Halloween night is mostly identified with fun and frolic today. This is a night when both adults and children alike have a lot of fun by allowing themselves to trick or treat or go to parties dressed in fancy costumes as goblins, witches, vampires and the like. There are many fun, and some not so fun, superstitions and traditions that are associated with Halloween night. Some of the most common of these are described below:
1.Know your husband – It was believed that if a young woman (of marriageable age) would sleep with a twig of rosemary under her pillow on the Halloween night, she would see her husband in her dreams.
2.Cats were believed to be the devil – In the ancient times during the Inquisition, in Europe and US, people believed that cats, particularly black cats were the devil and hence they hunted and burned them on the Halloween and Easter. Fortunately, the civilized man saw reason and this terribly barbaric practice has been stopped.
3.Nuts – Funny as it might seem, people in the past believed that the Satan would not harm people who wore nuts since he loved and collected nuts. Hence, on the Halloween night people would wear nuts as talismans against harm from malevolent spirits, which were believed to be driven by Satan.
4.Tell it by the candle – The candle has almost always associated with a prayer to God. Hence, it was believed that you could tell when a soul was in your vicinity with the help of a candle. If the candle went off without any real reason, it meant that a soul was visiting you. This superstition is great fun for scaring children during the Halloween night today, especially when paired with scary stories.
5.Witches – What is Halloween night without the mention of witches? There was a strong belief in the ancient times that if you walked backwards on Halloween night while wearing your clothes inside out you would be able to see a witch flying that night. Witches were believed to be happy on the Halloween night because they could speak and mix with evil souls.
6.Bells – According to legend, when the Church bells ring, evil spirits disperse. Hence, many people had church bells ringing during the Halloween night to have the place protected from malevolent spirits walking the earth.
7.Predicting death – During the ancient Celtic times, there was a custom which had all the members of the village build a large bonfire together on Halloween night, which was at that time called Samhain. They would have fun and frolic around the fire until it totally died away. After the fires went out they would make a large circle with the ashes and each person would place a stone there before they went to sleep. The next day morning they would insect the stones – if they were moved or cracked, it would mean that the person whose stone it was would die during that year. These are just a few of the many superstitions and beliefs associated with Halloween night. The more you know about the different beliefs about Halloween night, the more interesting this special evening becomes
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