HALLOWEEN.1 Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain, "The following poem will, by many readers, be well enough understood; but for the sake of those who are unacquainted with the manners and traditions of the country where the scene is cast, notes are added, to give some account of the principal charms and spells of that night, so big with prophecy to the peasantry in the west of Scotland. The passion of prying into futurity, makes a striking part of the history of human nature in its rude state, in all ages and nations; and it may be some entertainment to a philosophic mind, plough. John Blane, who had acted as gaudsman to Burns, and who lived sixty years afterwards, had a distinct recollection of the turning up of the mouse. Like a thoughtless youth as he was, he ran after the creature to kill it, but was checked and recalled by his master, who, he observed, became thereafter thoughtful and abstracted. Burns, who treated his servants with the familiarity of fellow-laborers, soon after read the poem to Blane. [All Hallow Eve, or the eve of All Saints' Day,] is thought to be a night when witches, devils, and other mischief-making beings, are all abroad on their baneful midnight errands; particularly those aërial people, the fairies, are said on that right to hold a grand anniversary. - B. if any such should honour the author with a perusal, to see the remains of it among the more unenlightened in our own."- Burns. UPON that night, when fairies light Or for Colean the route is ta'en, Beneath the moon's pale beams, To sport that night, Amang the bonnie, winding banks, 8 Where Bruce ance ruled the martial And shook his Carrick spear, Some merry, friendly, country-folks Together did convene, fields wheeling ranks, To burn their nits, and pou their stocks, nuts - pull And haud their Halloween Fu' blithe that night. hold 1 Certain little romantic, rocky, green hills, in the neighbourhood of the ancient seat of the Earls of Cassilis.-B. 2 A noted cavern near Colean House, called the Cove of Colean; which, as well as Cassilis Downans, is famed in coun try story for being a favourite haunt of fairies.-B. 8 The famous family of that name, the ancestors of Rob ert, the great deliverer of his country, were Earls of Car rick.-B. The lasses feat, and cleanly neat, Mair braw than when they're fine; The lads sae trig, wi' wooer-babs 121 trim show true spruce --knots garter Some unco blate, and some wi' gabs bashful— talk sometimes Then, first and foremost, through the kail, cabbage Their stocks 1 maun a' be sought ance; They steek their een, and graip, and wale, For muckle anes and straught anes. Poor hav'rel Will fell aff the drift, close -grope choose straight fool And wandered through the bow-kail; cabbages And pou't, for want o' better shift, A runt was like a sow-tail, Sae bow't that night. stalk crooked 1 The first ceremony of Halloween is, pulling each a stock, or plant of kail. They must go out, hand in hand, with eyes shut, and pull the first they meet with: its being big or little, straight or crooked, is prophetic of the size and shape of the grand object of all their spells-the husband or wife. If any yird or earth stick to the root, that is tocher or fortune; and the taste of the custoc - that is, the heart of the stem — is indicative of the natural temper and disposition. Lastly, the stems, or, to give them their ordinary appellation, the runts, are placed somewhere above the head of the door, and the Christian names of people whom chance brings into the house are, according to the priority of placing the runts, the names in question.-B. Then, straught or crooked, yird or nane, They roar and cry a' throu'ther; in confusion The very wee things, todlin', rin Wi' stocks out-owre their shouther: And gif the custoc's sweet or sour, Wi' joctelegs they taste them; Syne cozily aboon the door, tottering knives Then Wi' cannie care, they've placed them gentle The lasses staw frae 'mang them a' He grippet Nelly hard and fast; The auld guidwife's weel-hoordit nits 1 They go to the barn-yard, and pull each, at three several times, a stalk of oats. If the third stalk wants the top-pickle that is, the grain at the top of the stalk- the party in question will not continue spotless until marriage. — B. 1 2 When the corn is in a doubtfui state, by being too green or wet, the stack-builder, by means of old timber, &c., makes a large apartment in his stack, with an opening in the side which is fairest exposed to the wind: this he calls a fausebonse.- — B. Burning the nuts is a famous charm. They name the lad And mony lads' and lasses' fates Are there that night decided: Some kindle couthie, side by side, agreeably Some start awa' wi' saucy pride, And jump out-owre the chimlie Jean slips in twa wi' tentie e'e; He bleezed owre her, and she owre him, As they wad never mair part; Till, fuff! he started up the lum, And Jean had e'en a sair heart Poor Willie, wi' his bow-kail runt, chimney demure And Mary, nae doubt, took the drunt, a pet Mall's nit lap out wi' pridefu' fling, And her ain fit it brunt it; While Willie lap, and swore, by jing, foot and lass to each particular nut as they lay them in the fire, and accordingly as they burn quietly together or start from Deside one another, the course and issue of the courtship will be.-B. |