Balder The Beautiful, Vol. I. by Sir James George Frazer

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[Divination resorted to in Celtic countries at Hallowe'en.]

In all Celtic countries Hallowe'en seems to have been the great season
of the year for prying into the future; all kinds of divination were put
in practice that night. We read that Dathi, a king of Ireland in the
fifth century, happening to be at the Druids' Hill (_Cnoc-nan-druad_) in
the county of Sligo one Hallowe'en, ordered his druid to forecast for
him the future from that day till the next Hallowe'en should come round.
The druid passed the night on the top of the hill, and next morning made
a prediction to the king which came true.[583] In Wales Hallowe'en was
the weirdest of all the _Teir Nos Ysbrydion_, or Three Spirit Nights,
when the wind, "blowing over the feet of the corpses," bore sighs to the
houses of those who were to die within the year. People thought that if
on that night they went out to a cross-road and listened to the wind,
they would learn all the most important things that would befall them
during the next twelve months.[584] In Wales, too, not so long ago women
used to congregate in the parish churches on the night of Hallowe'en and
read their fate from the flame of the candle which each of them held in
her hand; also they heard the names or saw the coffins of the
parishioners who would die within the year, and many were the sad scenes
to which these gloomy visions gave rise.[585] And in the Highlands of
Scotland anybody who pleased could hear proclaimed aloud the names of
parishioners doomed to perish within the next twelve months, if he would
only take a three-legged stool and go and sit on it at three
cross-roads, while the church clock was striking twelve at midnight on
Hallowe'en. It was even in his power to save the destined victims from
their doom by taking with him articles of wearing apparel and throwing
them away, one by one, as each name was called out by the mysterious
voice.[586]

[Hallowe'en bonfires in the Highlands of Scotland; John Ramsay's account
of the Hallowe'en bonfires; divination from stones at the fire;
Hallowe'en fires in the parishes of Callander and Logierait.]

But while a glamour of mystery and awe has always clung to Hallowe'en in
the minds of the Celtic peasantry, the popular celebration of the
festival has been, at least in modern times, by no means of a
prevailingly gloomy cast; on the contrary it has been attended by
picturesque features and merry pastimes, which rendered it the gayest
night of all the year. Amongst the things which in the Highlands of
Scotland contributed to invest the festival with a romantic beauty were
the bonfires which used to blaze at frequent intervals on the heights.
"On the last day of autumn children gathered ferns, tar-barrels, the
long thin stalks called _gainisg_, and everything suitable for a
bonfire. These were placed in a heap on some eminence near the house,
and in the evening set fire to. The fires were called _Samhnagan_. There
was one for each house, and it was an object of ambition who should have
the biggest. Whole districts were brilliant with bonfires, and their
glare across a Highland loch, and from many eminences, formed an
exceedingly picturesque scene."[587] Like the Beltane fires on the first
of May, the Hallowe'en bonfires seem to have been kindled most commonly
in the Perthshire Highlands. Travelling in the parish of Moulin, near
Pitlochrie, in the year 1772, the Englishman Thomas Pennant writes that
"Hallow Eve is also kept sacred: as soon as it is dark, a person sets
fire to a bush of broom fastened round a pole, and, attended with a
crowd, runs about the village. He then flings it down, heaps great
quantity of combustible matters on it, and makes a great bonfire. A
whole tract is thus illuminated at the same time, and makes a fine
appearance."[588] The custom has been described more fully by a
Scotchman of the eighteenth century, John Ramsay of Ochtertyre. On the
evening of Hallowe'en "the young people of every hamlet assembled upon
some eminence near the houses. There they made a bonfire of ferns or
other fuel, cut the same day, which from the feast was called _Samh-nag_
or _Savnag_, a fire of rest and pleasure. Around it was placed a circle
of stones, one for each person of the families to whom they belonged.
And when it grew dark the bonfire was kindled, at which a loud shout was
set up. Then each person taking a torch of ferns or sticks in his hand,
ran round the fire exulting; and sometimes they went into the adjacent
fields, where, if there was another company, they visited the bonfire,
taunting the others if inferior in any respect to themselves. After the
fire was burned out they returned home, where a feast was prepared, and
the remainder of the evening was spent in mirth and diversions of
various kinds. Next morning they repaired betimes to the bonfire, where
the situation of the stones was examined with much attention. If any of
them were misplaced, or if the print of a foot could be discerned near
any particular stone, it was imagined that the person for whom it was
set would not live out the year. Of late years this is less attended to,
but about the beginning of the present century it was regarded as a sure
prediction. The Hallowe'en fire is still kept up in some parts of the
Low country; but on the western coast and in the Isles it is never
kindled, though the night is spent in merriment and
entertainments."[589] In the Perthshire parish of Callander, which
includes the now famous pass of the Trossachs opening out on the winding
and wooded shores of the lovely Loch Katrine, the Hallowe'en bonfires
were still kindled down to near the end of the eighteenth century. When
the fire had died down, the ashes were carefully collected in the form
of a circle, and a stone was put in, near the circumference, for every
person of the several families interested in the bonfire. Next morning,
if any of these stones was found to be displaced or injured, the people
made sure that the person represented by it was _fey_ or devoted, and
that he could not live twelve months from that day.[590] In the parish
of Logierait, which covers the beautiful valley of the Tummel, one of
the fairest regions of all Scotland, the Hallowe'en fire was somewhat
different. Faggots of heath, broom, and the dressings of flax were
kindled and carried on poles by men, who ran with them round the
villages, attended by a crowd. As soon as one faggot was burnt out, a
fresh one was lighted and fastened to the pole. Numbers of these blazing
faggots were often carried about together, and when the night happened
to be dark, they formed a splendid illumination.[591]

