every one of us a spark of paganism\n is glowing. It has outlasted the thousand years since the old\n Teutonic times. Once a year it flames up high, and we call it St.\n John's Fire. Once a year comes Free-night. Yes, truly,\n Free-night. Then the witches, laughing scornfully, ride to\n Blocksberg, upon the mountain-top, on their broomsticks, the same\n broomsticks with which at other times their witchcraft is whipped\n out of them,--then the whole wild company skims along the forest\n way,--and then the wild desires awaken in our hearts which life\n has not fulfilled.\"\n\n SUDERMANN: _St. John's Fire._ (Porter _trans._)\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nMORE HALLOWTIDE BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS\n\n\nOnly the Celts and the Teutons celebrate an occasion actually like\nour Hallowe'en. The countries of southern Europe make of it a\nreligious vigil, like that already described in France.\n\nIn Italy on the night of All Souls', the spirits of the dead are\nthought to be abroad, as in Brittany. They may mingle with living\npeople, and not be remarked. The _Miserere_ is heard in all the\ncities. As the people pass dressed in black, bells are rung on\nstreet corners to remind them to pray for the souls of the dead. In\nNaples the skeletons in the funeral vaults are dressed up, and the\nplace visited on All Souls' Day. In Salerno before the people go to\nthe all-night service at church they set out a banquet for the\ndead. If any food is left in the morning, evil is in store for the\nhouse.\n\n \"Hark! Hark to the wind! 'T is the night, they say,\n When all souls come back from the far away--\n The dead, forgotten this many a day!\n\n \"And the dead remembered--ay! long and well--\n And the little children whose spirits dwell\n In God's green garden of asphodel.\n\n \"Have you reached the country of all content,\n O souls we know, since the day you went\n From this time-worn world, where your years were spent?\n\n \"Would you come back to the sun and the rain,\n The sweetness, the strife, the thing we call pain,\n And then unravel life's tangle again?\n\n \"I lean to the dark--Hush!--was it a sigh?\n Or the painted vine-leaves that rustled by?\n Or only a night-bird's echoing cry?\"\n\n SHEARD: _Hallowe'en._\n\nIn Malta bells are rung, prayers said, and mourning worn on All\nSouls' Day. Graves are decorated, and the inscriptions on tombs\nread and reread. For the poor is prepared an All Souls' dinner, as\ncakes are given to the poor in England and Wales. The custom of\ndecorating graves with flowers and offering flowers to the dead\ncomes from the crowning of the dead by the ancients with\nshort-lived blooms, to signify the brevity of life.\n\nIn Spain at dark on Hallowe'en cakes and nuts are laid on graves to\nbribe the spirits not to disturb the vigils of the saints.\n\nIn Germany the graves of the dead are decorated with flowers and\nlights, on the first and second of November. To drive away ghosts\nfrom a church a key or a wand must be struck three times against a\nbier. An All Souls' divination in Germany is a girl's going out and\nasking the first young man she meets his name. Her husband's will\nbe like it. If she walks thrice about a church and makes a wish,\nshe will see it fulfilled.\n\nBelgian children build shrines in front of their homes with\nfigures of the Madonna and candles, and beg for money to buy cakes.\nAs many cakes as one eats, so many souls he frees from Purgatory.\n\nThe races of northern Europe believed that the dead returned, and\nwere grieved at the lamentations of their living relatives. The\nsame belief was found in Brittany, and among the American Indians.\n\n \"Think of this, O Hiawatha!\n Speak of it to all the people,\n That henceforward and forever\n They no more with lamentations\n Sadden souls of the departed\n In the Islands of the Bless\u00e8d.\"\n\n LONGFELLOW: _Hiawatha._\n\nThe Chinese fear the dead and the dragons of the air. They devote\nthe first three weeks in April to visiting the graves of their\nancestors, and laying baskets of offerings on them. The great\ndragon, Feng-Shin, flies scattering blessings upon the houses. His\npath is straight, unless he meets with some building. Then he turns\naside, and the owner of the too lofty edifice misses the blessing.\n\nAt Nikko, Japan, where there are many shrines to the spirits of the\ndead, masques are held to entertain the ghosts who return on\nMidsummer Day. Every street is lined with lighted lanterns, and the\nspirits are sent back to the otherworld in straw boats lit with\nlanterns, and floated down the river. To see ghosts in Japan one\nmust put one hundred rush-lights into a large lantern, and repeat\none hundred lines of poetry, taking one light out at the end of\neach line; or go out into the dark with one light and blow it out.\nGhosts are identified with witches. They come back especially on\nmoonlit nights.\n\n \"On moonlight nights, when the coast-wind whispers in the\n branches of the tree, O-Matsue and Teoyo may sometimes be seen,\n with bamboo rakes in their hands, gathering together the needles\n of the fir.\"\n\n RINDER: _Great Fir-Tree of Takasago._\n\nThere is a Chinese saying that a mirror is the soul of a woman. A\npretty story is told of a girl whose mother before she died gave\nher a mirror, saying:\n\n\"Now after I am dead, if you think longingly of me, take out the\nthing that you will find inside this box, and look at it. When you\ndo so my spirit will meet yours, and you will be comforted.\" When\nshe was lonely or her stepmother was harsh with her, the girl went\nto her room and looked earnestly into the mirror. She saw there\nonly her own face, but it was so much like her mother's that she\nbelieved it was hers indeed, and was consoled. When the stepmother\nlearned what it was her daughter cherished so closely, her heart\nsoftened toward the lonely girl, and her life was made easier.\n\nBy the Arabs spirits were called Djinns (or genii). They came from\nfire, and looked like men or beasts. They might be good or evil,\nbeautiful or horrible, and could disappear from mortal sight at\nwill. Nights when they were abroad, it behooved men to stay under\ncover.\n\n \"Ha! They are on us, close without!\n Shut tight the shelter where we lie;\n With hideous din the monster rout,\n Dragon and vampire, fill the sky.\"\n\n HUGO: _The Djinns._\n\n[Illustration: FORTUNE-TELLING.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nHALLOWE'EN IN AMERICA\n\n\nIn Colonial days Hallowe'en was not celebrated much in America.\nSome English still kept the customs of the old world, such as\napple-ducking and snapping, and girls tried the apple-paring charm\nto reveal their lovers' initials, and the comb-and-mirror test to\nsee their faces. Ballads were sung and ghost-stories told, for the\ndead were thought to return on Hallowe'en.\n\n \"There was a young officer in Phips's company at the time of the\n finding of the Spanish treasure-ship, who had gone mad at the\n sight of the bursting sacks that the divers had brought up from\n the sea, as the gold coins covered the deck. This man had once\n lived in the old stone house on the 'faire greene lane,' and a\n report had gone out that his spirit still visited it, and caused\n discordant noises. Once ... on a gusty November evening, when the\n clouds were scudding over the moon, a hall-door had blown open\n with a shrieking draft and a force that caused the floor to\n tremble.