The Book of Hallowe'en Part 15

On the stems of the apples which are to be dipped for may be tied names; for the boys in one tub, for the girls in another. Each searcher of the future must draw out with his teeth an apple with a name which will be like that of his future mate.

A variation of the Irish snap-apple is a hoop hung by strings from the ceiling, round which at intervals are placed bread, apples, cakes, peppers, candies, and candles. The strings are twisted, then let go, and as the hoop revolves, each may step up and get a bite from whatever comes to him. By the taste he determines what the character of his married life will be,--whether wholesome, acid, soft, fiery, or sweet. Whoever bites the candle is twice unfortunate, for he must pay a forfeit too. An apple and a bag of flour are placed on the ends of a stick, and whoever dares to seize a mouthful of apple must risk being blinded by flour. Apples are suspended one to a string in a doorway. As they swing, each guest tries to secure his apple. To blow out a candle as it revolves on a stick requires attention and accuracy of aim.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A WITCHES'-CALDRON TABLE.

A BLACK-CAT TABLE.

HALLOWE'EN TABLES, II.]

The one who first succeeds in threading a needle as he sits on a round bottle on the floor, will be first married. Twelve candles are lighted, and placed at convenient distances on the floor in a row. As the guest leaps over them, the first he blows out will indicate his wedding-month. One candle only placed on the floor and blown out in the same way means a year of wretchedness ahead. If it still burns, it presages a year of joy.

Among the quieter tests some of the most common are tried with apple-seeds. As in England a pair of seeds named for two lovers are stuck on brow or eyelids. The one who sticks longer is the true, the one who soon falls, the disloyal sweetheart. Seeds are used in this way to tell also whether one is to be a traveler or a stay-at-home. Apple-seeds are twice ominous, partaking of both apple and nut nature. Even the number of seeds found in a core has meaning. If you put them upon the palm of your hand, and strike it with the other, the number remaining will tell you how many letters you will receive in a fortnight. With twelve seeds and the names of twelve friends, the old rhyme may be repeated:

"One I love, Two I love, Three I love, I say; Four I love with all my heart: Five I cast away.

Six he loves, Seven she loves, Eight they both love; Nine he comes, Ten he tarries, Eleven he courts, and Twelve he marries."

Nuts are burned in the open fire. It is generally agreed that the one for whom the first that pops is named, loves.

"If he loves me, pop and fly; If he hates me, live and die."

Often the superst.i.tion connected therewith is forgotten in the excitement of the moment.

"When ebery one among us toe de smallest pickaninny Would huddle in de chimbley cohnah's glow, Toe listen toe dem chilly win's ob ole Novembah's Go a-screechin' lack a spook around de huts, 'Twell de pickaninnies' fingahs gits to shakin' o'er de embahs, An' dey laik ter roas' dey knuckles 'stead o' nuts."

IN WERNER'S _Readings, Number 31_.

Letters of the alphabet are carved on a pumpkin. Fate guides the hand of the blindfolded seeker to the fateful initial which he stabs with a pin. Letters cut out of paper are sprinkled on water in a tub. They form groups from which any one with imagination may spell out names.

Girls walk down cellar backward with a candle in one hand and a looking-gla.s.s in the other, expecting to see a face in the gla.s.s.

"Last night 't was witching Hallowe'en, Dearest; an apple russet-brown I pared, and thrice above my crown Whirled the long skin; they watched it keen; I flung it far; they laughed and cried me shame-- Dearest, there lay the letter of your name.

"Took I the mirror then, and crept Down, down the creaking narrow stair; The milk-pans caught my candle's flare And mice walked soft and spiders slept.

I spoke the spell, and stood the magic s.p.a.ce, Dearest--and in the gla.s.s I saw your face!

"And then I stole out in the night Alone; the frogs piped sweet and loud, The moon looked through a ragged cloud.

Thrice round the house I sped me light, Dearest; and there, methought--charm of my charms!

You met me, kissed me, took me to your arms!"

OPPER: _The Charms._

There are many mirror-tests. A girl who sits before a mirror at midnight on Hallowe'en combing her hair and eating an apple will see the face of her true love reflected in the gla.s.s. Standing so that through a window she may see the moon in a gla.s.s she holds, she counts the number of reflections to find out how many pleasant things will happen to her in the next twelve months. Alabama has taken over the Scotch mirror test in its entirety.

A girl with a looking-gla.s.s in her hand steps backward from the door out into the yard. Saying:

"Round and round, O stars so fair!

Ye travel, and search out everywhere.

I pray you, sweet stars, now show to me, This night, who my future husband shall be!"

she goes to meet her fate.

"So Leslie backed out at the door, and we shut it upon her. The instant after, we heard a great laugh. Off the piazza she had stepped backward directly against two gentlemen coming in.

"Doctor Ingleside was one, coming to get his supper; the other was a friend of his.... 'Doctor John Hautayne,' he said, introducing him by his full name."