[Hallowe'en fires on Loch Tay; Hallowe'en fires at Balquhidder.]

Nor did the Hallowe'en fires die out in Perthshire with the end of the
eighteenth century. Journeying from Dunkeld to Aberfeldy on Hallowe'en
in the first half of the nineteenth century, Sheriff Barclay counted
thirty fires blazing on the hill tops, and saw the figures of the people
dancing like phantoms round the flames.[592] Again, "in 1860, I was
residing near the head of Loch Tay during the season of the Hallowe'en
feast. For several days before Hallowe'en, boys and youths collected
wood and conveyed it to the most prominent places on the hill sides in
their neighbourhood. Some of the heaps were as large as a corn-stack or
hayrick. After dark on Hallowe'en, these heaps were kindled, and for
several hours both sides of Loch Tay were illuminated as far as the eye
could see. I was told by old men that at the beginning of this century
men as well as boys took part in getting up the bonfires, and that, when
the fire was ablaze, all joined hands and danced round the fire, and
made a great noise; but that, as these gatherings generally ended in
drunkenness and rough and dangerous fun, the ministers set their faces
against the observance, and were seconded in their efforts by the more
intelligent and well-behaved in the community; and so the practice was
discontinued by adults and relegated to school boys."[593] At
Balquhidder down to the latter part of the nineteenth century each
household kindled its bonfire at Hallowe'en, but the custom was chiefly
observed by children. The fires were lighted on any high knoll near the
house; there was no dancing round them.[594]

[Hallowe'en fires in Buchan to burn the witches; processions with
torches at Hallowe'en in the Braemar Highlands.]

