Hallowe’en

Hallowe’en. © Denzil Green / 2017.

The 31st of October is Hallowe’en, the day when the veil between this world and other worlds is thought to be thin.

Oblivious to this, children dress in costumes and go door to door for candy.

#Halloween

See also: Samhain, Nutcrack Night, Samhain Bannock, Jack-O’-Lantern pumpkins, Pumpkin Day, Magosto

Hallowe’en traditions

Hallowe’en celebrations generally involve a spooky theme, invoking the traditional colours of black and orange.

People decorate the outside of their homes with decorations that can be homemade but which increasingly are purchased. The decorations are often augmented by sound effects and fog machines.

By their early teens, children usually give up trick-or-treating — though Hallowe’en parties are now very big with adults. And costumes are no longer just spooky ones: they might be popular characters from popular culture. Tricks are being de-emphasized now as they got out of hand.

Hallowe’en is celebrated the most in North America. It’s celebrated here and there in the UK, Ireland and in Australia and New Zealand. Many scrooges in these places think it’s all nonsense. In Ireland, it takes place during a school break called “Hallowe’en Break.” It’s not all that popular in the south of England, where it is overshadowed by Guy Fawke’s Day on the 5th of November. It is more popular in the north and in Scotland. The south of England, though, is starting in some places to celebrate it in a North American fashion.

Hallowe’en has its origins in Samhain. On the day of the dead, the Celts would wear masks to scare off the bad spirits, and leave out food to attract the good ones. In the old days, carved turnips were used at this time of year, put on doorsteps to scare away bad spirits. But people moving to the New World, who had access to pumpkins, quickly switched to them as they were easier to carve, and showier.

Traditional Cornish Jack-o’-Lantern made from a turnip. Bodrugan / wikimedia / 2012 / CC BY-SA 3.0

In Scotland at Hogmanay (New Year), groups of children used to go door to door reciting poems in exchange for goodies. The trick or treat tradition developed in America. The “trick or treat” greeting emerged in America in the 1920s, and started becoming common in the 1930s.

Food traditions for Hallowe’en

Food items now include:

• candy;
• spooky looking foods;
• bobbing for apples;
• pumpkin pie;
• candy apples;
• Jack-O-Lanterns.

In Ireland, this was traditionally a meatless day. A hearty dish such as colcannon would be made, with prizes hid in it, as well as barm brack.

Recipes

• Pumpkin Milk Shake
• Pumpkin Spice Cookies
• Soul Cakes Recipe
• Swamp Slime Recipe

History

From Elizabeth Craig’s The Scottish Cookery Book, 1956:

“I can’t very leave the subject of Scottish parties without mentioning Halloween. When I was in my teens, the games we played were more important than the fare. We used to sit cross-legged on the floor round black gypsy pots full of fluffy mashed potatoes and sup them with wooden spoons. There were charms embedded in the potatoes. If you came across a sixpence it guaranteed you wealth, if you found a ring you were the first to be married. The button ensured you single bliss, and so on. Then we used to ‘dook’ for apples in a tub of water and play forfeits, fortified by lemonade and cocoa and home-made biscuits. Sometimes we danced to the tinkle of a tinny piano. When I grew older the fare at Halloween parties became more elaborate – sandwiches, lobster and oyster patties, jellies, creams and trifles and claret cup, and dancing, consequences and forfeits passed the evening away.”

From: Past notes: Hallowe’en parties are all the rage. By Graham Stewart. London: The Times. 31 October 2009:

“It was Irish migration that brought to the US a variety of folk myths and merrymaking to October 31. More often it was with talk of fairies and the “good people” rather than sinister demons. Scottish migration, meanwhile, brought Caledonian customs to Canada. Renderings of Robert Burns’s Tam o’ Shanter and Hallowe’en kept the memory of dancing witches fresh in Scottish culture. When the ghoulish element in Hallowe’en supplanted harmless superstitions long associated with the day — games designed to foresee who a maiden might marry and children ducking for apples — is open to debate. By 1900 US college freshmen had turned it into an evening of high jinks, and only by the 1920s were witches’ hats and black cats a standard part of their decoration.”

From the Huntly Express newspaper, 1877: Hallowe’en at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, with Queen Victoria:

Hallowe’en at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, with Queen Victoria in 1877 (Click to enlarge.)

