Halloween Customs In America (100 Years Ago)

In colonial days,

Halloween was not celebrated much in America.

Some English still kept the customs of the old world,

Such as apple-ducking and snapping,

And girls tried the apple-pearing charm to reveal their lover's initials,

And the comb and mirror test to see their faces.

Ballads were sung and ghost stories told,

For the dead were thought to return on Halloween.

From Butterworth's Halloween Reformation There was a young officer,

At the time of the finding of the Spanish treasure ship,

Who had gone mad at the sight of the bursting sacks that the divers had brought up from the sea.

As the gold coins covered the deck,

This man had once lived in the old stone house on the fair Green Lane,

And a report had gone out that his spirit still visited it and caused discordant noises.

Once on an August-November evening,

When the clouds were scudding over the moon,

A hall door had blown open with a shrieking draft and a force that caused the floor to tremble.

Elves,

Goblins and fairies are native on American soil.

The natives believed in the evil Manitous,

Some of whom were water gods,

Who exacted tribute from all who passed over their lakes.

Henry Hudson and his fellow explorers haunted as mountain trolls the Gadsgill range,

Like Osean,

And so many other visitors of the other world.

Rip Van Winkle is lured into the strange scattering,

Thinks that he passes the night there,

Wakes and goes home to find that twenty years have whitened his hair and snatched from life many of his boon companions.

From Jefferson's Rip Van Winkle.

My gun must have gotched the rheumatics too.

Now that is too bad.

Them fellows have gone and stolen my good gun and leave me this rusty old barrel.

Why is that the village of falling waters that I see?

Why the place is more than twice the size?

It was last night.

I don't know whether I am dreaming or sleeping or waking.

The persecution of witches prevalent in Europe reached the other side of the Atlantic in the seventeenth century.

From Longfellow's Charles Corry of the Salem Farms.

The sudden burst of wickedness and crime was but the common madness of the time,

When in all lands lie within the sound of sabbat bells a witch was burned or drowned.

Men and women who had enemies to accuse them of evil knowledge and the power to cause illness in others were hanged or pressed to death by heavy weights,

Such sicknesses they could cause by keeping a waxen image and sticking pins or nails into it or melting it before the fire.

The person who would they hated would be in torture or would waste away like the waxen doll.

Witches' power to endure and to prophesy came from the devil.

Witches' eyes are coals of fire from the pit.

They were attended by black cats,

Owls,

Bats and toads.

Iron as being a product of fire was a protection against them,

As against evil spirits everywhere.

It had special power.

When in the shape of a horseshoe,

This horseshoe,

Will I nail upon the threshold.

Where ye night hags and witches that torment the neighborhood,

Ye shall not enter here.

The holiday time of elves,

Witches and ghosts is Halloween.

While the original customs of Halloween are being forgotten across the ocean,

Americans have fostered them and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in these best days overseas.

All Halloween customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries,

All superstitions,

Everyday ones,

And those pertaining to Christmas and New Year's Eve,

Have special value on Halloween.

It is a night of coarsely merry revelry.

Mischievous spirits choose it for carrying off gates and other objects,

Putting them out of reach.

Banks filled with flowers sprinkled,

Passes by,

Doorbells are rung,

And mysterious raps sounded on doors,

Things thrown into holes and knobs stolen.

Such sports mean no more.

At Halloween then the tricks played,

The night before the 4th of July,

Have to do with the Declaration of Independence.

We see manifested on all such occasions the spirit of free night,

Of which George Vaughan Hardwicke speaks so enthusiastically in St.

John's Fire.

Halloween parties are the real survival of the ancient merry-makings.

They are prepared for in secret.

The guests are not to divulge the fact that they are invited.

Often they come masked as ghosts or witches.

Their decorations make plain the two elements of the festival.

For the centerpiece of the table there may be a hollowed pumpkin filled with apples and nuts and other fruits of harvest,

Or a pumpkin chariot drawn by field mice.

So it is clear that this is a harvest party,

Like Pomona's feast.

In the coach rides a witch,

Representing the other element of magic and prophecy.