Hallowe'en fires were also lighted in some districts of the north-east
of Scotland, such as Buchan. Villagers and farmers alike must have their
fire. In the villages the boys went from house to house and begged a
peat from each householder, usually with the words, "Ge's a peat t' burn
the witches." In some villages the lads collected the peats in a cart,
some of them drawing it along and the others receiving the peats and
loading them on the cart. Along with the peats they accumulated straw,
furze, potato haulm, everything that would burn quickly, and when they
had got enough they piled it all in a heap and set it on fire. Then each
of the youths, one after another, laid himself down on the ground as
near to the fire as he could without being scorched, and thus lying
allowed the smoke to roll over him. The others ran through the smoke and
jumped over their prostrate comrade. When the heap was burned down, they
scattered the ashes. Each one took a share in this part of the ceremony,
giving a kick first with the right foot and then with the left; and each
vied with the other who should scatter the most. After that some of them
still continued to run through the scattered ashes and to pelt each
other with the half-burned peats. At each farm a spot as high as
possible, not too near the steading, was chosen for the fire, and the
proceedings were much the same as at the village bonfire. The lads of
one farm, when their own fire was burned down and the ashes scattered,
sometimes went to a neighbouring fire and helped to kick the ashes
about.[595] Referring to this part of Scotland, a writer at the end of
the eighteenth century observes that "the Hallow-even fire, another
relict of druidism, was kindled in Buchan. Various magic ceremonies were
then celebrated to counteract the influence of witches and demons, and
to prognosticate to the young their success or disappointment in the
matrimonial lottery. These being devoutly finished, the hallow fire was
kindled, and guarded by the male part of the family. Societies were
formed, either by pique or humour, to scatter certain fires, and the
attack and defence were often conducted with art and with fury."[596]
Down to about the middle of the nineteenth century "the Braemar
Highlanders made the circuit of their fields with lighted torches at
Hallowe'en to ensure their fertility in the coming year. At that date
the custom was as follows: Every member of the family (in those days
households were larger than they are now) was provided with a bundle of
fir 'can'les' with which to go the round. The father and mother stood at
the hearth and lit the splints in the peat fire, which they passed to
the children and servants, who trooped out one after the other, and
proceeded to tread the bounds of their little property, going slowly
round at equal distances apart, and invariably with the sun. To go
'withershins' seems to have been reserved for cursing and
excommunication. When the fields had thus been circumambulated the
remaining spills were thrown together in a heap and allowed to burn
out."[597]

[Divination at Hallow-e'en in the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland;
the stolen kail; sowing hemp seed; the winnowing basket; the wet shirt;
the thrown shoe.]

In the Highlands of Scotland, as the evening of Hallowe'en wore on,
young people gathered in one of the houses and resorted to an almost
endless variety of games, or rather forms of divination, for the purpose
of ascertaining the future fate of each member of the company. Were they
to marry or remain single, was the marriage to take place that year or
never, who was to be married first, what sort of husband or wife she or
he was to get, the name, the trade, the colour of the hair, the amount
of property of the future spouse--these were questions that were eagerly
canvassed and the answers to them furnished never-failing
entertainment.[598] Nor were these modes of divination at Hallowe'en
confined to the Highlands, where the bonfires were kindled; they were
practised with equal faith and in practically the same forms in the
Lowlands, as we learn, for example, from Burns's poem _Hallowe'en_,
which describes the auguries drawn from a variety of omens by the
Ayrshire peasantry. These Lowlanders of Saxon descent may well have
inherited the rites from the Celts who preceded them in the possession
of the south country. A common practice at Hallowe'en was to go out
stealthily to a neighbour's kailyard and there, with shut eyes, to pull
up the first kail stock that came to hand. It was necessary that the
plants should be stolen without the knowledge or consent of their owner;
otherwise they were quite useless for the purpose of divination.
Strictly speaking, too, the neighbour upon whose garden the raid was
made should be unmarried, whether a bachelor or a spinster. The stolen
kail was taken home and examined, and according to its height, shape,
and features would be the height, shape, and features of the future
husband or wife. The taste of the _custock_, that is, the heart of the
stem, was an infallible indication of his or her temper; and a clod of
earth adhering to the root signified, in proportion to its size, the
amount of property which he or she would bring to the common stock. Then
the kail-stock or _runt_, as it was called in Ayrshire, was placed over
the lintel of the door; and the baptismal name of the young man or woman
who first entered the door after the kail was in position would be the
baptismal name of the husband or wife.[599] Again, young women sowed
hemp seed over nine ridges of ploughed land, saying, "I sow hemp seed,
and he who is to be my husband, let him come and harrow it." On looking
back over her left shoulder the girl would see the figure of her future
mate behind her in the darkness. In the north-east of Scotland lint seed
was used instead of hemp seed and answered the purpose quite as
well.[600] Again, a mode of ascertaining your future husband or wife was
this. Take a clue of blue yarn and go to a lime-kiln. Throw the clue
into the kiln, but keep one end of the thread in your hand and wind it
on to another clue. As you come near the end somebody or something will
hold the other end tight in the kiln. Then you call out, "Who holds?"
giving the thread at the same time a gentle pull. Some one or something
will thereupon pull the other end of the thread, and a voice will
mention the name of your future husband or wife.[601] Another way is
this. Go to the barn alone and secretly. Be sure to open both doors and
if possible take them off their hinges; for if the being who is about to
appear should catch you in the barn and clap the doors to on you, he or
she might do you a mischief. Having done this, take the sieve or
winnowing-basket, which in Lowland Scotch is called a _wecht_ or
_waicht_, and go through the action of winnowing corn. Repeat it thrice,
and at the third time the apparition of your future husband or wife will
pass through the barn, entering at the windy door and passing out at the
other.[602] Or this. Go to a southward running stream, where the lands
of three lairds meet, or to a ford where the dead and living have
crossed. Dip the left sleeve of your shirt in the water. Then go home,
take off the shirt, hang it up before a fire to dry, and go to bed,
taking care that the bed stands so that you can see your shirt hanging
before the fire. Keep awake, and at midnight you will see the form of
your future spouse come into the room and turn the other side of the
sleeve to the fire to dry it.[603] A Highland form of divination at
Hallowe'en is to take a shoe by the tip and throw it over the house,
then observe the direction in which the toe points as it lies on the
ground on the other side; for in that direction you are destined to go
before long. If the shoe should fall sole uppermost, it is very unlucky
for you.[604]