“HALLOWE’EN AT BALMORAL. Hallowe’en is still observed at Crathie, and the night is a favourite with at least the younger portion of the inhabitants, as much, perhaps because it furnishes an occasion of merry-making as from any attachment that is felt for the usages with which in old times the night was observed. The condescending countenance of Royalty, and the celebration with which the occasion has been held at Balmoral Castle, have given the affair a far higher interest and attraction. The actual date was this year anticipated by two days, in order that the Princess of Wales might witness the proceedings. Shortly after dusk on Monday evening great numbers of people from all the surrounding districts, among whom was a goodly number of the gentler sex, began to converge towards Balmoral. The greater number carried torches, those approaching the castle from the east side lighting their torches near the bridge, and those coming from the west lighting theirs at lnvergelder, from which places the parties marched in procession to the front of the Castle. With the latter party, which was headed by two pipers, came the Queen and the Princess of Wales, attended by several ladies-in-waiting, in an open carriage, the Princess Beatrice walking on foot and carrying a torch.

The whole party, which numbered about 200, then walked round the castle, Her Majesty making the circuit on foot, as did also the Princess of Wales and Princess Beatrice, who likewise bore torches. A bonfire, which had been set up in front of the entrance door, was set on fire, and the spectators formed a ring, inside of which a number of the Royal keepers and ghillies set up a dance to the strains of Mr Ross’s bagpipes. The scene, lit up by the ruddy blaze of the bonfire and the flaring light of the torches born aloft by the kilted dancers, was weirdly picturesque. The Queen, the Princess of Wales, and Princess Beatrice remained outside for more than half-an-hour, interested spectators of what was passing, and after entering the castle continued for some time to watch the proceedings from windows overlooking the scene.

An incident was now to happen that excited perhaps more merriment than anything that had preceded it. The effigy of a witch was then cast into the fire. The effigy, in appearance an exceedingly sinister production, was mounted on a car and accompanied by some other beings, ostensibly belonging to the same ill-favoured race, who contrived, however, when the critical moment arrived, to escape the fate of their unlucky sister. The car was preceded by a musical band, and by four sturdy Highlanders, each bearing a stout spruce fir with the branches on. After being several times drawn round the burning pile, the witch was seized and thrown into the dames, to the great amusement of the bystanders, her more fortunate compeers leaping from the car, broke through the crowd and made off. Before the bonfire had been long ablaze, it fell over to one side, and though nobody was in any danger, some fragments fell close to where a cluster of ladies were standing, causing them to start aside, considerably frightened, and the escapade occasioned some diversion.

Squibs and crackers were also thrown among the crowd, which made the unwary a source of mirth to those around. Dancing still went on with spirit, and it was some time before the assembly, which at its largest might be reckoned about 800, melted away. The Duke of Richmond and Gordon, who is at present Minister in Attendance on Her Majesty, remained outside a witness of what was passing most of the time.” — Huntly Express – Saturday 03 November 1877, Page 7, Col. 3.

Literature & Lore

“Second Witch: By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. Open, locks, whoever knocks….
Macbeth: How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags! What is’t you do?
Witches: A deed without a name.”
— William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616. Macbeth. Act IV, Scene 1.)

“Upon that night, when fairies light
On Cassilis Downans dance,
Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,
On sprightly coursers prance;
Or for Colean the rout is ta’en,
Beneath the moon’s pale beams;
There, up the Cove, to stray an’ rove,
Amang the rocks and streams
To sport that night;

Amang the bonie winding banks,
Where Doon rins , wimplin , clear;
Where Bruce ance rul’d the martial ranks,
An’ shook his Carrick spear;
Some merry, friendly, countra-folks
Together did convene,
To burn their nits, an’ pou their stocks ,
An’ haud their Halloween
Fu’ blythe that night.”

— Hallowe’en. Robert Burns. 1785. (Full poem here).

In 1878, a writer in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, explained several of the ways in which food items were used as part of Hallowe’en rituals in Scotland:

“As if to cheer us up before taking the irretrievable plunge from autumn into winter, comes Hallowtide, which its vigil of All-hallow-even, or Halloween. Fraught is the festival for us with many happy memories of jovial meetings around the blaring ingle, when none of your flaring gaslight shone to dispel the big black shadows cast by the fire. Under cover of these same shadows we have snatched many an innocent kiss from many a pouting lip, whose owner, we used to flatter ourselves, did not object to the liberty. And what splashings and duckings have we endured in vain pursuit of the rosiest apples, fit prototypes of the big prizes of life! The small ones we can take boldly into our mouths, and the enjoyment of them is soon over; but the big ones we cannot even get our teeth into; and, in pursuing them we succeed in covering ourselves but with damp and confusion. Then the burning nuts all “fuff“ and splutter, each eccentric sidelong jump or good omened upward blaze being the signal for shouts of merry laughter from the girls, who did not precisely object to the protective comfort of the encircling arm which somehow got there “by consent of parties.“ Last, not least, the three saucers, borrowed, we fear, from pagan patene [Ed: flat dishes] but what of that? We all have an antiquarian turn. Burns was not the only man who saw the matrimonially unsuccessful “Uncle John“ get thrice the omen of celibacy in the empty dish.

