| Show L PRANKS AND FUN 1 J WEDNESDAY EVE Salt Lake La e Youngsters oung ste and an c GrownUps Prepare to Celebrate Halloween GAMES G POPULAR ARE READY FOR THE TH E OCCASION I Halloween or All Hallows eve wIll l 1 e widely celebrated In Salt Lake next Wednesday evening Societies social and church clubs and private Individuals Individuals Individuals are planning parties for the event eventful eventful eventful ful night Nearly every ev tY club house will have its bowl of punch every hall Its pumpkin and every home its tub of water with apples float floating ins ing in temptingly on the surface Maidens will Avill peer through the darkness of a room to gain a glimpse of their future husbands faces This practical old world forgets its worries I Jf and arid on Halloween and the be beliefs Refs superstitions and fancies of ages past hold full sway Relic of Pagan Times alloween Halloween I Is a relic of pagan times Writers agree upon this point assert asserting asserting ing Jug that there is nothing in church ob observance observance servance of the ensuing day of All Saints to have originated the thc extraordinary extraordinary notions and peculiar practices attached to the day and its celebration In the ancient calendar of the Church of Rome on Nov 1 is entered this mem memorandum memorandum memorandum The feast of All AU Fools day dayis da dais is removed to this day Historical w writers believe that many pranks now played upon Halloween may be traced to this thi celebration of All AIl Fools day was perhaps later transferred to April 1 its present date The last day in October was celebrated in the Greek church as early as the fourth century but hut its observance did not become com common common common mon in the west until the seventh cen century century century tury Its origin is explained by some writers as one day which at first was made a memorial day for the great number of departed saints but as the number increased there were not enough days in the year to permit each saint having a separate date so one I was set aside for those to whom special days had not been already set aside Impressive Druid Rites When the Roman temple which through its dedication to the memory of all pagan gods and hence called the Pantheon was consecrated to virgins and martyrs In the seventeenth century May 14 was set aside as a memorial day This was later changed to Nov 1 the same date observed by b the Druids Druid s as a feast of harvest In the evening evenin g the Druid priests would build huge hug e fires on the hillsides in Britain Ire Ireland Ireland Ireland land and nd France as signs of gratitude gratitud e to the sun gods for their care of seeds seed s and plants The priests clad in flow flowing flowIng I ing white robes would gather bather around aroun d dt the sacred fires which had been kept kep t lighted for a year At a signal the fire fir e would be quenched and another kin kindled kindled The worshippers would then clasp hands around this and dance in a circle around round the blazing fire shouting at the top of their voices The sacred fire was thought a safeguard over the people for another year Fires in homes were quenched and in the same manner Witches fairies and goblins were thought to come from their un known places of hiding on this night and go abroad taking a hand In the riotous celebrating This belief was wa held in England as late as the seventeenth seven century when farmers still marched around their fields after dark carrying torches and uttering verses ve ses of doggerel to frighten away prowling goblins I I Different Customs Mingle These weird and ancient customs and beliefs strictly those of the Druids at first became mingled with the ties of more civilized nations on the evening preceding All Saints day Both celebrations coming on the same date d te brought the different customs together t gether I and these have come down to tot present resent times greatly changed but still spooky and possessing much that is strongly remindful of graveyards and ghostly regions Supernatural influences influences influences are supposed to prevail spirits both of the visible and invisible world to walk around on this evening if any ethereal principle conferred upon it the faculty of detaching itself from corporeal divination attains its high hIghest est power and power poyer to call spirits from the vasty deep be longs to o all Ancient Customs Survive j The Druids fires are exemplified to day by the bonfires built by children and by gatherings around firesides in all homes Fireside customs and games ames are uniform throughout the civilized d world Nuts and apples form an im important important im portion of appropriate edibles Northern England calls Halloween night on account of the prom anent part played in the festivities by nuts They are used not only in the th e feast but as a means of in i n love affairs In Scotland lassies desir ing to know how horn true their lovers were named chestnuts after the young men me n and one after themselves When a nut nu t popped the lover loyer whose name that nut nu t tt bore was supposed to be unfaithful When a nut burned it denoted regard d I Ion on the part of the lover after whom i it t was named The nut which burned borne d td with the one named after the maiden maide n making the test it was supposed told the maiden that he would marry her herand herand herand E and they would be happy Burns in his poem on Halloween describes this ceremony emony in the following verse The auld nuts Are round and round divided And mony lads and lassies fates Are Ar there that night I decided Some kindle side by side And burn trimly Some start awa wi saucy r pride e Aud jump the thc Fu high that night Apple Games Popular Another old