Jack-o'-lanterns,

With which the room is lighted,

Are hollowed pumpkins with candles inside.

The candlelight shines through holes,

Cat-like features,

So the lantern becomes a bogey and is holed up at a window to frighten those inside.

Cornstalks from the garden,

Standing clumps about the room,

A frieze of witches on broomsticks with cats,

Bats and owls,

Surmounts the fireplace,

Perhaps.

A full moon shines over all,

And a curtain on a tripod holds fortunes tied in a nutshell.

Prevailing colors are yellow and black.

A deep yellow is the color of most ripe grain and fruit.

Black stands for black magic and demonic influence.

Ghosts and skulls and crossbones,

Symbols of death,

Startle the beholder.

Since Halloween is a time for lovers to learn their fate,

Hearts and unsentimental tokens are used to good effect,

As the Scotch lads of Bernstein wore lug nuts.

Having marched to the dining room to the time of a dirge,

The guests find before them plain hearty fare,

Doughnuts,

Gingerbread,

Cider,

Popcorn,

Apples and nuts honored by time.

The Halloween cake has held the place of honor since the beginning in America.

A ring,

Key,

Thimble,

Penny and a button,

Baked in it,

Foretell respectively speedy marriage,

A journey,

Spinsterhood,

Wealth and bachelorhood.

The kitchen is the best place for the rough games and after-supper charms.

On the stems of the apples,

Which are to be dipped for maybe tight 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 string from the ceiling,

Round which at intervals are placed breads,

Apples,

Cakes,

Peppers,

Candies and candles.

The strings are twisted,

Then let go,

And as the hoop revolves,

Each may step up and get the bite from whatever comes to him.

By the taste he determines what the character of his married life will be,

Whether wholesome,

Acidic,

Soft,

Fiery or sweet.

Whoever bites the candle is twice unfortunate,

For he must pay it,

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,

When a stick requires attention and accuracy of aim.

The one who first succeeds is,

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 means 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 disloyals sweethearts.

Seeds are used in this way to tell also whether one is to be a traveller or stay at home.

Apple seeds are twice ominous,

By taking off 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,

For I love it 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,

If he loves me,

Pop and fly,

If he hates me,

Live and die.

Often the superstition connected therewith is forgotten in the excitement of the moment.

Letters of the alphabet are carved on a pumpkin.

Fate guides the hand of the blindfolded seeker to the fateful initial which he stabs within a pin.

Letters cut out of paper are sprinkled on water in a tub.

They form groups from which anyone with imagination may spell out names.

Girls walk down cellar backward with a candle in one hand and a looking-glass in the other,

Expecting to see a face in the glass.

Last night was witching Halloween,

Dearest,

An apple rosette brown.

I peered and trice upon my crown,

Wrote the long scheme,

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 milkpans caught my candle's flare,

And mice walked soft and spiders leapt.

I spoke the spell and stood the magic space,

Dearest,

And in the glass I saw your face.

And then I stole out in the sight,

Alone,

Progs piped sweet and loud.

The moon looked through a rag cloud,

But thrice around the house I sped me light,

Dearest,

And there,

Methought,

Charm of my charms.

You met me,

Kissed me,

Took me to your arms.

There are many mirror-tests.

A girl who sits before a mirror at midnight on Halloween,

Combing her hair and eating an apple,

Will see the face of her true love reflected in the glass.

Standing so that through a window she may see the moon in a glass 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-glass in her hand steps backward from the door,

Out into the yard,

Saying,

Round and round,

O stars so fair,

You travel and search out everywhere.

I pray you,

Sweet stars,

Now show to me,

This night,

Who my future husband shall be.

A custom that is reminder of the light boats sent downstream in Japan to bear away.

The source of the dead is that which make use of nutshell 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 quiet life.

Some will float together,

Some will collide and be shipwrecked.

Others will bear steadily,

Though the waves are rocked in a tempest.

Their behavior is significant.

Candle which burns longest belongs to the one who will marry first.

The midsummer wheel which was wrought down into the Mossel river in France and bent,

If the flames that wretted it were not extinguished,

That the grape harvest would be abundant,

Has survived in the fortune wheel,

Which is wrought about from one guest to another and brings a gift to each.

