Prying into the Future.
Nuts furnish the principal means of reading the secrets of the future, and in some parts of England the night is known as “nutcrack night.” The nuts are cracked and eaten, as well as being made the oracles of the occasion, and apples also are used in the games and for divination.
The poet Burns, in the notes to his poem, “Hallowe’en,” speaks of the passion which human nature has had, in all ages, for prying into the future—particularly unenlightened human nature; yet it is not always the ignorant who indulge in the Hallowe’en pranks. It is by the peasantry in the west of Scotland, however, that the night is regarded with sincere veneration and believed to be truly great with meaning.
Burns gives some of the spells and charms whereby the lassies test their fate. Among these customs are the pulling stalks of corn, the blue clue, and eating an apple before the glass. He also mentions sowing hemp-seed, “to winn three wechts o’naethings,” “to fathom the stack three times,” “to dip your left shirt-sleeve in a burn where three lairds’ lands meet,” and, finally, a curious process “with three luggies or dishes.”
Another writer tells of fagots made of heath, broom, and dressings of flax tied upon a pole. These are lighted and then carried upon the shoulders of some one who runs around the village, attended by a crowd. Weird effects are produced on a dark night, when numbers of these fagots are blazing at the same time.
Still another writer tells of the custom of collecting the ashes from the bonfire when the fire has burned out. They are carefully gathered into the form of a circle, and a stone for every person of the several families interested in the fire is put into this magic pile. If any stone is injured or moved next morning it signifies that the person represented by that stone is “fey,” and will not live a twelve-month from that day.