Halloween is avowedly a night when “church yards yawn and graves give up their dead,“ when disembodied spirits become visible, and when the powers of darkness are abroad. Perhaps the demoniacal host, freed from the occupation of tormenting the dead, has nothing better to do than to step upstairs and try its evil pranks upon the living. Even children born upon Halloween were supposed to be “uncanny“ and to be gifted with the “second sight.“ Sir Walter Scott makes use of this superstition in the “Monastery.“ Mary Avenel sees what is supposed to be the ghost of her father, and Tibb Tacket makes the following comment upon the event: “It’s weel kend she was born on Halloween was nine years gane, and they that are born on Halloween whiles see mair that ither folk.“ These weird and cadaverous characteristics of the season point to the Feralia and the feast of All Souls. The substantial feasting may have originated either in the Feralia, or in the celebration of the close of autumn, or of All-saint’s-day. The “Halloween bleeze [sic]“, which rustics were wont to kindle on some hilltop, may have first been ignited in the dark dim past when Baal was worshiped, and when the Beltane fires of the first day of summer were probably lighted once again up on the last day of autumn.

Apples, nuts, and ale — the amber tears shed by October for the dead summer — formed the staple delicacies of the Halloween repast. Mr. Thomas Wright, in his “Domestic Manners“, says that the chief fruit of the Anglo-Saxons was undoubtedly the apple, the name of which belongs to their language. But besides that, Hone mentions on the authority of a writer in The Gentleman‘s Magazine that “lambswool“ was a constant ingredient at the Halloween feast in Ireland. Lambswool was made by mixing with ale apples which had been roasted and bruised. General de Vallancey thus etymologises the word “Lambswool“. The first day of November was dedicated to the angel presiding over fruits and seeds, &c., and was therefore named La Mas Ubhal – that is, “the day of the apple fruit“, – and, being pronounced ‘Lamasoul’, the English have corrupted the name to lambswool. We see here another origin of the feast – namely, the festival of the tutelary deity of seeds; and we have the apple’s place in it satisfactorily accounted for, and most probably that of the nut also. The nut forms a feature so characteristic of the entertainments of the season — that according to Band, in his “Antiquities“.

Halloween obtained in England the name of Nut-crack-night! Halloween — although marriages were forbidden during the Feralia — is above all other times a season when the votaries of the tender passion may successfully pry into futurity, with the view of ascertaining what Hymen has in store for them. The apple plays a most important part in the charms made use of for this purpose. There is a reason to suppose that it is thus used from its being so intimately connected in heathen mythology with Venus, whose contest for the golden apple is symbolized in many of her statues by an apple which she holds in her hand.

Halloween, then — which so many of us have assisted to “hand“ without knowing what we were doing – appears, as regards some of its observances, to be traceable to the worship of fire and Baal; as regards others, to the worship of the tutelary deities of the harvest; and as regards others, to the Roman Feralia. Certain of the rites are perhaps commemorative of the use of the great eras in the Christian Church — the conversion of the Pantheon — and others again have their origin in the ancient mythology in the worship of Venus. By far the most characteristic charms by which at this season it is endeavoured to fathom the mysteries of futurity involve ordeals by fire and water. It is highly interesting to observe this as being another proof of the pagan origin of some of our Halloween observances. The ordeals by fire are numerous. There is the burning of nuts, so ably described by Burns in his well-known poem, and according to Mr William Henderson, in his “Folk Lore of the Northern Counties“, there is a custom amongst the maidens of Durham, who take an apple pip — the apple again — and dropping it in the fire, divine their fate from the circumstances of whether the pip makes a noise when it bursts with the heat, or whether it burns away silently. If the former, a girl is assured of her lover’s affection; if the latter, he has no true regard for her. Mr Henderson gives another fiery ordeal, which consist in singing the old verse —

Dingle, dingle, dowsie, the cat’s in the well;
the dog’s awa’ to Berwick, to buy a new bell.