The actions of cats on Halloween be talking good or bad luck.

If a cat sits quietly beside anyone,

He will enjoy a peaceful,

Prosperous life.

If one rubs against him,

It brings good luck,

Double good if one jumps into his lap.

If a cat yawns near you on Halloween,

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 mass sujets,

The one who first draws an apple from the tub with his teeth will be first married.

If a girl steers a cabbage,

She will see her future husband as she pulls it up or meet him as he goes home.

If these fell,

She must put the cabbage over the door and watch to see whom it falls on.

For him,

She is to marry.

A button concealed in a mashed potato brings misfortune to the finder.

The names of three men are written on slips of paper and enclosed in three balls of meal.

The one that rises first when they are thrown into the 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 it.

To dream of the future on Halloween in Pennsylvania,

One must go out of the front door backward,

Pick up dust or grass,

Wrap it in paper and put it under his pillow.

In Maryland,

Girls see their future husbands by a rite similar to the Scotch.

Wearing off the sock sleeve,

They put an egg to roast and open wide all the doors and windows.

The man they seek will come 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 Halloween,

A miniature Truett fire burns in a bowl on the table in the blazing alcohol,

Fortunes wrapped in tinfoils,

Figs,

Orange peel,

Raisins,

Almonds,

And dates.

The one who snatches 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 dead struggles of creatures burning in the fire of sacrifice.

Another Southern custom is adapted from Brittany.

Needless are named and floated in a dish of water those which clean side by side are lovers.

Good fortune is in store for the one who wins an apple from the top,

Or against whose glass 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 newborn baby 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 till 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 lamb.

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 stanzas,

Chanted,

I pluck this lock of my 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 Halloween festivities now is to study old traditions and hold a scotch party,

Using Burns' poem,

Halloween as a guide,

Or to go a-souling,

As the English used.

In short,

No custom that was once honored at Halloween is out of fashion now.

Cinnabar has been borrowed from Wales,

And the dump-cake from the Hebrides.

In the scotch custom of cabbage-stalk-pulling,

If the slough 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,

Instead of filling the mouth with water and walking round the house until one meets one's fate.

An adaptation of the Scottish three luckies 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 dried,

Faggots are passed about,

And by the eerie light of burning salt and alcohol,

Ghost stories are told,

Each concluding his installment as his faggot withers into ashes.

Sometimes the cabbage-stalks used in the almonds take the place of faggots.

To induce prophetic dreams,

Salt in quantities from a pinch to an egg full is eaten before one goes to bed.

If after taking three doses of salt,

Two minutes apart,

A girl goes to bed backward,

Lies on her right side and does not move till morning,

She is sure to have eventful dreams.

Peels made of hazelnut,

A walnut and nutmeg grated together and mixed with butter and sugar cause dreams.

If of gold,

The husband will be rich.

If of noise,

A tradesman.

If of thunder and lightning,

A traveler.

As in Ireland,

Bay leaves on or under a man's pillow cause him to dream of his sweetheart.

Turn your boots toward the street,

Leave your garters on your feet,

Put your stockings on your head.

You dream of the one you are going to wed.

Lemon peel carried all day and rubbed on the bedpost at night will cause an apparition to bring the dreaming girl two lemons.

For quiet sleep and the fulfillment of any wish,

Eat before going to bed on Halloween.

A far more interesting development of Halloween idea than these innocent but colorless superstitions is promised by a pageant at Fort Wood,

Texas,

On October 31,

1960.

In the mass pageant of the afternoon,

Four thousand schoolchildren took part.

Scenes from the pageant were staged on floats,

Which passed along the streets.

The subject was preparedness for peace,

And comprised scenes from American history,

In which peace played an honorable part.

Such were the conference of William Penn and the Quakers with the Indians,

And the opening of the East to American trade.

This not a subject limited to performances.

At Hallowtide,

May there not be written and presented in America a truly Halloween pageant,

Illustrating and befitting its noble origin,

And making its place secure among the holidays of the year.