\"\n\n BUTTERWORTH: _Hallowe'en Reformation._\n\nElves, goblins, and fairies are native on American soil. The\nIndians believed in evil _manitous_, some of whom were water-gods\nwho exacted tribute from all who passed over their lakes. Henry\nHudson and his fellow-explorers haunted as mountain-trolls the\nCatskill range. Like Ossian and so many other visitors to the\nOtherworld, Rip Van Winkle is lured into the strange gathering,\nthinks that he passes the night there, wakes, and goes home to find\nthat twenty years have whitened his hair, rusted his gun, and\nsnatched from life many of his boon-companions.\n\n \"My gun must have cotched the rheumatix too. Now that's too bad.\n Them fellows have gone and stolen my good gun, and leave me this\n rusty old barrel.\n\n \"Why, is that the village of Falling Waters that I see? Why, the\n place is more than twice the size it was last night--I----\n\n \"I don't know whether I am dreaming, or sleeping, or waking.\"\n\n JEFFERSON: _Rip Van Winkle._\n\nThe persecution of witches, prevalent in Europe, reached this side\nof the Atlantic in the seventeenth century.\n\n \"This sudden burst of wickedness and crime\n Was but the common madness of the time,\n When in all lands, that lie within the sound\n Of Sabbath bells, a witch was burned or drowned.\"\n\n LONGFELLOW: _Giles Corey of the Salem Farms._\n\nMen and women who had enemies to accuse them of evil knowledge and\nthe power to cause illness in others, were hanged or pressed to\ndeath by heavy weights. Such sicknesses they could cause by keeping\na waxen image, and sticking pins or nails into it, or melting it\nbefore the fire. The person whom they hated would be in torture, or\nwould waste away like the waxen doll. Witches' power to injure and\nto prophesy came from the Devil, who marked them with a\nneedle-prick. Such marks were sought as evidence at trials.\n\n\"Witches' eyes are coals of fire from the pit.\" They were attended\nby black cats, owls, bats, and toads.\n\nIron, as being a product of fire, was a protection against them, as\nagainst evil spirits everywhere. It had especial power when in the\nshape of a horseshoe.\n\n \"This horseshoe will I nail upon the threshold.\n There, ye night-hags and witches that torment\n The neighborhood, ye shall not enter here.\"\n\n LONGFELLOW: _Giles Corey of the Salem Farms._\n\nThe holiday-time of elves, witches, and ghosts is Hallowe'en. It is\nnot believed in here except by some children, who people the dark\nwith bogies who will carry them away if they are naughty.\n\n \"Onc't they was a little boy wouldn't say his prayers--\n An' when he went to bed at night, away upstairs,\n His mammy heerd him holler, an' his daddy heerd him bawl,\n An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wasn't there at all!\n\n An' they seeked him in the rafter-room, an' cubby-hole, an'\n press,\n An' seeked him up the chimbley-flue, an' ever'wheres, I guess;\n But all they ever found was thist his pants an' roundabout!\n An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you, ef you don't watch out!\"\n\n RILEY: _Little Orphant Annie._\n\nNegroes are very superstitious, putting faith in all sorts of\nsupernatural beings.\n\n \"Blame my trap! how de wind do blow;\n And dis is das de night for de witches, sho!\n Dey's trouble going to waste when de ole slut whine,\n An' you hear de cat a-spittin' when de moon don't shine.\"\n\n RILEY: _When de Folks is Gone._\n\nWhile the original customs of Hallowe'en are being forgotten more\nand more across the ocean, Americans have fostered them, and are\nmaking this an occasion something like what it must have been in\nits best days overseas. All Hallowe'en customs in the United States\nare borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries.\nAll superstitions, everyday ones, and those pertaining to Christmas\nand New Year's, have special value on Hallowe'en.\n\nIt is a night of ghostly and merry revelry. Mischievous spirits\nchoose it for carrying off gates and other objects, and hiding them\nor putting them out of reach.\n\n \"Dear me, Polly, I wonder what them boys will be up to to-night.\n I do hope they'll not put the gate up on the shed as they did\n last year.\"\n\n WRIGHT: _Tom's Hallowe'en Joke._\n\nBags filled with flour sprinkle the passers-by. Door-bells are rung\nand mysterious raps sounded on doors, things thrown into halls, and\nknobs stolen. Such sports mean no more at Hallowe'en than the\ntricks played the night before the Fourth of July have to do with\nthe Declaration of Independence. We see manifested on all such\noccasions the spirit of \"Free-night\" of which George von Hartwig\nspeaks so enthusiastically in _St. John's Fire_ (page 141).\n\nHallowe'en parties are the real survival of the ancient merrymakings.\nThey are prepared for in secret. Guests are not to divulge the fact\nthat they are invited. Often they come masked, as ghosts or witches.\n\nThe decorations make plain the two elements of the festival.\nFor the centerpiece of the table there may be a hollowed pumpkin,\nfilled with apples and nuts and other fruits of harvest, or\na pumpkin-chariot drawn by field-mice. So it is clear that this\nis a harvest-party, like Pomona's feast. In the coach rides a\nwitch, representing the other element, of magic and prophecy.\nJack-o'-lanterns, with which the room is lighted, are hollowed\npumpkins with candles inside. The candle-light shines through holes\ncut like features. So the lantern becomes a bogy, and is held up at\na window to frighten those inside. Corn-stalks from the garden\nstand in clumps about the room. A frieze of witches on broomsticks,\nwith cats, bats, and owls surmounts the fireplace, perhaps. A full\nmoon shines over all, and a caldron on a tripod holds fortunes\ntied in nut-shells. The prevailing colors are yellow and black: a\ndeep yellow is the color of most ripe grain and fruit; black stands\nfor black magic and demoniac influence. Ghosts and skulls and\ncross-bones, symbols of death, startle the beholder. Since\nHallowe'en is a time for lovers to learn their fate, hearts and\nother sentimental tokens are used to good effect, as the Scotch\nlads of Burns's time wore love-knots.\n\nHaving marched to the dining-room to the time of a dirge, the\nguests find before them plain, hearty fare; doughnuts, gingerbread,\ncider, popcorn, apples, and nuts honored by time. The Hallowe'en\ncake has held the place of honor since the beginning here in\nAmerica. A ring, key, thimble, penny, and button baked in it\nforetell respectively speedy marriage, a journey, spinsterhood,\nwealth, and bachelorhood.\n\n \"Polly was going to be married, Jennie was going on a long\n journey, and you--down went the knife against something hard. The\n girls crowded round. You had a hurt in your throat, and there,\n there, in your slice, was the horrid, hateful, big brass thimble.\n It was more than you could bear--soaking, dripping wet, and an\n old maid!\"\n\n BRADLEY: _Different Party._\n\n[Illustration: A WITCH TABLE.\n\nAN OWL TABLE.\n\nHALLOWE'EN TABLES, I.]