The operator meanwhile whirls a blazing brand before his face, and he attentively observes the last remains of fire; many glowing spots indicate money, while a rapid extinction augers loss of property, and so on. There is also a game of the apple and lighted candle, fixed on the other end of a stick suspended from the roof, and made to twirl round. With hands tied behind their backs the players endeavour to catch the apple in their mouths, but just as often succeed in catching the flaming tallow. It was another fiery ordeal, which we well recollect having practiced ourselves during childhood. A ladleful of lead having been melted, the contents were gently poured into cold water, or upon the hearthstone. The shapes which the molten metal took were often fantastic, and were supposed indicate the implements of trade used by the future husband. Mr Henderson, already quoted, notices this as a custom of the maidens of Denmark.

Mr Hone gives many instances of customs connected with the lighting of bonfires at the season. At Callander, in Perthshire, bonfires were lighted, and when all the fuel was consumed the ashes were gathered in the form of a circle. Then a stone was put in for every member of the family, and if any stone was next morning found to have been moved or injured, the person represented by it was considered fey or devoted, and was not expected to live beyond the twelvemonth. At Aberdeen various magical ceremonies were performed around the “Halloween bleeze,“ and it became the aim of the owners of different fires to scatter and destroy those of their neighbours, the attack and defence being often characterized by considerable fury. In North Wales the bonfire headstones put into it, as at Callendar, and it was customary for the bystanders to rush through the flames and smoke. At Logierait, in Perthshire, heath, broom, and flax-dressings were tied on a pole, and, being set fire to, were paraded around the village. The same custom prevailed in parts of England, and was called a “tinley“. Mr Henderson says that on the Borders it is considered unlucky to let out the house fire on Halloween, as well as on Beltane and Christmas Eve. At one time it was the custom through all Christendom to extinguish all fires upon Easter, Michaelmas, Martinmas, and Halloween, and relight them with holy fire, kindled by the priest with flint and steel in the church yard. This reminds us of the old Druidical custom of the distribution of holy fire by the priests.

We may include amongst the fiery ceremonies a custom of “lating [sic] witches“. ^[1]”Seeking”. See: Hone, William. October 31. Lating the Witches. The Year Book of Daily Recreation and Information: Volume 1832. London, England: Thomas Tegg. 1832. Page 1276. This custom, according to Hone, in his “Year Book“ [1832], once prevailed in Lancashire. Parties of young people started to walk about the fells from 11 till 12 o’clock at night, each bearing a lighted candle. If the candles burned [] during the whole period, the bearers might defy the malice of the evil powers for one year. We recollect very vividly how, a long time ago, the children of the lower classes about Glasgow used to parade the streets in little bands, each member of the procession wearing a curly “kail stock“, ^[2] See Kale, Literature and Lore having a tiny bit of candle lighted and inserted amongst the top leaves. We well remember the shrill chorus of the young voices as they used to sing —

Halloween ae nicht at e’en,
I heard an ane’ squarkin;
Aggie Fyfe has gotten a lad,
An’ they ea’ him Jimie Aiken. ^[3]In Aberdeen, the rhyme went:
Halloween ae nicht at e’en,
Three witches tae be seen,
Ane black an’ twa green,
An’ a’ cryin’ Halloween

Of course, the name was that of a companion, and would be altered to suit circumstances. Then who is he that has not indulged in the manufacturer of turnip lanterns, or in the carrying of them about? In our opinion these illumination‘s have direct reference to the vigils of the Romish Church. This could never be celebrated without a liberal supply of tapers, from the sale of which it has been whispered that the priesthood did not scruple to pocket a considerable profit.

A divination involving both fire and water was the dipping of the “sark’s left sleeve“ [Sark: long, shirtlike garment] in a burn where three lairds’ lands meet; after which it was to be dried at the fire. The result to follow upon this was that the semblance of the future lover would appear at midnight and turn the garment. Henderson says the girls of the Borders washed the whole “sark”, which plan, say we, had, of course, everything to recommend it in a sanitary point of view. The divination of the three luggies had also fire as well as water entering into its formula. The luggies, or saucers, were arranged upon the “clean hearthstone“, and the person about to try his or her fortune had to kneel blindfolded in front of the fire. There appears to us to be something more than mere accident in this kneeling before the fire, otherwise the luggies might have been more conveniently placed upon a table. In corroboration of this view, we may refer to the old-fashioned rite of “Disha oof“, which used to be performed by the relative during the “saining“ or blessing of a corpse. In that ceremony, three empty dishes were arranged on the hearth, as near the fire as possible, and were danced around by the relatives, who repeated, whilst they did so, the words:

A dis, a dis, a dis, a green gris, a dis, a dis, a dis ^[4]At the same time some of the children sing:
“You can come in black
That’s how you can dress.
Black is for mourning
So black will do.” — Imre, Sally. Analysis of Selected Choral Works by John Tavener. MA Music Thesis. Rhodes University. 1998. Page 24.

