By Rosemary Fetter
During the Victorian era, Halloween was a holiday for love and romance.
Halloween has become America’s favorite holiday for both adults and children, second only to Christmas. Halloween stores start popping up in shopping malls sometime in early September, and by the second week in October, parties, parades and pumpkin-carvings fill up calendars. Paper cutout witches and black cats creep across windows and scarecrows and plastic ghosts hover menacingly around front yards, while mini-superheroes, gory ghouls and fairy princesses gear up to haunt the neighborhood.
The strange celebration we call Halloween dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (sow-an), which marked the final harvest in Irish communities and a transition between summer and winter, light and darkness. Superstitious folk, which included almost everyone, believed that during this time the boundary between the earth and the spirit world was most fragile and the forces of darkness freely roamed the earth. To ward off unfriendly spirits, the Celts built huge bonfires, performed mystic rituals and sometimes wore masks or costumes.
Centuries later, Christians attempting to stamp out pagan beliefs instituted the Feast of All Saint’s Day on Nov. 1, and thus the night before the festival became Hallows Eve, or Hallow’en. Despite the best efforts of the church, the old customs prevailed and folks still barred their doors and blew out the candles early that night.
The practice of observing Halloween came to America in the late 1840s with the great wave of Irish immigrants escaping the potato famine. Along with St. Patrick’s Day and corned beef and cabbage, they brought stories of goblins, ghosts, witches, jack o’lanterns and other denizens of the underworld. By the late 19th century, Halloween had become ingrained in American culture.
A young woman looks in the mirror on Halloween, hoping to see her true love’s face – a popular theme in vintage postcards.
It’s hard to say exactly how or why romantic love became so entwined with Halloween, but in the late 19th century, people were hanging mistletoe on Oct. 31. Strict Victorian mores relaxed a bit for one night and young people were encouraged to flirt with romance – and one another. Halloween provided the perfect opportunity for singles to indulge their romantic fantasies with lighthearted fortune telling rituals, balls and barn dances and masquerade parties.
Even in those days, popular magazines like The Ladies’ Home Journal and Woman’s Home Companion provided tips on creating the proper atmosphere, from invitations and decorations to games and dances. Party decorations in the days before Target consisted of fresh cornstalks; large bunches of yellow and red ears of corn; carved jack o’ lanterns; homemade cardboard ghosts and paper owls and fishnets that were draped around hallways and stairwells. Strings of small red apples and nuts or phosphorus-coated popcorn might hang from the chandelier, the latter more effective when enhanced by candlelight. Hollowed out crook-neck squashes filled with nuts and candied fruit could serve as party favors.
Apple-oriented activities like “bobbing for apples” were popular at Halloween parties. In a game called Snap-Apple, girls and boys with hands tied behind their backs would use their teeth to capture one of the many apples hanging from the ceiling. The person with the “first bite” would be the first to marry.
Tiny saucers could be used for party games. For example, four bowls might contain clear water, soapy water and tiny rocks, with a fourth left empty. Blindfolded guests were asked to stick a hand in one of the bowls. Clear water meant a happy marriage, soapy water prophesized widowhood, the pebbles foretold a life of hard work and the empty bowl – a single and happy life. (The last was ironic in an age where girls were expected to marry before the ink had dried on their high school diplomas.)
Another activity for young women involved jumping over lit candles, like the fictional “Jack” in the nursery rhyme. If the girl could make it over all several candles without extinguishing any (or setting herself on fire) folklore ordained that she would be married before the year had passed. Every candle that blew out under the breeze of her long skirt meant another year without a mate.
The ubiquitous apple also could be used for fortune telling. A young woman would pare an apple all the way around and flip the peeling over her shoulder. According to superstition, the peeling would land in the shape of the first letter of her future husband’s first name. Of course, the game was entirely subjective, particularly favoring the myopic.
Marriage prediction themes were popular postcard images at the turn of the last century.
Nuts were also plentiful around harvest time, providing other opportunities to foresee the future. One popular ritual involved throwing a pair of hazelnuts representing two different suitors into the fire. If one nut bursts, that lover will be unfaithful. The nut that burns steadily means a steady, faithful mate, or at least one who could take the heat.
Cabbage heads, possibly the unromantic of vegetables, were used for divination and thus are often seen on Victorian postcards. In one test of true love, a couple would walk through a vegetable patch at midnight with eyes closed and pick the first cabbage they encountered. If the cabbage came out of the ground easily, it meant a smooth relationship. If the roots stuck in the soil, the pair could expect a troubled future, or possibly a cabbage shortage.
A ball of knitting yarn could also be used as a divining tool. As one old saying suggested:
“Cast a ball of yarn in a darksome place.
Wait till the thread is caught
Then cry “Who holds? And a voice will speak
His name who shall share your lot,”
The seeker might want to re-evaluate her options if the voice simply replied “Meow!”
For more information on vintage Halloween, see Romantic Art and Customs of Yesteryear by Diane C. Arkins.
