The Book of Hallowe'en Part 5

If one went out with nine grains of oats in his mouth, and walked about until he heard a girl's name called or mentioned, he would know the name of his future wife, for they would be the same.

Lead is melted, and poured through a key or a ring into cold water.

The form each spoonful takes in cooling indicates the occupation of the future husband of the girl who poured it.

"Now something like a horse would cause the jubilant maiden to call out, 'A dragoon!' Now some dim resemblance to a helmet would suggest a handsome member of the mounted police; or a round object with a spike would seem a ship, and this of course meant a sailor; or a cow would suggest a cattle-dealer, or a plough a farmer."

SHARP: _Threefold Chronicle._

After the future had been searched, a piper played a jig, to which all danced merrily with a loud noise to scare away the evil spirits.

Just before midnight was the time to go out "alone and unperceived"

to a south-running brook, dip a shirt-sleeve in it, bring it home and hang it by the fire to dry. One must go to bed, but watch till midnight for a sight of the destined mate who would come to turn the shirt to dry the other side.

Ashes were raked smooth on the hearth at bedtime on Hallowe'en, and the next morning examined for footprints. If one was turned from the door, guests or a marriage was prophesied; if toward the door, a death.

To have prophetic dreams a girl should search for a briar grown into a hoop, creep through thrice in the name of the devil, cut it in silence, and go to bed with it under her pillow. A boy should cut ten ivy leaves, throw away one and put the rest under his head before he slept.

If a girl leave beside her bed a gla.s.s of water with a sliver of wood in it, and say before she falls asleep:

"Husband mine that is to be, Come this night and rescue me,"

she will dream of falling off a bridge into the water, and of being saved at the last minute by the spirit of her future husband. To receive a drink from his hand she must eat a cake of flour, soot, and salt before she goes to bed.

The Celtic spirit of yearning for the unknown, retained nowhere else as much as in Ireland, is expressed very beautifully by the poet Yeats in the introduction to his _Celtic Twilight_.

"The host is riding from Knocknarea And over the grave of Clooth-na-bare; Caolte tossing his burning hair, And Niam calling: 'Away, come away;

"'And brood no more where the fire is bright, Filling thy heart with a mortal dream; For b.r.e.a.s.t.s are heaving and eyes a-gleam: Away, come away to the dim twilight

"'Arms are heaving and lips apart; And if any gaze on our rushing band, We come between him and the deed of his hand, We come between him and the hope of his heart.'

"The host is rushing twixt night and day, And where is there hope or deed as fair?

Caolte tossing his burning hair, And Niam calling: 'Away, come away.'"

CHAPTER VIII

IN SCOTLAND AND THE HEBRIDES

As in Ireland the Scotch Baal festival of November was called Samhain. Western Scotland, lying nearest Tara, center alike of pagan and Christian religion in Ireland, was colonized by both the people and the customs of eastern Ireland.

The November Eve fires which in Ireland either died out or were replaced by candles were continued in Scotland. In Buchan, where was the altar-source of the Samhain fire, bonfires were lighted on hilltops in the eighteenth century; and in Moray the idea of fires of thanksgiving for harvest was kept to as late as 1866. All through the eighteenth century in the Highlands and in Perthshire torches of heath, broom, flax, or ferns were carried about the fields and villages by each family, with the intent to cause good crops in succeeding years. The course about the fields was sunwise, to have a good influence. Brought home at dark, the torches were thrown down in a heap, and made a fire. This blaze was called "Samhnagan," "of rest and pleasure." There was much compet.i.tion to have the largest fire. Each person put in one stone to make a circle about it. The young people ran about with burning brands.

Supper was eaten out-of-doors, and games played. After the fire had burned out, ashes were raked over the stones. In the morning each sought his pebble, and if he found it misplaced, harmed, or a footprint marked near it in the ashes, he believed he should die in a year.

In Aberdeenshire boys went about the villages saying: "Ge's a peat t' burn the witches." They were thought to be out stealing milk and harming cattle. Torches used to counteract them were carried from west to east, against the sun. This ceremony grew into a game, when a fire was built by one party, attacked by another, and defended.