[The white of eggs in water; the names on the chimney piece; the nuts in
the fire; the milk and meal; the apples in the water; the three plates.]

These ways of prying into the future are practised outside of the house;
others are observed in the kitchen or the parlour before the cheerful
blaze of the fire. Thus the white of eggs, dropped in a glass of pure
water, indicates by certain marks how many children a person will have.
The impatience and clamour of the children, eager to ascertain the exact
number of their future progeny, often induced the housewife to perform
this ceremony for them by daylight; and the kindly mother, standing with
her face to the window, dropping the white of an egg into a crystal
glass of clean water, and surrounded by a group of children intently
watching her proceedings, made up a pretty picture.[605] When the fun of
the evening had fairly commenced, the names of eligible or likely
matches were written on the chimney-piece, and the young man who wished
to try his fortune was led up blindfolded to the list. Whatever name he
put his finger on would prove that of his future wife.[606] Again, two
nuts, representing a lad and a lass whose names were announced to the
company, were put side by side in the fire. If they burned quietly
together, the pair would be man and wife, and from the length of time
they burned and the brightness of the flame the length and happiness of
the married life of the two were augured. But if instead of burning
together one of the nuts leaped away from the other, then there would be
no marriage, and the blame would rest with the person whose nut had thus
started away by itself.[607] Again, a dish of milk and meal (in Gaelic
_fuarag_, in Lowland Scotch _crowdie_) or of beat potatoes was made and
a ring was hidden in it. Spoons were served out to the company, who
supped the contents of the dish hastily with them, and the one who got
the ring would be the first to be married.[608] Again, apples and a
silver sixpence were put in a tub of water; the apples naturally floated
on the top and the sixpence sank to the bottom. Whoever could lift an
apple or the sixpence from the water with his mouth, without using his
teeth, was counted very lucky and got the prize to himself.[609] Again,
three plates or basins were placed on the hearth. One was filled with
clean water, another with dirty water, and the third was empty. The
enquirer was blindfolded, knelt in front of the hearth, and groped about
till he put his finger in one of them. If he lighted on the plate with
the clean water, he would wed a maid; if on the plate with the dirty
water, he would marry a widow; and if on the empty plate, he would
remain a bachelor. For a girl the answer of the oracle was analogous;
she would marry a bachelor, a widower, or nobody according to the plate
into which she chanced to dip her finger. But to make sure, the
operation had to be repeated thrice, the position of the plates being
changed each time. If the enquirer put his or her finger into the same
plate thrice or even twice, it was quite conclusive.[610]

[The sliced apple; the white of egg in water; the salt cake or salt
herring.]