\n\nThe kitchen is the best place for the rough games and after-supper\ncharms.\n\nOn the stems of the apples which are to be dipped for may be tied\nnames; for the boys in one tub, for the girls in another. Each\nsearcher of the future must draw out with his teeth an apple with a\nname which will be like that of his future mate.\n\nA variation of the Irish snap-apple is a hoop hung by strings from\nthe ceiling, round which at intervals are placed bread, apples,\ncakes, peppers, candies, and candles. The strings are twisted, then\nlet go, and as the hoop revolves, each may step up and get a bite\nfrom whatever comes to him. By the taste he determines what the\ncharacter of his married life will be,--whether wholesome, acid,\nsoft, fiery, or sweet. Whoever bites the candle is twice\nunfortunate, for he must pay a forfeit too. An apple and a bag of\nflour are placed on the ends of a stick, and whoever dares to seize\na mouthful of apple must risk being blinded by flour. Apples are\nsuspended one to a string in a doorway. As they swing, each guest\ntries to secure his apple. To blow out a candle as it revolves on a\nstick requires attention and accuracy of aim.\n\n[Illustration: A WITCHES'-CALDRON TABLE.\n\nA BLACK-CAT TABLE.\n\nHALLOWE'EN TABLES, II.]\n\nThe one who first succeeds in threading a needle as he sits on a\nround bottle on the floor, will be first married. Twelve candles\nare lighted, and placed at convenient distances on the floor in a\nrow. As the guest leaps over them, the first he blows out will\nindicate his wedding-month. One candle only placed on the floor and\nblown out in the same way means a year of wretchedness ahead. If it\nstill burns, it presages a year of joy.\n\nAmong the quieter tests some of the most common are tried with\napple-seeds. As in England a pair of seeds named for two lovers are\nstuck on brow or eyelids. The one who sticks longer is the true,\nthe one who soon falls, the disloyal sweetheart. Seeds are used in\nthis way to tell also whether one is to be a traveler or a\nstay-at-home. Apple-seeds are twice ominous, partaking of both\napple and nut nature. Even the number of seeds found in a core has\nmeaning. If you put them upon the palm of your hand, and strike it\nwith the other, the number remaining will tell you how many letters\nyou will receive in a fortnight. With twelve seeds and the names of\ntwelve friends, the old rhyme may be repeated:\n\n \"One I love,\n Two I love,\n Three I love, I say;\n Four I love with all my heart:\n Five I cast away.\n Six he loves,\n Seven she loves,\n Eight they both love;\n Nine he comes,\n Ten he tarries,\n Eleven he courts, and\n Twelve he marries.\"\n\nNuts are burned in the open fire. It is generally agreed that the\none for whom the first that pops is named, loves.\n\n \"If he loves me, pop and fly;\n If he hates me, live and die.\"\n\nOften the superstition connected therewith is forgotten in the\nexcitement of the moment.\n\n \"When ebery one among us toe de smallest pickaninny\n Would huddle in de chimbley cohnah's glow,\n Toe listen toe dem chilly win's ob ole Novembah's\n Go a-screechin' lack a spook around de huts,\n 'Twell de pickaninnies' fingahs gits to shakin' o'er de embahs,\n An' dey laik ter roas' dey knuckles 'stead o' nuts.\"\n\n IN WERNER'S _Readings, Number 31_.\n\nLetters of the alphabet are carved on a pumpkin. Fate guides the\nhand of the blindfolded seeker to the fateful initial which he\nstabs with a pin. Letters cut out of paper are sprinkled on water\nin a tub. They form groups from which any one with imagination may\nspell out names.\n\nGirls walk down cellar backward with a candle in one hand and a\nlooking-glass in the other, expecting to see a face in the glass.\n\n \"Last night 't was witching Hallowe'en,\n Dearest; an apple russet-brown\n I pared, and thrice above my crown\n Whirled the long skin; they watched it keen;\n I flung it far; they laughed and cried me shame--\n Dearest, there lay the letter of your name.\n\n \"Took I the mirror then, and crept\n Down, down the creaking narrow stair;\n The milk-pans caught my candle's flare\n And mice walked soft and spiders slept.\n I spoke the spell, and stood the magic space,\n Dearest--and in the glass I saw your face!\n\n \"And then I stole out in the night\n Alone; the frogs piped sweet and loud,\n The moon looked through a ragged cloud.\n Thrice round the house I sped me light,\n Dearest; and there, methought--charm of my charms!\n You met me, kissed me, took me to your arms!\"\n\n OPPER: _The Charms._\n\nThere are many mirror-tests. A girl who sits before a mirror at\nmidnight on Hallowe'en combing her hair and eating an apple will\nsee the face of her true love reflected in the glass. Standing so\nthat through a window she may see the moon in a glass she holds,\nshe counts the number of reflections to find out how many pleasant\nthings will happen to her in the next twelve months. Alabama has\ntaken over the Scotch mirror test in its entirety.\n\nA girl with a looking-glass in her hand steps backward from the\ndoor out into the yard. Saying:\n\n \"Round and round, O stars so fair!\n Ye travel, and search out everywhere.\n I pray you, sweet stars, now show to me,\n This night, who my future husband shall be!\"\n\nshe goes to meet her fate.\n\n \"So Leslie backed out at the door, and we shut it upon her. The\n instant after, we heard a great laugh. Off the piazza she had\n stepped backward directly against two gentlemen coming in.\n\n \"Doctor Ingleside was one, coming to get his supper; the other\n was a friend of his.... 'Doctor John Hautayne,' he said,\n introducing him by his full name.\"\n\n WHITNEY: _We Girls._\n\nA custom that is a reminder of the lighted boats sent down-stream\nin Japan to bear away the souls of the dead, is that which makes\nuse of nut-shell boats. These have tiny candles fastened in them,\nare lighted, and named, and set adrift on a tub of water. If they\ncling to the side, their namesakes will lead a quiet life. Some\nwill float together. Some will collide and be shipwrecked. Others\nwill bear steadily toward a goal though the waves are rocked in a\ntempest. Their behavior is significant. The candle which burns\nlongest belongs to the one who will marry first.\n\nThe Midsummer wheel which was rolled down into the Moselle River in\nFrance, and meant, if the flames that wreathed it were not\nextinguished, that the grape-harvest would be abundant, has\nsurvived in the fortune wheel which is rolled about from one guest\nto another, and brings a gift to each.\n\nThe actions of cats on Hallowe'en betoken good or bad luck. If a\ncat sits quietly beside any one, he will enjoy a peaceful,\nprosperous life; if one rubs against him, it brings good luck,\ndoubly good if one jumps into his lap. If a cat yawns near you on\nHallowe'en, be alert and do not let opportunity slip by you. If a\ncat runs from you, you have a secret which will be revealed in\nseven days.