As in the May fires of purification the lads lay down in the smoke close by, or ran about and jumped over the flames. As the fun grew wilder they flung burning peats at each other, scattered the ashes with their feet, and hurried from one fire to another to have a part in scattering as many as possible before they died out.

In 1874, at Balmoral, a royal celebration of Hallowe'en was recorded. Royalty, tenants, and servants bore torches through the grounds and round the estates. In front of the castle was a heap of stuff saved for the occasion. The torches were thrown on. When the fire was burning its liveliest, a hobgoblin appeared, drawing in a car the figure of a witch, surrounded by fairies carrying lances.

The people formed a circle about the fire, and the witch was tossed in. Then there were dances to the music of bag-pipes.

It was the time of year when servants changed masters or signed up anew under the old ones. They might enjoy a holiday before resuming work. So they sang:

"This is Hallaeven, The morn is Halladay; Nine free nichts till Martinmas, As soon they'll wear away."

Children born on Hallowe'en could see and converse with supernatural powers more easily than others. In Ireland, evil relations caused Red Mike's downfall (q. v.). For Scotland Mary Avenel, in Scott's _Monastery_, is the cla.s.sic example.

"And touching the bairn, it's weel kenn'd she was born on Hallowe'en, and they that are born on Hallowe'en whiles see mair than ither folk."

There is no hint of dark relations, but rather of a clear-sightedness which lays bare truths, even those concealed in men's b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Mary Avenel sees the spirit of her father after he has been dead for years. The White Lady of Avenel is her peculiar guardian.

The Scottish Border, where Mary lived, is the seat of many superst.i.tions and other worldly beliefs. The fairies of Scotland are more terrible than those of Ireland, as the dells and streams and woods are of greater grandeur, and the character of the people more serious. It is unlucky to name the fairies, here as elsewhere, except by such placating t.i.tles as "Good Neighbors" or "Men of Peace." Rowan, elm, and holly are a protection against them.

"I have tied red thread round the bairns' throats, and given ilk ane of them a riding-wand of rowan-tree, forbye sewing up a slip of witch-elm into their doublets; and I wish to know of your reverence if there be onything mair that a lone woman can do in the matter of ghosts and fairies?--be here! that I should have named their unlucky names twice ower!"

SCOTT: _Monastery._

"The sign of the cross disarmeth all evil spirits."

These spirits of the air have not human feelings or motives. They are conscienceless. In this respect Peter Pan is an immortal fairy as well as an immortal child. While like a child he resents injustice in horrified silence, like a fairy he acts with no sense of responsibility. When he saves Wendy's brother from falling as they fly,

"You felt it was his cleverness that interested him, and not the saving of human life."

BARRIE: _Peter and Wendy._

The world in which Peter lived was so near the Kensington Gardens that he could see them through the bridge as he sat on the sh.o.r.e of the Neverland. Yet for a long time he could not get to them.

Peter is a fairy piper who steals away the souls of children.

"No man alive has seen me, But women hear me play, Sometimes at door or window, Fiddling the souls away-- The child's soul and the colleen's Out of the covering clay."

HOPPER: _Fairy Fiddler._

On Hallowe'en all traditional spirits are abroad. The Scotch invented the idea of a "Samhanach," a goblin who comes out just at "Samhain." It is he who in Ireland steals children. The fairies pa.s.s at crossroads,

"But the night is Hallowe'en, lady, The morn is Hallowday; Then win me, win me, and ye will, For weel I wot ye may.

"Just at the mirk and midnight hour The fairy folk will ride.

And they that wad their true-love win, At Miles Cross they maun bide."

_Ballad of Tam Lin._

and in the Highlands whoever took a three-legged stool to where three crossroads met, and sat upon it at midnight, would hear the names of those who were to die in a year. He might bring with him articles of dress, and as each name was p.r.o.nounced throw one garment to the fairies. They would be so pleased by this gift that they would repeal the sentence of death.

Even people who seemed to be like their neighbors every day could for this night fly away and join the other beings in their revels.

"This is the nicht o' Hallowe'en When a' the witchie may be seen; Some o' them black, some o' them green, Some o' them like a turkey bean."