folklore for halloween

If a young woman wanted to get a glimpse of her future husband, she would sit looking at her reflection in a mirror by candlelight at midnight, with an apple in her hand. Hopefully she would see the image of her future husband looking back at her from the mirror.

In some rural parts of the UK, folk would throw a stone with a personal mark on it into the ashes of the fire. These had to be retrieved to ensure luck for the coming year.

Welsh witches could not harm anyone tonight whilst the church bells were ringing. People went into church with ground Ivy leaves in their pockets to cause witches in the congregation to reveal themselves, and a rowan twig in the left pocket served as protection.



Children born on this day had second sight and were said to be able to communicate with supernatural beings. The Irish left entrances to burial mounds open and lit their interiors until cockcrow, so the dead could find their way. They believed that if you walked nine times around a faerie hill a door would open to reveal the faerie world, but if you accepted an invitation to join in their dancing you would never return.

The juice from the inner bark of the Elder was put on the eyelids of a baptised person to give them second sight, and if such a person stood under an Elder Tree on hallowe'en night, they would be able to see Faeries.

in Wales if Crows cawed over a house a member of the family or one of the animals would soon die. The same was said if a solitary Crow or Goose merely flew over the house.

Hazelnuts were also used in husband divination, to denote a future love each of the nuts would be given the name of a possible lover and placed in front of the fire, the hopeful young lady would then recite "If you love me, pop and fly; and if you hate me burn and die." The first nut to pop would be the girls' likely suitor.


Garlic was hung about to house to keep evil spirits away

In parts of Scotland it was customary to throw a silver coin through the front door of the house on the morning of November the 1st. The coin had to remain hidden where it had fallen to bring luck in money matters concerning the house.

In Japan ghosts are believed to be unable to say the syllables 'mo' and 'shi'. When meeting somebody on an unlit road it became customary to call out 'Moshi moshi' to reassure the other person that you were alive - and challenge them to do the same.Nowadays, Japanese people still answer the phone with 'Moshi-moshi'.

"to know whether the weather shall be gold or warm, go at all-hallowstide to a beech tree, and cut a chip thereof: if it be found dry, then shall the winter be warm "
(the shepherds procrastination, 1729)

a scottish belief-
if you take a three legged footstool and sit at a cross roads whilst the church bells are are striking midnight on halloween you will hear proclaimed the names of the parishioners doomed to die in the next 12 months. if you throw a piece of clothing belonging to any of those doomed people into the air and call out their name, you can bar Death from stalking their door in the coming year



"druids would not know this night
and witches would in wonder gaze
to see the festive costumed souls
that dash about the night in play
where ancient magick ruled the land
childrens laughter fills the soul
yet in this way the night is honored
much like the ancients long ago "

David Norris




a halloween song

the nicht is hallowe'en and the morn's hallowday
gin ye want a true love, its time ye were away!
tally on the window-brod
tally on the green
tally on the window-brod
the nicht's hallowe'en!!

(traditional halloween rhyme of the guisers)