\n\nDifferent states have put interpretations of their own on the\ncommonest charms. In Massachusetts the one who first draws an apple\nfrom the tub with his teeth will be first married. If a girl steals\na cabbage, she will see her future husband as she pulls it up, or\nmeet him as she goes home. If these fail, she must put the cabbage\nover the door and watch to see whom it falls on, for him she is to\nmarry. A button concealed in mashed potato brings misfortune to the\nfinder. The names of three men are written on slips of paper, and\nenclosed in three balls of meal. The one that rises first when they\nare thrown into water will disclose the sought-for name.\n\nMaine has borrowed the yarn-test from Scotland. A ball is thrown\ninto a barn or cellar, and wound off on the hand. The lover will\ncome and help to wind. Girls in New Hampshire place in a row three\ndishes with earth, water, and a ring in them, respectively. The one\nwho blindfolded touches earth will soon die; water, will never\nmarry; the ring, will soon be wedded.\n\nTo dream of the future on Hallowe'en in Pennsylvania, one must go\nout of the front door backward, pick up dust or grass, wrap it in\npaper, and put it under his pillow.\n\nIn Maryland girls see their future husbands by a rite similar to\nthe Scotch \"wetting of the sark-sleeve.\" They put an egg to roast,\nand open wide all the doors and windows. The man they seek will\ncome in and turn the egg. At supper girls stand behind the chairs,\nknowing that the ones they are to marry will come to sit in front\nof them.\n\nThe South has always been famous for its hospitality and good\ntimes. On Hallowe'en a miniature Druid-fire burns in a bowl on the\ntable. In the blazing alcohol are put fortunes wrapped in tin-foil,\nfigs, orange-peel, raisins, almonds, and dates. The one who\nsnatches the best will meet his sweetheart inside of a year, and\nall may try for a fortune from the flames. The origin of this\ncustom was the taking of omens from the death-struggles of\ncreatures burning in the fire of sacrifice.\n\nAnother Southern custom is adapted from one of Brittany. Needles\nare named and floated in a dish of water. Those which cling side by\nside are lovers.\n\nGood fortune is in store for the one who wins an apple from the\ntub, or against whose glass a ring suspended by a hair strikes with\na sharp chime.\n\nA very elaborate charm is tried in Newfoundland. As the clock\nstrikes midnight a girl puts the twenty-six letters of the\nalphabet, cut from paper, into a pure-white bowl which has been\ntouched by the lips of a new-born babe only. After saying:\n\n \"Kind fortune, tell me where is he\n Who my future lord shall be;\n From this bowl all that I claim\n Is to know my sweetheart's name.\"\n\nshe puts the bowl into a safe place until morning. Then she is\nblindfolded and picks out the same number of letters as there are\nin her own name, and spells another from them.\n\nIn New Brunswick, instead of an apple, a hard-boiled egg without\nsalt is eaten before a mirror, with the same result. In Canada a\nthread is held over a lamp. The number that can be counted slowly\nbefore the thread parts, is the number of years before the one who\ncounts will marry.\n\nIn the United States a hair is thrown to the winds with the stanza\nchanted:\n\n \"I pluck this lock of hair off my head\n To tell whence comes the one I shall wed.\n Fly, silken hair, fly all the world around,\n Until you reach the spot where my true love is found.\"\n\nThe direction in which the hair floats is prophetic.\n\nThe taste in Hallowe'en festivities now is to study old traditions,\nand hold a Scotch party, using Burns's poem _Hallowe'en_ as a\nguide; or to go a-souling as the English used. In short, no custom\nthat was once honored at Hallowe'en is out of fashion now.\n\"Cyniver\" has been borrowed from Wales, and the \"dumb-cake\" from\nthe Hebrides. In the Scotch custom of cabbage-stalk pulling, if the\nstalk comes up easily, the husband or wife will be easy to win. The\nmelted-lead test to show the occupation of the husband-to-be has\nbeen adopted in the United States. If the metal cools in round\ndrops, the tester will never marry, or her husband will have no\nprofession. White of egg is used in the same way. Like the Welsh\ntest is that of filling the mouth with water, and walking round the\nhouse until one meets one's fate. An adaptation of the Scottish\n\"three luggies\" is the row of four dishes holding dirt, water, a\nring, and a rag. The dirt means divorce, the water, a trip across\nthe ocean, the ring, marriage, the rag, no marriage at all.\n\nAfter the charms have been tried, fagots are passed about, and by\nthe eerie light of burning salt and alcohol, ghost stories are\ntold, each concluding his installment as his fagot withers into\nashes. Sometimes the cabbage stalks used in the omens take the\nplace of fagots.\n\nTo induce prophetic dreams salt, in quantities from a pinch to an\negg full, is eaten before one goes to bed.\n\n \"'Miss Jeanette, that's such a fine trick! You must swallow a\n salt herring in three bites, bones and all, and not drink a drop\n till the apparition of your future spouse comes in the night to\n offer you a drink of water.'\"\n\n ADAMS: _Chrissie's Fate._\n\nIf, after taking three doses of salt two minutes apart, a girl goes\nto bed backward, lies on her right side, and does not move till\nmorning, she is sure to have eventful dreams. Pills made of a\nhazelnut, a walnut, and nutmeg grated together and mixed with\nbutter and sugar cause dreams: if of gold, the husband will be\nrich; if of noise, a tradesman; if of thunder and lightning, a\ntraveler. As in Ireland bay-leaves on or under a man's pillow cause\nhim to dream of his sweetheart. Also\n\n \"Turn your boots toward the street,\n Leave your garters on your feet,\n Put your stockings on your head,\n You'll dream of the one you're going to wed.\"\n\nLemon-peel carried all day and rubbed on the bed-posts at night\nwill cause an apparition to bring the dreaming girl two lemons. For\nquiet sleep and the fulfilment of any wish eat before going to bed\non Hallowe'en a piece of dry bread.\n\nA far more interesting development of the Hallowe'en idea than\nthese innocent but colorless superstitions, is promised by the\npageant at Fort Worth, Texas, on October thirty-first, 1916. In the\nmasque and pageant of the afternoon four thousand school children\ntook part. At night scenes from the pageant were staged on floats\nwhich passed along the streets. The subject was _Preparedness for_\n_Peace_, and comprised scenes from American history in which peace\nplayed an honorable part. Such were: the conference of William Penn\nand the Quakers with the Indians, and the opening of the East to\nAmerican trade. This is not a subject limited to performances at\nHallowtide. May there not be written and presented in America a\ntruly Hallowe'en pageant, illustrating and befitting its noble\norigin, and making its place secure among the holidays of the\nyear?\n\n\n\n\n HALLOWE'EN\n\n Bring forth the raisins and the nuts--\n To-night All-Hallows' Spectre struts\n Along the moonlit way.\n No time is this for tear or sob,\n Or other woes our joys to rob,\n But time for Pippin and for Bob,\n And Jack-o'-lantern gay.\n\n Come forth, ye lass and trousered kid,\n From prisoned mischief raise the lid,\n And lift it good and high.\n Leave grave old Wisdom in the lurch,\n Set Folly on a lofty perch,\n Nor fear the awesome rod of birch\n When dawn illumes the sky.\n\n 'Tis night for revel, set apart\n To reillume the darkened heart,\n And rout the hosts of Dole.