No.5

                                                    A Children’s Poem by Jack Prelutsky

                                                       It’s Hallowe’en! It’s Hallowe’en!
                                                       The moon is full and bright,
                                                       And we shall see what can’t been seen
                                                       On any other night.

                                                       Skeletons and ghosts and ghouls,
                                                       Grinning goblins fighting duels,
                                                       Werewolves rising from their tombs,
                                                       Witches on their magic brooms.

                                                       In masks and gowns we haunt the street
                                                       And knock on doors for trick or treat.
                                                       Tonight we are the king and queen,
                                                       For yes, tonight is Hallowe’en.

The origins of Hallowe’en go back to pre-Christian times when the festival of Samhain (pronounced sahween) marked the end of the year’s “lighter half” and the start of its “darker half.” The Celtic year began on a day corresponding to our 1^st November. This they considered was the beginning of winter, a time when all livestock was made secure and their crops harvested and stored. It was certainly for them the most important occasion in the year.

The Celts believed that at Samhain the border between this world and “the Otherworld” became vague, allowing spirits - some of them evil - to come among them. The evil ones could be chased away by donning costumes and masks, while the good ones - spirits of their ancestors were welcomed into their homes.
Bonfires played an important part in the rituals, and fires in the houses were put out and then re-lit from the bonfire.

A common feature of pre-Christian religion seems to have been the erection of rows of standing stones, similar to the one at Stonehenge in England. This is a photo of those at Callanish on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.

Some years ago Jean and I visited the site during a holiday in Lewis. When our coach arrived at the stones, the driver spoke to us before we alighted and told us that sometimes people had experienced strange sensations there. He asked us to place the palms of our hand on the window, and this we did.
“Can you feel the pane?” he asked.

There are 13 of those stones in a circle, their height varying from 3ft 3inches to 16ft 6inches. Approaching from the north, there’s a long avenue of smaller stones, and there are shorter rows of stones from the east, west and south. The tallest one in the circle stands at the entrance to a burial cairn where human remains were discovered.

Pottery found indicates that the circle was constructed around 2200 BC but it’s thought that buildings of some kind occupied the site before 3,000 BC. Like the more famous Stonehenge, there are various theories about the purpose of the stones.

It has been suggested that the Callanish stones were built as a calendar system based on the position of the moon. Another theory says that the avenue on the north side points to the setting of the midsummer full moon. Some kind of religious purpose is most likely.

There’s a legend on the island that giants once lived there, and that, when they refused to be converted by St. Kieran, they were turned into stone as a punishment.
Another says that at dawn on midsummer morning, a shining figure walks down the north avenue, heralded by the call of a cuckoo.

Once during a famine a white fairy cow came out of the sea and settled in the centre of the circle. She allowed herself to be milked and the villagers were permitted one pailful. However, a witch came and tried to get two pailfuls. She was refused and returned with a sieve and milked the cow dry!

Returning to Hallowe’en, this is a night around which a great many superstitions have grown, and here are just a few of them.

Candles figure quite a bit here. It’s thought that, if a candle goes out suddenly for no obvious reason, there’s a ghost present; if you gaze into a candle flame, you can see into the future; a candle inside a jack o’lantern will keep evil spirits away; candles lit on Hallowe’en should always be new ones.
It’s bad luck to allow your fire to burn out at Hallowe’en. It should be rekindled from the fire in a priest’s house.
If you’re out that night and hear footsteps behind you, don’t look back. It may be Death and you mustn’t catch his eye.
If a girl carries a lamp to a spring of water, she will see a reflection of her future husband.
Anyone born that night can see and talk to spirits.
And surely this must be the craziest of the lot. If you put your clothes on inside out and walk backwards, you’ll see a witch!!!

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Finally, an old Scottish prayer for Hallowe’en -
Frae ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night - the Good Lord protect us aw.

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Thanks to  http://www.webweaver.nu/clipart/  for the Cartoon Image


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