These forms of divination in the house were practised by the company in
a body; but the following had to be performed by the person alone. You
took an apple and stood with it in your hand in front of a
looking-glass. Then you sliced the apple, stuck each slice on the point
of the knife, and held it over your left shoulder, while you looked into
the glass and combed your hair. The spectre of your future husband would
then appear in the mirror stretching forth his hand to take the slices
of the apple over your shoulder. Some say that the number of slices
should be nine, that you should eat the first eight yourself, and only
throw the ninth over your left shoulder for your husband; also that at
each slice you should say, "In the name of the Father and the Son."[611]
Again, take an egg, prick it with a pin, and let the white drop into a
wine-glass nearly full of water. Take some of this in your mouth and go
out for a walk. The first name you hear called out aloud will be that of
your future husband or wife. An old woman told a lady that she had tried
this mode of divination in her youth, that the name of Archibald "came
up as it were from the very ground," and that Archibald sure enough was
the name of her husband.[612] In South Uist and Eriskay, two of the
outer Hebrides, a salt cake called _Bonnach Salainn_ is eaten at
Hallowe'en to induce dreams that will reveal the future. It is baked of
common meal with a great deal of salt. After eating it you may not drink
water nor utter a word, not even to say your prayers. A salt herring,
eaten bones and all in three bites, is equally efficacious, always
provided that you drink no water and hold your tongue.[613]

[Hallowe'en fires in Wales; omens drawn from stones thrown into the
fire; divination by stones in the ashes.]

In the northern part of Wales it used to be customary for every family
to make a great bonfire called _Coel Coeth_ on Hallowe'en. The fire was
kindled on the most conspicuous spot near the house; and when it had
nearly gone out everyone threw into the ashes a white stone, which he
had first marked. Then having said their prayers round the fire, they
went to bed. Next morning, as soon as they were up, they came to search
out the stones, and if any one of them was found to be missing, they had
a notion that the person who threw it would die before he saw another
Hallowe'en.[614] A writer on Wales at the beginning of the nineteenth
century says that "the autumnal fire is still kindled in North Wales,
being on the eve of the first day of November, and is attended by many
ceremonies; such as running through the fire and smoke, each casting a
stone into the fire, and all running off at the conclusion to escape
from the black short-tailed sow; then supping upon parsnips, nuts, and
apples; catching up an apple suspended by a string with the mouth alone,
and the same by an apple in a tub of water: each throwing a nut into the
fire; and those that burn bright, betoken prosperity to the owners
through the following year, but those that burn black and crackle,
denote misfortune. On the following morning the stones are searched for
in the fire, and if any be missing, they betide ill to those who threw
them in."[615] According to Sir John Rhys, the habit of celebrating
Hallowe'en by lighting bonfires on the hills is perhaps not yet extinct
in Wales, and men still living can remember how the people who assisted
at the bonfires would wait till the last spark was out and then would
suddenly take to their heels, shouting at the top of their voices, "The
cropped black sow seize the hindmost!" The saying, as Sir John Rhys
justly remarks, implies that originally one of the company became a
victim in dead earnest. Down to the present time the saying is current
in Carnarvonshire, where allusions to the cutty black sow are still
occasionally made to frighten children.[616] We can now understand why
in Lower Brittany every person throws a pebble into the midsummer
bonfire.[617] Doubtless there, as in Wales and the Highlands of
Scotland,[618] omens of life and death have at one time or other been
drawn from the position and state of the pebbles on the morning of All
Saints' Day. The custom, thus found among three separate branches of the
Celtic stock, probably dates from a period before their dispersion, or
at least from a time when alien races had not yet driven home the wedges
of separation between them.

[Divination as to love and marriage at Hallowe'en in Wales.]

In Wales, as in Scotland, Hallowe'en was also the great season for
forecasting the future in respect of love and marriage, and some of the
forms of divination employed for this purpose resembled those which were
in use among the Scotch peasantry. Two girls, for example, would make a
little ladder of yarn, without breaking it from the ball, and having
done so they would throw it out of the window. Then one of the girls,
holding the ball in her hand, would wind the yarn back, repeating a
rhyme in Welsh. This she did thrice, and as she wound the yarn she would
see her future husband climbing up the little ladder. Again, three bowls
or basins were placed on a table. One of them contained clean water, one
dirty water, and one was empty. The girls of the household, and
sometimes the boys too, then eagerly tried their fortunes. They were
blindfolded, led up to the table, and dipped their hands into a bowl. If
they happened to dip into the clean water, they would marry maidens or
bachelors; if into the dirty water, they would be widowers or widows; if
into the empty bowl, they would live unmarried. Again, if a girl,
walking backwards, would place a knife among the leeks on Hallowe'en,
she would see her future husband come and pick up the knife and throw it
into the middle of the garden.[619]

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