We have here again the three dishes arranged near the fire, and as a probable explanation of the mysterious rhyme we would only remind our readers that “Dis“ was in the ancient mythology another name for Pluto, the god of the lower world, or kingdom of the dead. We make the suggestion at the risk of incurring the like ridicule with the antiquaries who solved the riddle of the A.D.L.L. mentioned by Sir Walter Scott.

The ordeals by water were not so numerous as those by fire. Ducking for apples was one, which has now degenerated into picking the apples out of the water with a fork aimed at them from some trifling height. Strutt, in his “Sports and Pastimes“, gives a curious engraving, taken from an ancient missal. A youth lies flat, face downwards, upon a long form, with his head above a pail of water, which stands on the floor at one end of the stool. A companion holds the other end of the form, either to steady it while the other dives, or to raise it to enable him to do so. There are several curious prints in Mr. Strutt’s book illustrative of the ceremony of ducking. A purely water ordeal is mentioned by Mr Henderson. The Border maiden takes three pails of water and places them in her bedroom. At the midnight hour her lover’s apparition will come and move them. In order to render the charm efficacious, she must pin to her night dress, over her heart, three holly leaves – rather an uncomfortable thing to go to bed with, certainly. Fortunately, we know that it was the holly without prickles — or “she holly “, as it is called — which was alone of use in charms.

Besides these fire-and-water ordeals and divinations there were others, such as eating apple at the glass, fathoming the bere-stack, winnowing three wechts o’ naething, and several others all mentioned by Burns, whose verses we recommend those who have not read them — if any such there be — to read forthwith with shame and contrition. But there were several ceremonies which are not mentioned by Burns. One of these was to take a willow branch in the left hand, and to run round with it three times, whispering “he that’s to be my gudeman come and grup the end o’t.“ At the third gyration the appearance of the “young man of the future“ would catch hold of the end of the wand. A sword was sometimes used, but it was taken in the right hand. Probably the sword, which was often used in olden times for a cross, kept off the evil spirits. What the willow had to do with it we cannot discover, more especially since that tree has always been associated more with faithless than with faithful love. In another charm the leaves of the ash tree were counted, the object being to find lucky sprigs with an equal number of leaves on each side. The ash has long been a tree held in reverence on account of its influence over the powers of darkness. We have tried in vain to discover the connection between “kail-stocks“ and love charms, but we have signally failed. Everybody knows, however, the important part which that vegetable plays in the ceremonies of Halloween. ^[5] See Kale, Literature and Lore   Lastly, there is the divination by means of the “eirack’s egg“. The “eirack’s egg“ is the first egg made by any particular hen, and I have often seen one well-buttered and preserved till the recurrence of Halloween should bring it into use. The egg having been pierced with a pin, three drops of the white were allowed to fall into a glass of water. The albumen there assumed strange shadowy shapes, which prognosticated the calling of the future lover. That having being settled, the operator, generally a girl, gulped the contents of the glass into her mouth, and sallied forth into the road. The first name which she heard called out would be that of her future husband, and, so soon as she heard it, it was her duty to swallow the contents of her mouth.

These are a few of the more important characteristics and ceremonies of Halloween. How far our opinions as to the origin of the festival are absolutely or even probably correct let the reader judge. Meanwhile, to those who wish to inquire further, are there not open the works of Brand, of Strutt, of Hone, of Henderson, of Chambers, and of a host of other writers on the antiquities of the people! To all of these we commend the anxious seeker after such knowledge, and promise him that his researches will be well repaid. And now the evening’s games and glee are over, good night to you one and all: take care of “bogies“ and “corpse candles” on the road home. May every lad get a “stock” with a sweet “custock” and plenty of earth about the root; and may no lassie awake at the midnight hour to find some “eldritch carlin” [unworldly churl] turning her “sark sleeve” at the fire.” — Halloween.  Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland: The Alloa Advertiser. Saturday, 2 November 1878. Page 3.

Language Notes

Hallowe’en is a contraction of “Hallow Eve”, as “All Hallows’ Eve” was called in Ireland.

A traditional Irish turnip Jack-o’-lantern from the early 20th century. Photographed at the Museum of Country Life, Ireland. Rannpáirtí Anaitnid / wikimedia / 2009 / CC BY-SA 3.0