game more playful In its character was A stick was hung horizontally on a string from the ceiling An apple was placed on one end of this and a candle on the other The stick was then whirled rap idly and the object was to catch the apple with Avith the teeth Before the con could get his or her face away after fter snatching at the apple the can would spin around striking the contestant in the face spattering it with grease or scorching it slightly The old game and the one most en joyed by young folks today is also cal led and it means no end of fun for both contestants and spectators A number of apples are set afloat in a tub of water The contest ants kneel on the floor and try to get an apple by biting it The fruit of course sinks with any an pressure and the face of the contestant goes into the water A player will often push the fruit to the bottom of the tub in an effort to sink his teeth into it and this necessitates a thorough ducking Small apples are sometimes sucked in to the mouth while stems sometimes come to the aid of the apple snatchers Describes Future Mate MateA A practice thought to have origin orIginated originated In western Scotland and not common com common mon in America is hailstock pulling Those taking part in this game walk blindfolded and into a kail or garden Each player playe r pulls the first kail stalk he or she en encounters encounters encounters counters When all have ha vc secured stalks stalk s they return to the house to examine their stalk If it be tall the future hus bus band or wife is supposed to bo bd b tall If short the same rule applies and in i n this manner a maiden ar young man i is s supposed to learn whether her future e husband or his future wife is to be De Destout e stout or thin straight or crooked Th The e dirt which to the roots tells tell s es what dowry will be gained the pith of o f the stalk denotes the temper of the th e future mate Salt Lake maidens and young men can c n try this experiment us using using ing sunflower stalks or corn stalks Will I Marry a Widow Here is still another way to find out ou t something about the future and tit the e fate it holds in the matrimonial line lineA A young man borrows three plates from fro m his leis mother or sister or the hired girl girllie He lie then fills one of these with clean clear water a second with dirty water and leaves the third empty Blindfold Blindfolded ed d he then walks to the plates dipping g his finger into one If it is the one on ge e filled with clear dear water he is to marry Y a maiden if the one filled with unclean water a widow and if he dips his finger fin finger finger ger into the empty one he will vill be a I I bachelor ba Burns describes the b game gam e thus hus husIn In order on the clean The Juggles three are ranged And every time great care is taen To see them duly John who joys joy s Sin Mars year did desire Because he gat the tIle loom toom to om empty dish thrice He heaved them on the fire In wrath that night Burns Verse Described Almost too common to be given space spaces e is s the practice of eating an apple be b fore a mirror to see the face of the future fu future ture mate reflected in the mirror Sev Several Se v ral eral eral verses in Burns poem on Halloween Hallow Halloween Halloween een from which the quotations ar are e taken are devoted to this practice Wee Vee Jenny to her granny says Will ye go wi me granny Ill cat the apple at the glass I gat frae Uncle Johnny The practice of hanging a 3 wet shirt shirtsleeve shirtsleeve shi rt sleeve before the fireplace to watch the th e future husband or wife come in at midnight to turn it Is not popular i in inthis inthis n this country countr Steam radiators are not n of good substitutes of fireplaces and ev every every e v ery cry home has ha not a lonely shirtsleeve e Burns in speaking of this peculiar cus custom cu 5 tom says The last Halloween I was My Iy it as of ken His likeness cam earn up the house In the thc very gray of Tam Tarn Glen Modern Pranks Are Riotous The Tile games and practices described describe d are but a few of many which contri contrIbute I bute to the hilarity of Halloween af ai affairs a f fairs The spooky element in its ob observance observance o b servance appeals strongly to children childre Disguised in horrible masks and clad cladin cl clin ad I in fantastic costumes the younger tots tot to tS I parade the streets sweets carrying jacko lanterns and torches They are really real ly playing the old parts of the Druid Dru priests Some riotousness has crept i ito in into into n to later day practices Gates are Cl ca car carried T r Tried ried from their hinges and hung in the ti topmost branches of trees Tick tacks rattle suddenly at windows window s frightening the occupants of the house hour Ropes stretched tightly across side sidewalks sidewalks sid c walks send dignified citizens tumbling in undignified postures on the pave pay pavement pavement e ment Theres Ned tc Pay Where stock barns lay 1 a in the path pal it ite of these young oung Druids many queer transformations re result r e suit sult Cows gaze reproachfully at th the ti first person to enter the barn on th t morning after Their tails are tied t to tor toay the grain box of the stall like Bar Ba r famous amous horse whose head was w ay tail tall ought to be There is i io end to a boys ability to think up uli pranks and naturally there is no end e nd nde of pranks pr played on Halloween Th Ti e police are prominent among those tho e who w h o do not look forward to the thc arrival of Halloween with enjoyment for it means countless runs for them OU Ned gathers his army of small follow followers followers folio tv ers behind him on Halloween and a d truly there is s Ned hied to pay pa |
