XXV. HALLOWEEN.1 "Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain, [This Poem contains a lively and striking picture of some of the superstitious observances of old Scotland: on Halloween the desire to look into futurity was once all but universal in the north; and the charms and spells which Burns describes, form but a portion of those employed to enable the peasantry to have a peep up the dark vista of the future. The scene is laid on the romantic shores of Ayr, at a farmer's fireside, and the actors in the rustic drama are the whole household, including supernumerary reapers and bandsmen about to be discharged. from the engagements of harvest. "I never can help regarding this," says James Hogg, "as rather a trivial poem!"] UPON that night, when fairies light On Cassilis Downans2 dance, Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze, Beneath the moon's pale beams; To sport that night. Amang the bonnie winding banks Where Doon rins, wimplin', clear, To burn their nits, an' pou their stocks, Fu' blythe that night. 1 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 night to hold a grand anniversary. 2 Certain little, romantic, rocky green hills, in the neighbourhood of the ancient seat of the Earls of Cassilis. 3 A noted cavern near Colean-house, called the Cove of Colean which, as well as Cassilis Downans, is famed in country story for being a favourite haunt of fairies. 4 The famous family of that name, the ancestors of Robert, the great deliverer of his country, were Earls of Carrick. 5 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 spellsthe husband or wife. If any yird, or earth, stick to the The lasses feat, an' cleanly neat, Whiles fast at night. Then, first and foremost, thro' the kail, Their stocks maun a' be sought ance; They steek their een, an' graip an' wale, For muckle anes an' straught anes. Poor hav'rel Will fell aff the drift, An' wander'd through the bow-kail, Sae bow't that night. Then, straught or crooked, yird or nane, They roar an' cry a' throu'ther; The vera wee-things, todlin', rin Wi' stocks out-owre their shouther; Wi' cannie care, they've placed them The lasses staw frae mang them a' 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 the people whom chance brings into the house are, according to the priority of placing the runts, the names in question. 6 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 come to the marriage-bed anything but a maid. 7 When the corn is in a doubtful state, by being toc 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 fause-house. The auld guidwife's weel hoordet nits1 Are there that night decided: Jean slips in twa wi' tentie e'e; She says in to hersel': He bleez'd owre her, an' she owre him, As they wad never mair part; 'Till, fuff! he started up the lum, An' Jean had e'en a sair heart To see't that night. Poor Willie, wi' his bow-kail runt, Was brunt wi' primsie Mallie; Mall's nit lap out wi' pridefu' fling, Nell had the fause-house in her min', Unseen that night. But Merran sat behint their backs, Her thoughts on Andrew Bell; She lea'es them gashin' at their cracks, And slips out by hersel': She through the yard the nearest taks, An' to the kiln she goes then, 1 Burning the nuts is a famous charm. They name the lad and lass to each particular nut, as they lay them in the fire, and according as they burn quietly together, or start from beside one another, the course and issue of the courtship will be. 2 Whoever would, with success, try this spell, must strictly observe these directions: Steal out, all alone, to the kiln, and, darkling, throw into the pot a clue of blue yarn; wind it in a clue off the old one; and towards the An' darklins graipit for the bauks, Right fear't that night. An' ay she win't, an' ay she swat, To spier that night. Wee Jenny to her graunie says, "Will ye go wi' me, graunie! I'll eat the apples at the glass, I gat frae uncle Johnnie:" She fuff't her pipe wi' sic a lunt, In wrath she was sae vap'rin', She notic't na, an aizle brunt Her braw new worset apron Out thro' that night. "Ye little skelpie-limmer's face! "Ae hairst afore the Sherra-moor, I mind't as weel's yestreen, I was a gilpey then, I'm sure The simmer had been cauld an' wat, An' just on Halloween It fell that night. "Our stibble-rig was Rab M'Graen, A clever, sturdy fellow: latter end, something will hold the thread; demand "wha hauds?" i. e. who holds? an answer will be returned from the kiln-pot, naming the Christian and surname of your future spouse. 3 Take a candle, and go alone to a looking-glass; eat an apple before it, and some traditions say, you should comb your hair all the time; the face of your conjuga. companion, to be, will be seen in the glass, as if peeping over your shoulder. |