WHITNEY: _We Girls._

A custom that is a reminder of the lighted boats sent down-stream in j.a.pan to bear away the souls of the dead, is that which makes use of nut-sh.e.l.l boats. These have tiny candles fastened in them, are lighted, and named, and set adrift on a tub of water. If they cling to the side, their namesakes will lead a quiet life. Some will float together. Some will collide and be shipwrecked. Others will bear steadily toward a goal though the waves are rocked in a tempest. Their behavior is significant. The candle which burns longest belongs to the one who will marry first.

The Midsummer wheel which was rolled down into the Moselle River in France, and meant, if the flames that wreathed it were not extinguished, that the grape-harvest would be abundant, has survived in the fortune wheel which is rolled about from one guest to another, and brings a gift to each.

The actions of cats on Hallowe'en betoken good or bad luck. If a cat sits quietly beside any one, he will enjoy a peaceful, prosperous life; if one rubs against him, it brings good luck, doubly good if one jumps into his lap. If a cat yawns near you on Hallowe'en, be alert and do not let opportunity slip by you. If a cat runs from you, you have a secret which will be revealed in seven days.

Different states have put interpretations of their own on the commonest charms. In Ma.s.sachusetts the one who first draws an apple from the tub with his teeth will be first married. If a girl steals a cabbage, she will see her future husband as she pulls it up, or meet him as she goes home. If these fail, she must put the cabbage over the door and watch to see whom it falls on, for him she is to marry. A b.u.t.ton concealed in mashed potato brings misfortune to the finder. The names of three men are written on slips of paper, and enclosed in three b.a.l.l.s of meal. The one that rises first when they are thrown into water will disclose the sought-for name.

Maine has borrowed the yarn-test from Scotland. A ball is thrown into a barn or cellar, and wound off on the hand. The lover will come and help to wind. Girls in New Hampshire place in a row three dishes with earth, water, and a ring in them, respectively. The one who blindfolded touches earth will soon die; water, will never marry; the ring, will soon be wedded.

To dream of the future on Hallowe'en in Pennsylvania, one must go out of the front door backward, pick up dust or gra.s.s, wrap it in paper, and put it under his pillow.

In Maryland girls see their future husbands by a rite similar to the Scotch "wetting of the sark-sleeve." They put an egg to roast, and open wide all the doors and windows. The man they seek will come in and turn the egg. At supper girls stand behind the chairs, knowing that the ones they are to marry will come to sit in front of them.

The South has always been famous for its hospitality and good times. On Hallowe'en a miniature Druid-fire burns in a bowl on the table. In the blazing alcohol are put fortunes wrapped in tin-foil, figs, orange-peel, raisins, almonds, and dates. The one who s.n.a.t.c.hes the best will meet his sweetheart inside of a year, and all may try for a fortune from the flames. The origin of this custom was the taking of omens from the death-struggles of creatures burning in the fire of sacrifice.

Another Southern custom is adapted from one of Brittany. Needles are named and floated in a dish of water. Those which cling side by side are lovers.

Good fortune is in store for the one who wins an apple from the tub, or against whose gla.s.s a ring suspended by a hair strikes with a sharp chime.

A very elaborate charm is tried in Newfoundland. As the clock strikes midnight a girl puts the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, cut from paper, into a pure-white bowl which has been touched by the lips of a new-born babe only. After saying:

"Kind fortune, tell me where is he Who my future lord shall be; From this bowl all that I claim Is to know my sweetheart's name."

she puts the bowl into a safe place until morning. Then she is blindfolded and picks out the same number of letters as there are in her own name, and spells another from them.

In New Brunswick, instead of an apple, a hard-boiled egg without salt is eaten before a mirror, with the same result. In Canada a thread is held over a lamp. The number that can be counted slowly before the thread parts, is the number of years before the one who counts will marry.

In the United States a hair is thrown to the winds with the stanza chanted:

"I pluck this lock of hair off my head To tell whence comes the one I shall wed.

Fly, silken hair, fly all the world around, Until you reach the spot where my true love is found."

The direction in which the hair floats is prophetic.

The taste in Hallowe'en festivities now is to study old traditions, and hold a Scotch party, using Burns's poem _Hallowe'en_ as a guide; or to go a-souling as the English used. In short, no custom that was once honored at Hallowe'en is out of fashion now.

"Cyniver" has been borrowed from Wales, and the "dumb-cake" from the Hebrides. In the Scotch custom of cabbage-stalk pulling, if the stalk comes up easily, the husband or wife will be easy to win. The melted-lead test to show the occupation of the husband-to-be has been adopted in the United States. If the metal cools in round drops, the tester will never marry, or her husband will have no profession. White of egg is used in the same way. Like the Welsh test is that of filling the mouth with water, and walking round the house until one meets one's fate. An adaptation of the Scottish "three luggies" is the row of four dishes holding dirt, water, a ring, and a rag. The dirt means divorce, the water, a trip across the ocean, the ring, marriage, the rag, no marriage at all.

After the charms have been tried, f.a.gots are pa.s.sed about, and by the eerie light of burning salt and alcohol, ghost stories are told, each concluding his installment as his f.a.got withers into ashes. Sometimes the cabbage stalks used in the omens take the place of f.a.gots.

To induce prophetic dreams salt, in quant.i.ties from a pinch to an egg full, is eaten before one goes to bed.