| Show by ELMO SCOTT WATSON drawing by M G kettner Kett ncr ache history of halloween B bears a curious resca p blance to that of come of J 1 the other red letter days on j our calendar notably st valentines day easter day and christmas dav in that it was originally a pagan festival which was taken over and incorporated into christian religious observances and later changed so much that a great deal of its religious significance was lost As a result its traditions are a mixture of the pagan and the chris alan considerably modified in recent years by modern commercialism halloween had its origin in the respect and homage paid by ancient nations to the sun the pagans of those days whether egyptian greek or roman assigned a place of great importance in their pantheon to the eun god the giver of light and heat and afe ufe the sun marked out for them the time of work and the time of rest it divided the year into seasons it made possible bounteous crops of grain and fruits and under its warming rays flourished all that was beautiful and splendid on this earth so it was only natural that the early pagan should set aside a day of grief for the ending of summer when his beauty and splendor declined under the frosts and winds of the coming winter when the earth fell under the spell of the evil powers and was not to be free from them again until the coming of spring but mingled with this grief over the pass ing of summer was the joy which he felt as he beheld the goldan of the and in his heart he felt a song of thanksgiving for alie rip ened grain and fruit the deity to whom the romans were accustomed to render their thanks for these gifts was the goddess pomona and they were accustomed to set apart october 31 or november I 1 in her honor as a festival day in which nuts and apples representing the winter store of fruits figured prominently the ancient drulis also held their autumn festival on or about novem ber 1 and lighted fires in honor of their sun god in thankfulness ness for the harvest they believed that on the eve of this festival siman lord of death called together the wicked souls who had been condemned with in the past year to inhabit the bodies of animals that the main celebia alon of II alloween in some countries Is derived straight from these dould ceremonies Is shown by the fact that in parts of ireland october 31 Is still called shakhna or the mall of shaman in general though represents a blending of the dould autumn festival and the roman festival in honor of pomona alth the coming of christianity this feast day as were many other pagan festivals was by the early christian leaders and he came all saints or all souls daiy diy these leaders could not easily deny the existence of the pagan gods and convince new converts to the faith but they explained them as lie drei of evil their power that of balnch mabelc so it came 0 o be the jc 4 halloween when mau loat aln I 1 A happy la tl the night when wu host talk i with their lowina eye I 1 from th boc th black cat cream it la the taboa pal abt it like a fairy dread 1 halloween pumpkin than old i spool tack on the an i E devil dashiff thither boldt maiden in their train 1 bell and whistle and roar on the till air of uch un could saint of i then bay been aware 1 f much whirled aik now L what a warl i L Dao cinc yellin on they 0 i oa morel 1 masked and painted to th ear L i blackened larin y i 1 halloween can hold DO ear i it you are in dl srul george seldon in poetry j belief that these spirits of darkness driven from their old haunts had talen refuge in caves and caverns where they held ghostly revelry all the year round but on halloween they came out to practice their magic and do barm to men good people were always in great dread of these evil spirits and there was much awed whispering as ual loween approached some came forth as copper colored birds to kill farm animals some stole babies leaving in their place changelings chang elings goblins who were old in wickedness while still in the cradle sometimes they would steal a bride to take her to their dark lair while the bridegroom be moaned her disappearance if one wished to escape the lurking devils on this day he must not permit himself to be caught unaware to gle a stringer milk or fire to bring home a fiery thorn to listen to ghostly music might deliver one into their hands and it one went to the spirit realm he would find upon his return that hundreds of years had elapsed and that he himself had become aged decrepit and blind no wonder then that the good people took every precaution to drive away alie powers of evil torches when carried from west to east would send them scurrying away through the air in scotland the village youths were wont to go from house to house on halloween Ual loween crying a peat f bum the witches to tie red thread around the throat to sew a slip of witch elm in the doublet to hold up a wand made from the rowan tree all served to protect one from magic it was a terrible thing to be born on halloween in ireland the story Is still told of the fate of red mike who as a queer one from his birth an no wonder for he first saw the light dusk an dark 0 a hal loveon eve at a party a teat proved mikes soul to be all black and foul in anger he cried ie the gift 0 night I 1 have an on this day my curse can blast whatever I 1 choose rhoose at that the priest showed a crucifix and he ran awny howling to disappear through a bog into the ground the pagan origin of the festival Is seen in many of the traditions which stall cling to halloween ahns th lighting of bonfires serves the doubli purpose of beeping away devils witches and other mischief making beings in accordance with the belief of the early christians and it also per petua ted the custom of light ing fires in honor of the sun god in thankfulness tor the harvest the use of apples and nuts in our present halloween celebrations Is a of the dould ceremonies in which these edibles represented the winter store of fruits tor which the sun god was thanked they were also used in the divinations divi nations and consulting of omens which gradually became a part of the celebration of this festival which was so tinged with superstition by the early christians indeed in some countries halloween la also known as night because of the custom of using nuts as a means of discovering the course affairs will take in regard to the use of nuts in th halloween festival an early writer observes the first of seems to retain the celebration of i festival to pomona when it Is supposed the summer stores are opened on the approach of winter alons and consulting of omens attend ed all these ceremonies in the practice of the heathen hence in the rural sacrifice of nuts omens are sought touching matrimony if the nuts he still and bum together it prognosticates prognostic ates a happy marriage or a hopeful love it on the contrary i they bounce and fly asunder the sign Is I 1 do not doubt the scotch fires kindled on this day anciently burnt for this rural flee apples are used in various ways a the divination ceremonies it ass believed that it a maiden ate an apple before a mirror brushing her hair the while the face of her future husband could be seen in the mirror over her shoulder among the irish there were certain conditions attached to this ceremony the girl must steal an apple for use in the ceremony and also steal a knife with which to pare it then standing before the mirror at midnight she would repeat watt tats stolen knife I 1 pare this stolen apple and as I 1 cast the paring over my life shoulder I 1 command that the face of my lover appear it was also believed that it man or maiden at hal loween time should throw the pas over the shoulder upon falling to the ground it would forra the letter 0 the name of the future husband w wife in scotland was observed the mony of pulling kale stocks or stam of young people were IM hand in hand blindfolded into tte kalei ard or garden and each pta the first stalk he met with they then returned to the fireside to insco their prizes As the stalk was big little straight or crooked EO s be the future wife or husband v quantity of elrd earth the root indicated the beail we aIl or dewri the taste of the custock indicated the temper w the runts or stalks were placed over the door and the christian cam of the first to enter thereafter ws those of the individuals whom the respective spec tive parties were to marry |