\n 'Tis night when Goblin, Elf, and Fay,\n Come dancing in their best array\n To prank and royster on the way,\n And ease the troubled soul.\n\n The ghosts of all things, past parade,\n Emerging from the mist and shade\n That hid them from our gaze,\n And full of song and ringing mirth,\n In one glad moment of rebirth,\n Again they walk the ways of earth,\n As in the ancient days.\n\n The beacon light shines on the hill,\n The will-o'-wisps the forests fill\n With flashes filched from noon;\n And witches on their broomsticks spry\n Speed here and yonder in the sky,\n And lift their strident voices high\n Unto the Hunter's moon.\n\n The air resounds with tuneful notes\n From myriads of straining throats,\n All hailing Folly Queen;\n So join the swelling choral throng,\n Forget your sorrow and your wrong,\n In one glad hour of joyous song\n To honor Hallowe'en.\n\n J. K. BANGS _in Harper's Weekly, Nov. 5, 1910_.\n\n\n\n\n HALLOWE'EN FAILURE\n\n Who's dat peekin' in de do'?\n Set mah heart a-beatin'!\n Thought I see' a spook for sho\n On mah way to meetin'.\n Heerd a rustlin' all aroun',\n Trees all sort o' jiggled;\n An' along de frosty groun'\n Funny shadders wriggled.\n\n Who's dat by de winder-sill?\n Gittin' sort o' skeery;\n Feets is feelin' kind o' chill,\n Eyes is sort o' teary.\n 'Most as nervous as a coon\n When de dawgs is barkin',\n Er a widder when some spoon\n Comes along a-sparkin'.\n\n Whass dat creepin' up de road,\n Quiet like a ferret,\n Hoppin' sof'ly as a toad?\n Maybe hit's a sperrit!\n Lordy! hope dey ain't no ghos'\n Come to tell me howdy.\n I ain't got no use for those\n Fantoms damp an' cloudy.\n\n Whass dat standin' by de fence\n Wid its eyes a-yearnin',\n Drivin' out mah common-sense\n Wid its glances burnin'?\n Don't dass skeercely go to bed\n Wid dem spookses roun' me.\n Ain't no res' fo' dis yere head\n When dem folks surroun' me.\n\n Whass dat groanin' soun' I hear\n Off dar by de gyardin?\n Lordy! Lordy! Lordy dear,\n Grant dis sinner pardon!\n I won't nebber--I declar'\n Ef it ain't my Sammy!\n Sambo, what yo' doin' dar?\n Yo' can't skeer yo' mammy!\n\n CARLYLE SMITH _in Harper's Weekly, Oct. 29, 1910_.\n\n\n\n\n HALLOWE'EN\n\n Pixie, kobold, elf, and sprite\n All are on their rounds to-night,--\n In the wan moon's silver ray\n Thrives their helter-skelter play.\n\n Fond of cellar, barn, or stack\n True unto the almanac,\n They present to credulous eyes\n Strange hobgoblin mysteries.\n\n Cabbage-stumps--straws wet with dew--\n Apple-skins, and chestnuts too,\n And a mirror for some lass\n Show what wonders come to pass.\n\n Doors they move, and gates they hide\n Mischiefs that on moonbeams ride\n Are their deeds,--and, by their spells,\n Love records its oracles.\n\n Don't we all, of long ago\n By the ruddy fireplace glow,\n In the kitchen and the hall,\n Those queer, coof-like pranks recall?\n\n Eery shadows were they then--\n But to-night they come again;\n Were we once more but sixteen\n Precious would be Hallowe'en.\n\n JOEL BENTON _in Harper's Weekly, Oct. 31, 1896_.\n\n\n[Illustration: NO HALLOWE'EN WITHOUT A JACK-O'-LANTERN.]\n\n\n\n\n HALLOWE'EN\n\n A gypsy flame is on the hearth,\n Sign of this carnival of mirth.\n Through the dun fields and from the glade\n Flash merry folk in masquerade--\n It is the witching Hallowe'en.\n\n Pale tapers glimmer in the sky,\n The dead and dying leaves go by;\n Dimly across the faded green\n Strange shadows, stranger shades, are seen--\n It is the mystic Hallowe'en.\n\n Soft gusts of love and memory\n Beat at the heart reproachfully;\n The lights that burn for those who die\n Were flickering low, let them flare high--\n It is the haunting Hallowe'en.\n\n A. F. MURRAY _in Harper's Weekly, Oct. 30, 1909._\n\n\n\n\nMagazine References to Hallowe'en Entertainments\n\n\nCHARADES:\n\n Charades, menu, tests. H. Bazar, 32:894.\n\nCHILDREN'S PARTIES:\n\n Fortune games for very little children. St. N., 23:33.\n Hallowe'en fortunes for boys and girls. Delin., 66:631.\n Masquerade, games, tests. W. H. C., 35:43.\n Decorations. W. H. C., 36:34.\n Old-fashioned games. St. N., 35:51.\n Children's celebration of Hallowe'en. St. N., 32:1124.\n\nCHURCH PARTIES:\n\n Mystic party. L. H. J., 22:57.\n For Young People's Soc. L. H. J., 26:34.\n \"Phantom fair.\" W. H. C., 39:32.\n\nCLUB PARTIES:\n\n For Country Club. Invitation. Costumes. Supper. Dance.\n W. H. C., 41:30.\n \"Candle-light caf\u00e9.\" W. H. C., 42. Oct., 1915.\n\nCOSTUMES:\n\n Delin., 78:258.\n\nCOUNTRY-HOUSE PARTY:\n\n Country Life, 18:624.\n\nDANCES:\n\n Dances, drills, costumes. Delin., 78:258.\n Hallowe'en party. W. H. C., 40:39.\n Barn party. W. H. C., 34:30.\n\nDECORATIONS AND FAVORS:\n\n Autumn-leaf decorations and prizes. Delin., 64:638.\n Cobweb party. Delin., 91:44.\n Hall: Handicraft for handy girls.\n Place-cards, verses. L. H. J., 28:50.\n L. H. J., 31:40.\n H. Bazar, 39:1046.\n L. H. J., 20:48.\n L. H. J., 16:38.\n Cinderella party. W. H. C., 34:30.\n Favors. H. Bazar, 45:516.\n Nut favors. W. H. C., 32:53.\n Original decorations. W. H. C., 32:32.\n Fads and frills. W. H. C., 32:24.\n\nGAMES AND FORTUNES:\n\n Witchery games for Hallowe'en. Delin., 64:576.\n H. Bazar., 33:1650.\n L. H. J., 20:48.\n L. H. J., 25:58.\n Blain: Games for Hallowe'en.\n Quaint customs. H. Bazar, 46:578.\n H. Bazar, 32:894.\n Witches' think cap. L. H. J., 32:29.\n Hallowe'en happenings. St. N., 35:51.\n\nINVITATIONS:\n\n H. Bazar, 33:1650.\n\nPARTIES (miscellaneous):\n\n H. Bazar, 28 pt. 2:841.\n H. Bazar, 32:894.\n L. H. J., 29:105.\n L. H. J., 30:103.\n Nut-crack night party. H. Bazar, 41:1106.\n Nut-crack party. H. Bazar, 38:1092.\n Novel party. W. H. C., 31:42.\n Yarn party. L. H. J., 26:63.\n L. H. J., 23:68.\n L. H. J., 14:25.\n Barn party. W. H. C., 34:30.\n Novel party with musical accompaniment. Musician, 18:665.\n Cotter's Saturday night. W. H. C., 38:40.\n \"Ghosts I have met\" party. Pantomime. W. H. C., 37:27.\n Two jolly affairs. W. H. C., 39:32.\n Tryst of witches. Good H., 53:463.\n Tam o' Shanter party. Delin., 85:26.\n Jolly good time. Delin., 74:367.\n Hints for Hallowe'en hilarities. L. H. J., 27:46.\n Jolly party. L. H. J., 19:41.\n Hallowe'en fun. L. H. J., 33:33.\n Pumpkin stunt party. W. H. C., 45. Oct., 1917.\n Character party. W. H. C., 45. Oct., 1917.\n\nSCHOOL PARTIES:\n\n \"Cotter's Saturday night.\" W. H. C., 38:40.\n High school party. W. H. C., 42:34.\n How the college girl celebrates Hallowe'en. W. H. C., 31:16.\n\nSUPPERS, TABLE DECORATIONS, MENUS:\n\n Hallowe'en suppers. H. Bazar, 35:1670.\n H. Bazar, 37:1063.\n L. H. J., 24:78.\n L. H. J., 16:38.\n W. H. C., 40:39.\n W. H. C., 43:35.\n H. Bazar, 44:641.\n H. Bazar, 45:507.\n Hallowe'en party table. L. H. J., 29:44.\n H. Bazar, 32:894.\n Hallowe'en supper. Good H., 53:569.\n\nThe pages refer always to the October number of the year.\n\n\n\n\nSupplementary List of Readings, Recitations, and Plays\n\n * * * * *\n\n TITLE AUTHOR SOURCE\n\n _All Hallowe'en_ (story) All the Year Round,\n 60:347\n _All Souls' Eve_ (story) Hopper Eng. Illus. Mag., 18:225\n _All Souls' Eve_ (story) Lyall Temple Bar., 124:379\n _Black cat_ (story) Poe\n _Boogah Man_ Dunbar Eldridge Entertainment\n House\n _Brier-Rose_ (story) Grimm Fairy tales\n _Broomstick brigade_ J. T. Wagner 6 Barclay St., N. Y. City\n _Bud's fairy tale_ (poem) Riley Child-world\n Children's Play with musical\n accompaniment Musician, 16:693\n _Corn-song_ (poem) Whittier\n _Elder-tree mother_ (story) Andersen Fairy tales\n _Fairies_ (poem) Allingham\n _Fairy and witch_ (play) Nelson Eldridge Entertainment\n House\n _Feast of the little lanterns_\n (operetta) Bliss\n _Fisherman and the genie_ _Arabian Nights_\n (story)\n _Ghost_ (story) O'Connor\n _Ghosts I have met_ Bangs\n _Ghost's touch_ (story) Collins\n _Golden arm_ (story) Clemens _How to tell a story_\n _Goblin stone_ (play) Wickes Child's Book, p. 127\n _Guess who_ (song and drill) Murray Eldridge Entertainment\n House\n _Hallowe'en adventure_ McDonald Canad. Mag., 12:61\n (story)\n\n _Hallowe'en adventure_ Koogle Eldridge Entertainment\n (play) House\n _Hallowe'en frolic_ Cone St. N. 20 pt. 1:15\n (poem)\n _Haunted gale_ (play) Wormwood Eldridge Entertainment\n House\n _House in the wood_ Grimm Fairy tales\n (story)\n _Little Butterkin_ Asbjornsen _Fairy tales from the\n (story) far north_\n _Little Donna Juana_ Brooks\n (story)\n _Mother Goose recital_ Musician, 21:633\n _Nix of the mill-pond_ Grimm Fairy tales\n (story)\n _Peter Pan in Kensington_ Barrie\n _Gardens_ (story)\n _Rapunzel_ (story) Grimm Fairy tales\n _Red shoes_ (story) Andersen Fairy tales\n _Scarecrows a-roaming_ Eldridge Entertainment\n (play) House\n _Seein' things_ (poem) Field Love songs of childhood\n _Snow-white_ (story) Grimm Fairy tales\n _Straw phantom_ (pantomime) Blackall St. N., 44:1133\n _Testing of Sir Gawayne_ Merington _Festival plays_,\n (play) p. 211\n _Voyage of Bran_ Meyer\n _Walpurgisnight_ (story) Zschokke\n _Wind in the rose-bush_ Freeman\n (story)\n\n\n\n\nINDEX TO QUOTATIONS\n\n * * * * *\n\n TITLE |AUTHOR |PAGE |SOURCE\n ---------------------------------------------------------------------\n _All-hallows honeymoon_ | | |New Eng. Magazine,\n (story) |Marks |104 | 37:308\n _All Souls' Eve_ (poem) |Marks, J.P.|31-32 |\n _Ancient Irish_ |O'Curry |7 |\n _Ballad of Tam Lin_ | |65 |Child's Ballads\n _Battle of the trees_ |Taliesin |7 |_Neo-druidical heresy_\n _Caractacus_ (poem) |Mason |11 |\n _Celtic twilight_ (poem | | |\n in introduction to) |Yeats |58 |\n _Charms_ (poem) |Opper |161 |Munsey, 30:285\n _Comus_ (play) |Milton |131 |\n _Cuchulain of Muirthemne_|Gregory |37-38- |\n | |39 |\n _Cuchulain's sick-bed_ | |42 |\n _Death of the flowers_ |Bryant |18-19 |\n (poem) | | |\n _Different party_ |Bradley |156-157|Harper's Bazar, 41:131\n (story) | | |\n _Dinnsenchus of Mag | |21 |_Neo-druidical heresy_\n Slecht_ | | |\n _Djinns_ (poem) |Hugo |148 |\n _Druid song of Cathvah_ | | |\n (poem) |Todhunter |9 |\n _Expedition of Nera_ | |44 |\n \"Fair maid who\" | |139 |Encyc. of Superstitions\n _Fairy-faith in Celtic | | |\n countries_ |Wentz |48-49 |\n _Fairy fiddler_ (poem) |Hopper |64 |\n _Fasti_ |Ovid |114 |\n _Faust_ (play) |Goethe |130 |\n _First winter song_ | | |\n (poem) |Graves |16 |\n \"Five hundred points\" |Tusser |98 |\n _Giles Corey of the Salem| | |\n Farms_ (play) |Longfellow |151-152|\n _Golden Legend_ |De Voragine|30 |\n _Great fir-tree of | | |\n Takasago_ (story) |Rinder |146 |_Old-world Japan_\n \"Green fairy island\" |Parry |103 |Welsh Melodies\n _Hag_ (poem) |Herrick |66-67 |\n _Hallowe'en_ (poem) |Burns |73-74- |\n | |75 |\n _Hallowe'en_ (poem) |Coxe |18-19- |\n | |88-89- |\n | |96 |\n _Hallowe'en_ (poem) |Letts |99-100 |\n _Hallowe'en_ (poem) |Sheard |143 |Canadian mag., 36:33\n _Hallowe'en_ (poem) |Bangs |172-173|Harper's Weekly, Nov.\n | | | 5, 1910\n _Hallowe'en_ (poem) |Benton |176-177|Harper's Weekly, Oct.\n | | | 31, 1896\n _Hallowe'en_ (poem) |Murray |178 |Harper's Weekly, Oct.\n | | | 30, 1909\n _Hallowe'en Failure_ |Smith |175 |Harper's Weekly, Oct.\n (poem) | | | 29, 1910\n _Hallowe'en or Christie's|Adams |169 |Scribner's, 3:26\n fate_ (story) | | |\n _Hallowe'en in Ireland_ |Trant |51 |_Dewdrops and Diamonds_\n _Hallowe'en Fantasy_ |Pyle |49 |Harper's Bazar, 31, pt.\n (play), | | | 2: 947\n (Priest and the Piper)| | |\n _Hallowe'en reformation_ |Butterworth|149-150|Century, 27:48\n (story) | | |\n _Hallowe'en wish_ (poem) |Munkittrick|93-94 |Harper's Weekly, Oct.\n | | | 27, 1900\n _Hiawatha_ (poem) |Longfellow |145 |\n _Immortal Hour_ (play) |Sharp |39-40- |Fortn. Rev. 74:867\n | |41 |\n _Jorinda and Joringel_ |Grimm |135 |Grimm's Fairy Tales\n (story) | | |\n _L'Allegro_ (poem) |Milton |86 |\n _Land of Heart's Desire_ | |36-43- |\n (play) |Yeats |45-47 |\n _Lavengro_ (story) |Borrow |129 |\n _Little Orphant Annie_ |Riley |152-153|\n _Loch Garman_ |O'Ciarain |36 |\n _Lycidas_ (poem) |Milton |85 |\n _Macbeth_ (play) |Shakspere |89 |\n _Monastery_ (story) |Scott |62-63- |\n | |76-103 |\n _Night of the dead_ |Le Braz |116-117|_Legend of the dead_\n \"On nuts burning\" |Graydon |91-92 |\n _On the morning of | | |\n Christ's nativity_ | | |\n (poem) |Milton |28 |\n _Paradise Lost_ (poem) |Milton |120 |\n _Passing of Arthur_ |Tennyson |84 |\n (poem) | | |\n _Pastorals_ (poem) |Gay |74-75- |\n | |92-93- |\n | |94-95- |\n | |97 |\n _Peer Gynt_ (play) |Ibsen |131 |\n _Peter and Wendy_ (story)|Barrie |64 |\n _Polyolbion_ (poem) |Drayton |10 |\n _Pomona_ (poem) |Morris |23 |\n _Rip Van Winkle_ (play) |Jefferson |150-151|\n _Robin Goodfellow_ (poem)|Johnson |86 |\n _St. John's Eve_ (poem) |Kickham |12 |\n _St. John's Fire_ (play) |Sudermann |141 |\n _St. Swithin's Chair_ | | |\n (poem) |Scott |69 |\n \"Soul, soul\" | |98 |Notes and Queries\n _Spell_ (poem) |Gay |91 |\n _Splores of a Hallowe'en_| | |\n (poem) |Dick |72 |\n _Sunken bell_ (play) |Hauptmann |14 |\n _Tale of Hallowe'en_ | | |\n (story) | |76 |Leisure Hour, 23:765\n _Tam Glen_ (poem) |Burns |79 |\n _Tam o' Shanter_ (poem) |Burns |67-68 |\n _Tannh\u00e4user_ (play) |Wagner |132-133|\n _Tempest_ (play) |Shakspere |67 |\n _Three-fold chronicle_ |Sharp |54-56 |Harper's, 73:842\n (story) | | |\n _Tom's Hallowe'en joke_ |Wright |154 |_Dewdrops and Diamonds_\n (story) | | |\n _Twig of thorn_ (play) |Warren |44-45 |\n _Vertumnus and Pomona_ |Ovid |24 |\n (poem) | | |\n _V\u00f6luspa_ (poem) | |122 |\n _We girls_ (story) |Whitney |162-163|\n \"When comes the harvest\" |Botrel |112 |_Songs of Brittany_\n _When de folks is gone_ |Riley |153 |\n (poem) | | |\n \"When ebery one\" | |160 |Werner's Readings,\n | | | No. 31\n _Wild huntsman_ (poem) |Scott |90 |\n _Willie Baird_ (poem) |Buchanan |70 |\n ---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\n Aberdeenshire, 60\n\n Adder-stone, (serpent's-egg badge), 11, 27\n\n Ailill, 36-38, 39\n\n Ale, 80, 103\n\n All Hallows Eve, 29, 88, 102, 106. See also Hallowe'en\n\n All Saints', 4, 29-30, 110, 118, 126\n\n All Souls', 4, 30-31, 98-99, 106, 110, 113, 118, 142, 144\n\n Alphabet, 96, 160, 166-167\n\n America, 149, 153\n\n Anaxarete, 24\n\n Angus, 36, 38-39\n\n Ankou, 109, 115\n\n Apollo, 1, 129, 134\n\n Apparitions. See Ghosts\n\n Apples, 23, 26, 50-53, 72, 77-78, 92, 95, 103-104, 106-107, 115,\n 120, 149, 155, 157-158, 161, 162, 164, 166\n\n Apple-island, 85\n\n Apple-seeds, 92-93, 158-159\n\n Arabs, 147\n\n Ariel, 87\n\n Armorica, 108\n\n Arthur, King, 84, 108\n\n Ash-tree, 63, 105, 122, 137;\n berries of, 29\n\n Ashes, 56, 60, 68, 83\n\n Augury. See Omens\n\n August, Roman festival in, 25-26\n\n August first, Celtic festival of, 15\n\n Augustus, 27\n\n Avilion (Avalon), 84-85, 107\n\n Ayrshire, 68\n\n\n Baal, 8, 12-13, 17\n\n Baal-fire, 12\n\n Baldur, 120-121\n\n Balmoral, 61\n\n Barra, 79\n\n Bats, 134, 152, 155\n\n Bay-leaves, 170\n\n Bean, 94\n\n Bedivere, 84\n\n Belgian, 144\n\n Beltaine, 12, 79\n\n Bells, 99, 111, 116, 118, 132, 137, 142, 154\n\n Benevento, 131\n\n Bergen, 130\n\n Black, 156\n\n Black sheep, 17, 50\n\n Black sow, 102\n\n \"Black vespers,\" 113\n\n Blindfolded seekers, 33, 70, 73, 77-78, 83, 160\n\n Blocksberg, 130, 141\n\n Boats, 146, 163\n\n Bochica, 1\n\n Bonfires, 3, 8-9, 12, 13, 17, 21, 50, 59-61, 101-102, 125;\n to light through Purgatory, 31, 106;\n to protect from evil, 29, 101\n\n Boniface, 29\n\n Border, Scottish, 62, 81, 111\n\n Bretons, 99, 110-111\n\n Briar, 57\n\n Briar-Rose, 125\n\n Bride, 36\n\n Britain, 5-6, 27, 87, 109, 111\n\n British Isles, 5, 107, 109, 126\n\n Brittany, 108-109, 142, 145, 166\n\n Brynhild, 124\n\n Buchan, 59\n\n Button, 156, 164\n\n\n Cabbages, 53-54, 70-72, 77, 95, 104, 164, 168-169\n\n Cadwallo, King, 104\n\n Caer, 38\n\n C\u00e6sar, 5-8, 109\n\n Cake, 13, 33, 79, 97-98, 103, 144, 145, 156\n\n Callcannon, 51\n\n Canada, 167\n\n Candlemas Day, 88\n\n Candles, 50, 53, 55, 59, 69, 80, 95-96, 99, 112, 118, 145, 155,\n 158, 163\n\n Cardiganshire, 102\n\n Carnutes, 109\n\n Cat, 11, 49, 66, 68, 134, 152, 155, 164\n\n Catskill Mts., 150\n\n _Celtic twilight_, 58\n\n Celts, classes of, 5;\n beliefs, 6, 15, 18, 30, 33, 79, 82, 107-110, 124, 125, 142;\n characteristics of, 115, 119\n\n Cemeteries, 54-55, 113-114, 142\n\n Changelings, 35-36, 86\n\n Charms. See Omens\n\n Chartrain, 109\n\n Cherokees, 3\n\n Chinese, 145\n\n Christ, 4-5, 27, 119\n\n Christian religion, 3, 27-31, 50, 59, 83, 101, 109, 126, 129;\n in Britain, 27, 129;\n in Ireland, 42;\n in Brittany, 109;\n in Scandinavia, 126\n\n Christmas, 3, 97, 110, 154\n\n Church, 3-4, 30-31, 80, 89, 113, 118, 143, 144;\n festivals, 3\n\n Circle, 8\n\n Claudius, 27\n\n Cluny, 30\n\n Coel Coeth, 101\n\n Coins, 51-52, 72, 156\n\n Colonies, 149\n\n Columb Kill. See St. Colomba\n\n Connaught, 35\n\n Continent, 3, 118\n\n Corn, 138;\n -stalks, 155\n\n Cornwall, 85, 108\n\n Creed, 55\n\n Crom Croich (Cruaich), 20-21\n\n Cross, sun-symbol, 8;\n Christian, 29, 42, 63, 137;\n -roads, 65, 103, 137\n\n Cruachan, 35, 37\n\n Cuchulain, 41-42, 84\n\n Cuckoos, 134, 139-140\n\n Cyniver, 105, 168\n\n\n Dagda, 39\n\n Dahut, 111\n\n Dance, 3, 44, 56, 61, 67, 80, 81-82, 103, 106, 126, 133\n\n Danann. See Tuatha De Danann\n\n Danu, 20\n\n Dathi, 43\n\n Dead, 19-20, 30, 37, 98-99, 109-117, 129, 142 _et seq._;\n return, 4, 99, 107, 114-117, 145, 146, 149;\n disturbed by weeping, 117, 145\n\n Death, 10, 112, 156;\n Lord of. See Saman.\n Samhain associated with, 20-21, 30-31;\n prophesied, 52, 57, 60, 65, 83, 102, 106\n\n Decoration of graves, 118, 144\n\n Delphi, 129, 134\n\n Derbyshire, 99\n\n Deux-S\u00e8vres, 109\n\n Devil, 43, 50, 55, 57, 66-68, 89, 102, 133-135, 140\n\n Dew, 136, 139\n\n Dietrich von Bern, 131\n\n Dishes, 73, 83, 104, 165, 168\n\n Dispater, 109\n\n Dissatisfied, 39-40, 57-58, 132, 141\n\n Djinns, 147-148\n\n Doll, wax, 151\n\n Dolmens, 110\n\n Dorsetshire, 99\n\n Dovrefeld, 130\n\n Dragon, 145\n\n Dreams, 140;\n prophetic, 14, 57, 79, 165, 169\n\n Drink, 57, 79\n\n Druid, meaning, 6-7;\n draught, 42;\n festivals, 11, 26, 101;\n lamps, 73;\n stone, 11;\n stones, 110;\n wand, 7;\n -fire, 50, 166\n\n Druids, 9-11, 29, 42-43, 92, 103, 109-110, 122-123, 126;\n as priests, 5-6;\n powers of, 7, 27\n\n \"Drus,\" 6\n\n Dumb-cake, 80, 168\n\n Dwarfs, 110\n\n\n Earth, 54, 83, 165\n\n Edane, 47. See also Etain\n\n Edda, 124\n\n Egg, 165, 167;\n white of, 77-78, 168;\n -shells, 36\n\n Egyptian beliefs, 1, 18\n\n Eichstatt, 136\n\n Elder, 123, 137\n\n Elizabeth, Queen, 99\n\n Elm, 63\n\n Elves, 121, 149, 152\n\n Emer, 42\n\n England, 87, 89, 97, 99, 106, 108, 119, 144\n\n English, 149\n\n Eochaidh, 39-40\n\n Episcopalians, 30\n\n Eriskay, 81\n\n Etain, 39-40\n\n Ethal, 38\n\n Europe, 87, 130, 135, 142, 145\n\n Excalibur, 84\n\n Exorcism, 9, 29, 42\n\n\n Fagots, 96, 169\n\n Fairies, 6, 44, 46, 49, 61-65, 81-82, 84-85, 96, 103, 107, 110,\n 149\n\n Fand, 41-42\n\n Fates, 89, 123, 134\n\n Feast, of dead, 116, 143;\n of poor, 144\n\n Feng-Shin, 145\n\n Feralia, 114\n\n Fern, 14, 59\n\n Finist\u00e8re, 110, 117\n\n Fir Bolgs, 20\n\n Fire, 21, 23, 45, 123-125;\n -god, 120;\n spirits of, 147\n\n Fires, 11, 17, 28-29, 50, 52, 101, 109, 112. See also Bonfires\n\n _Flamina_, 25\n\n Flour, 52, 57, 154, 158\n\n Flowers, 118, 144\n\n Fomor, 20, 35\n\n Footprints, 57, 60, 83\n\n \"Forced-fire,\" 17\n\n Fort Worth, 170\n\n Forts, fairy, 37, 44, 46\n\n France, 108, 110, 112, 118, 131, 142\n\n Franks, 111\n\n \"Free-night,\" 141, 154\n\n Freya, 120, 127, 129, 131, 134\n\n \"Furious Host,\" 131\n\n Future, questions about, 34, 69\n\n\n Gabriel Ratchets, 90\n\n Gaul, 5-6, 27, 109, 119\n\n Germans, 119\n\n Germany, 130, 131, 134, 136, 144\n\n Ghosts, 49, 63, 69, 76-77, 88, 116, 127, 144, 146, 152, 155.\n See also Dead\n\n Glass, 10-11, 96, 166\n\n Gnomes, 48\n\n Goat, 67-68, 134\n\n Goblin, 35-36, 61, 64, 149, 153\n\n Gods of Ireland. See Tuatha De Danann\n\n \"Good Neighbors,\" 63\n\n \"Good People,\" 45, 49\n\n Goths, 119\n\n Grallon, 111\n\n Great Britain. See Britain\n\n Greek, 1, 5, 6, 30, 85, 120\n\n Gregory, 29-30\n\n Guleesh, 46\n\n Gunnar, 124\n\n\n Hair, 77, 96, 138, 166-167\n\n Hallowe'en, 3-4, 35, 43, 46, 49-50, 61, 64-66, 68, 72, 79, 81,\n 85, 89, 90, 95-96, 99, 103, 105, 106, 112, 129, 138, 140,\n 142, 144, 149, 152, 154, 164, 165, 170;\n pagan, 3, 21;\n charms at, 26, 33, 53, 56;\n born on, 54, 62\n\n _Hallowe'en_, poem, 70, 168\n\n _Hansel and Grethel_, 134\n\n Hares, 135\n\n Hartz Mts., 130\n\n Harvest, 3-4, 15, 17, 25, 30-31, 34, 59, 69, 97, 106, 112, 137,\n 155\n\n Hawthorn, 123, 137\n\n Hazel, 85\n\n Hearts, 156\n\n Hebrides, 79\n\n Hel, 122, 131\n\n Hemp, 14, 33, 53, 74\n\n Henry VIII, 99\n\n Henry Hudson, 150\n\n Herbs, 46-47, 53, 66, 126, 129-130\n\n Herne the Hunter, 90\n\n Herodotus, 5\n\n Hesperides, 85\n\n Highlands, 59, 65, 77\n\n Hodur, 121\n\n Holda, 131-132, 136\n\n Holiday, 61\n\n Hollow Land, 41\n\n Holly, 63\n\n Hoop, 157\n\n Horselberg, 131\n\n Horseshoes, 138, 152\n\n Horus, 1\n\n Husking-bees, 3\n\n\n Iceland, 125\n\n Idun, 120\n\n Immortality, 10, 85, 107, 120\n\n Indians, 3, 145, 150\n\n Invocation, 21, 92\n\n Iona, 50\n\n Iphis, 24\n\n Ireland 3, 5, 13, 15, 17, 20, 35, 48-50, 59, 62, 72-73, 78-80,\n 104, 107, 127, 170;\n belief in fairies, 6, 35\n\n Irish Sea, 20\n\n Iron, 152\n\n Italy, 119, 131, 142\n\n Ivy, 57\n\n\n Jack-o'-lantern, 49-50, 69, 121, 155\n\n Japan, 2, 146\n\n Jokes, 154\n\n Jonah, 13\n\n Juniper, 123, 137\n\n Jupiter, 8\n\n\n Kale. See Cabbages\n\n Kensington Gardens, 64\n\n Ker-Is, 111\n\n Kettle, 89, 134, 155\n\n Key, 55, 72, 144, 156\n\n\n Laeg, 42\n\n \"Lambswool,\" 51\n\n Lammas, 28\n\n Lancashire, 99\n\n Land of Heart's Desire, 36\n\n Land of Youth, 40\n\n \"Lanterns of the dead,\" 112\n\n Lanterns in Japan, 146\n\n Latin. See Rome\n\n Lead-melting, 55-56, 77, 168\n\n Leek, 104-105\n\n Legends, origin of, 2\n\n Lemons, 170\n\n Leprechauns, 48\n\n Lewis, 80\n\n Liban, 41\n\n Lincolnshire, 89\n\n \"Little People,\" 48-49, 85\n\n \"Livelong,\" 53\n\n Loki, 120\n\n London, 97\n\n Lords of Misrule, 88\n\n Love-knots, 156\n\n Lucifer, 120\n\n \"Luck of Edenhall,\" 96\n\n Luggies. See Dishes\n\n Lugh, 14-15\n\n Lugnasad, 15, 28, 33\n\n\n _Macbeth_, 123\n\n Magic, 7, 15, 155;\n black, 28, 156\n\n Maine, 165\n\n Malt, 80\n\n Malta, 144\n\n Man, Isle of, 20, 82\n\n Manitous, 150\n\n Mars, 8\n\n Martinmas, 62\n\n Mary, Virgin, 29, 126, 132, 138, 145\n\n Mary Avenel, 62\n\n Maryland, 165\n\n Massachusetts, 164\n\n Master of the Revels, 97\n\n May-bride, 126\n\n May Eve and Day, 4, 11-13, 29, 33, 45, 47, 107, 125, 135, 136,\n _et seq._;\n -fires, 13, 61;\n -pole, 126;\n -ridings, 125;\n -shooting, 140\n\n Meal, 83, 164\n\n Meath, 15, 17\n\n Medb, 36, 39\n\n Meg, 68\n\n \"Men of Peace,\" 63\n\n Mercury, 8, 15\n\n Midir, 39-41\n\n Middle Ages, 129\n\n Midsummer, 3, 11, 20, 28, 33, 53, 125, 146\n\n Milk, 45, 51, 112\n\n Minerva, 8\n\n Mirror, 85, 129, 146-147, 149, 161-162\n\n _Miserere_, 142\n\n Mistletoe, 7, 40, 120\n\n Modred, 84\n\n Mona, 27\n\n _Monastery_, 62\n\n Moon, 40, 74, 76, 77, 146, 155, 162\n\n Moray, 59\n\n Moytura, 20, 22, 35\n\n Music, 36, 39-40, 43-47, 56, 64, 67, 87, 111\n\n Myths, origin of, 2\n\n\n Naples, 142\n\n Needles, 117, 133, 151, 158, 166\n\n Negroes, 153\n\n Nera, 37, 107\n\n Net, 83\n\n Neverland, 64\n\n New Brunswick, 167\n\n New Hampshire, 165\n\n New Year, 82, 102, 154. See also Year's end\n\n New Year's Day, 17\n\n Niflheim, 122\n\n Nikko, 146\n\n Norse, 80, 82, 119, 134\n\n Norway, 1, 126, 130\n\n \"Nos Galan Gaeof,\" 102\n\n November, Eve, 33, 35, 37, 44, 50, 59, 79, 101-102, 107, 112,\n 137;\n first, 4, 11, 16, 25-26, 137, 144;\n in Rome, 30;\n second, 30, 118, 144\n\n Nuts, 26, 33, 50-52, 73, 90-92, 103-104, 109, 115, 144, 155,\n 159-160, 169\n\n\n Oak, 6-7, 27, 40, 122\n\n Oats, 55, 77\n\n Oatmeal cakes, 79\n\n Obsession, 44\n\n October 31st, 4, 10, 17, 50, 82, 85, 118\n\n Odin, 120, 124, 129, 131\n\n \"Oidhche Shamhna,\" 50\n\n Olaf, 126\n\n Omens, 14, 22, 26, 50-52, 104, 117, 137;\n from sacrifices, 9, 17, 33, 123, 166;\n evil, 28\n\n Oonah, 45\n\n Ops, 23\n\n Ordeal, 9, 123-124\n\n Osiris, 1, 18\n\n Ossian, 47-48, 150\n\n Ostia, 25\n\n Otherworld, 19, 39, 42, 47, 84, 103, 107, 111, 115, 121, 146, 150\n\n Ovid, 24, 114\n\n Owls, 134, 152, 155\n\n\n Paddy Beg, 46-47\n\n Paddy More, 46-47\n\n Paganism, 30, 35, 59, 109, 141\n\n Pageant, 170\n\n Pantheon, 29\n\n Paradise, 31\n\n Partholon, 13\n\n Parties, Hallowe'en, 155\n\n Peace, 171\n\n Peas, 92, 94\n\n Pelagius, 83\n\n Pennsylvania, 165\n\n Perthshire, 59\n\n Peru, 1\n\n Peter Pan, 63-64\n\n Ph[oe]nicians, 5\n\n Picts, 108\n\n Piper, fairy, 43-44, 64, 87\n\n Pixies, 103, 110\n\n Pomona, 4, 23-26, 50, 85, 155\n\n Pontypridd, 101\n\n _Preparedness for Peace_, 170\n\n Procopius, 111\n\n Prophets,\n Druids as, 9, 43;\n witches as, 89, 134, 151\n\n Pumpkins, 155, 160\n\n Purgatory, 31, 99, 106, 145\n\n Puy de Dome, 131\n\n \"Puzzling-jug,\" 103-104\n\n\n Races, 15, 26\n\n Rapunzel, 125\n\n Red Mike, 54, 62\n\n Rick, 55\n\n Ring, 51-52, 55, 72, 96, 156, 165, 168\n\n Rip Van Winkle, 150\n\n Rome, 8, 23-30, 114, 119-120;\n relations to Druids, 27;\n All Saints' in, 32\n\n Roses, 105\n\n Rowan. See Ash-tree\n\n\n Sacrifices, 20, 109, 137;\n to Baal, 8-9, 11-13, 17, 101;\n omens from, 33;\n to Tyr, 123\n\n St. Augustine, 83\n\n St. Bridget, 45\n\n St. Colomba, 50\n\n St. Gertrude, 126\n\n St. John's Day and Eve, 3, 28, 109, 110, 137, 141\n\n St. Kilda, 79\n\n St. Michael, 85\n\n St. Ninian, 83\n\n St. Odilo, 30\n\n St. Patrick, 5, 43, 83\n\n Saga, 124\n\n Salerno, 142\n\n Salt, 57, 67, 79, 82, 83, 134, 169\n\n Saman, 10, 31, 50, 80\n\n Samhain (S\u00e1veen), 16, 18, 20-22, 26, 31, 35-36, 38, 40-41, 43,\n 48, 59, 65, 82\n\n Samhnagan, 60\n\n Samhanach, 64\n\n Sark. See Shirt\n\n Satan, 120, 133\n\n Sauin. See Samhain\n\n Scandinavia, 119, 126, 134\n\n Scotland, 59, 78, 79, 81, 82, 99, 104, 127, 156;\n belief in fairies in, 6, 62-64\n\n Scots, 108\n\n Seasons, 1\n\n Seaweed, 80\n\n Secrecy, 45, 77-78, 124, 155;\n in Druid rites, 9-10, 124\n\n Seed-cake, 97\n\n Seeds, 14, 92, 121\n\n Serpent's-egg. See Adder-stone\n\n Seville, 131\n\n Shee, 39\n\n Shirt-sleeve, wetting the, 56, 78-79, 126-129, 165\n\n Shoe, 77, 170\n\n Shony, 80\n\n Shropshire, 98\n\n \"Sid,\" 37, 49. See also Forts\n\n Sigurd, 124\n\n S\u00eetou, 18\n\n Sleep, 39, 47, 87, 124-125\n\n Sloe, 52, 85\n\n Snakes. See Adder-stone\n\n Snap-apple. See Apples\n\n Sol, 1\n\n Soul-cakes. See Cake\n\n South, 165\n\n South Uist, 81\n\n Sowens, 79\n\n Spain, 131, 144\n\n Spectre Huntsman, 90\n\n Spirits, 6, 20, 103;\n abroad, 14, 22, 31, 35, 44, 48;\n evil, 4, 18, 20, 56, 63, 87, 99, 129\n\n Staffordshire, 98\n\n Stones, 60, 101-102, 106, 109\n\n Stories, 81, 96, 149, 169\n\n Straw, 77, 99\n\n Strunt, 79\n\n \"Summer's end,\" 3-4, 11-12, 16, 25, 44\n\n Sun-god, 1-3, 8, 15, 44, 84-85, 87, 120-121, 124, 126, 136;\n -worship, 21;\n -wise, 3, 17, 60, 67\n\n Superstitions, 33, 62, 83, 135, 153-154\n\n Swans, 38-39, 41\n\n Swastika, 8\n\n Sweden, 126, 133\n\n Symbols, 7-8, 28\n\n\n Tam o' Shanter, 68-69, 89\n\n Tannh\u00e4user, 131-133\n\n Tara, 17, 21, 43, 48, 59\n\n _Tempest_, 87\n\n Teuton, 108, 124, 142\n\n Teutonic, 4, 125\n\n Thanksgiving, 3-4;\n for harvest, 59\n\n Thimble, 51, 72, 83, 156\n\n Thor, 134\n\n Thorn, 45\n\n Thread, 138, 167\n\n Thuringia, 131\n\n Tiberius, 27\n\n Tigernmas, 20-21\n\n \"Tin Islands,\" 5\n\n Tlactga, 17\n\n Toads, 152\n\n Toasts, 126\n\n Todmorden, 90\n\n Torches, 14, 60-61, 68, 99\n\n Tree-worship, 7-8, 92, 123\n\n Trefoil, 8, 29\n\n Trinity, 29\n\n Tripod, 65, 134, 155\n\n Trolls, 121, 130, 150\n\n Tuatha De Danann, 20, 29, 38-39, 43, 48-50, 107-108\n\n Tub, 53, 93, 96, 160;\n apples in. See Apples\n\n Tyr, 123\n\n\n United States, 153\n\n\n Valhalla, 121-122\n\n Vali, 121\n\n Valkyries, 122, 136\n\n Vandals, 119\n\n Venus, 131-132\n\n Vertumnus, 24-25\n\n Vortumnalia, 25\n\n Vulcan, 120\n\n Vurdh, 123\n\n\n Wales, 27, 101, 105, 106, 108, 144, 168;\n belief in fairies in, 6\n\n Walnut-tree, 92\n\n Walpurga, 136\n\n Ward, Hill of. See Tara\n\n Water, 57, 68, 97, 165\n\n Wedding of sun and earth, 126, 136\n\n \"Weird Sisters,\" 123\n\n Wendy, 64\n\n Wheel,\n sun-symbol, 8, 13, 17;\n of fortune, 163\n\n White Lady, 62\n\n Wild Huntsman, 90, 131\n\n Will-o'-the-wisps, 121\n\n Windsor Forest, 90\n\n Winnowing, 75-76\n\n Winter, first day of, 18, 44, 87, 102, 112\n\n Witches, 4, 60-61, 65-69, 89, 99, 101, 129-131, 133-135, 146, 155\n\n Witchcraft, 4, 81, 89, 134\n\n Wood, 52, 57, 97\n\n Wotan. See Odin\n\n\n Yarn, 55, 75, 104, 140, 165\n\n Year's end, 10, 17-18, 84\n\n Yellow, 156\n\n Yggdrasil, 122\n\n Yorkshire, 97\n\n Yule, 3, 126\n\n\n Zschokke, 140\n\n\n\n\n TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES\n\n Represented the \"oe\" ligature as [oe].\n\n Adjusted placement of footnotes.\n\n Page 88: Retained alternate spelling of \"Candelmas\" in quoted\n material versus standard spelling in index.\n\n Page 182: Standardized punctuation.\n\n Pages 191 & 194: Standardized index cross-reference words.\n\n Page 204: Standardized spelling of \"sick-bed.\"\n\n Page 207: Standardized spelling of _V\u00f6luspa_.","title":"The Book of Hallowe'en","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":31986}