Curiosities of Superstition Part 25

Another mode of lover's divination is for the young people, after being duly blindfolded, to go forth into the kailyard, or garden, and pull the first stalks they meet with. Returning to the fireside, they determine, according as the stalk is big or little, straight or crooked, what the future wife or husband will be. The quant.i.ty of earth adhering to the root is emblematic of the dowry to be expected; and the temper is indicated by the sweet or bitter taste of the _motoc_ or pith. Lastly, the stalks are placed in order, over the door, and the Christian names of persons afterwards entering the house signify in the same order those of the wives and husbands _in futuris_.

Burns describes another custom:

"In order on the clean hearth-stane, The luggies[61] three are ranged, And every time great care is ta'en To see them duly changed: And uncle John wha wedlock's joys Sin' Mar's-year did desire, Because he gat the toom-dish[62] thrice, He heav'd them on the fire In wrath that night."

For this amus.e.m.e.nt three dishes are taken: one filled with clean and one with dirty water, and the other empty. They are set upon the hearth, and the parties, blindfolded, advance in succession to dip their fingers. If they chance upon the clean water, it is understood that they will marry a maiden; if upon the foul, they will marry a widow; if upon the empty dish, they will not marry at all.

Again: if a damsel eat an apple in front of a looking-gla.s.s, she will shortly see her future husband peeping over her shoulder. So Burns:

"Wee Jenny to her Grannie says, 'Will ye go wi' me, Grannie?

I'll eat the apple at the gla.s.s I gat frae uncle Johnie.'

She fuff't[63] her pipe wi' sic a lunt, In wrath she was sae vap'rin', She notic't na an aizle[64] brunt, Her braw new worset ap.r.o.n, Out thro' that night.

"'Ye little skelpie limmer's[65] face!

How daur you try sic sportin', As seek the foul thief ony place, For him to spae your fortune: Nae doubt but ye may get a sight!

Great cause ye hae to fear it; For mony a ane has gotten a fright, An' liv'd an' di'd deleeret, On sic a night.'"

A s.h.i.+rt-sleeve may be wetted, and hung before the fire to dry: then if _he_ or _she_ lie in bed and watch it until midnight, _he_ or _she_ will behold _his_ or _her_ future partner's phantasm come in and turn it!

Children born on Halloween were formerly supposed to be gifted with certain mysterious endowments, such as the power of perceiving and conversing with the "dwellers on the threshold," the inhabitants of the World Invisible.

Once upon a time, all over Scotland a bonfire was lighted on every farm; and often the bonfire was surrounded by a circular trench, symbolical of the sun. Every year these bonfires decrease in number; but within the recollection of living men no fewer than thirty could be seen on the high hilltops between Dunkeld and Abergeldy. And a strange weird sight it was, worthy of the pencil of a Rembrandt,--the dusky figures of the lads and la.s.ses dancing wildly around them, to the hoa.r.s.e music of their own voices! Miss c.u.mming writes that in the neighbourhood of Crieff, the bale-fires, as the people call them, still blaze as brightly as ever; and from personal observation we can a.s.sert that they are still lighted in many parts of Argylls.h.i.+re.

A remarkable Halloween story is recorded in Dr. Robert Chambers's valuable miscellany, "The Book of Days." Mr. and Mrs. M., we are told, were a happy young couple, who, in the middle of the last century, resided on their own estate, in a pleasant part of the province of Leinster. Possessed of a handsome fortune, they spent their time in various rural avocations, until the birth of a child, a little girl, seemed to crown their felicity. On the Halloween following this notable event, the parents retired to rest at their usual hour, Mrs. M. cradling her infant on her bosom that she might be roused if it showed the least sign of uneasiness. From teething or some other ailment, the child, about midnight, became very restless, and not receiving the usual attention from its mother, woke up Mr. M. by its cries. He at once called his wife, and told her the baby was unwell; she made no answer. She seemed in an uneasy slumber, and in spite of all her husband's efforts continued to sleep on, until he was compelled to take the child himself and endeavour to soothe it to rest. From sheer exhaustion it at last sank into silence, while the mother slumbered until a much later hour than usual. When she at last awoke, her husband told her of what had happened, and of the extent to which his night's rest had been disturbed. "I, too," she replied, "have pa.s.sed the most miserable night I ever experienced: I now see that sleep and rest are two different things, for I never felt so unrefreshed in my life. How I wish you had been able to awake me--it would have spared me some of my fatigue and anxiety! I thought I was dragged against my will into a strange part of the country, where I had never been before, and, after what appeared to me a long and weary journey on foot, I arrived at a comfortable looking house. I went in longing to rest, but had no power to sit down, although there was a nice supper laid out before a good fire, and every appearance of preparations for an expected visitor. Exhausted as I felt, I was only allowed to stand for a minute or two, and then hurried away by the same road back again; but now it is over, and after all it was only a dream."

Her husband listened with deep interest to this strange narrative, and then, sighing deeply, said, "My dear Sarah, you will not long have me beside you; whoever is to be your second husband played last night some evil trick, of which you have been the victim."

Shocked as she naturally was by this a.s.sertion, she sought to subdue her own emotion, and to rally her husband's spirits, hoping that the impression would pa.s.s from his mind as soon as he entered into the every-day work of life.

Months pa.s.sed away, and both husband and wife had almost forgotten the Halloween dream, when Mr. M.'s health began to fail, and to fail so rapidly, that in spite of loving care and the best medical skill, he sank into a premature grave. His wife mourned him sincerely, but her natural energy and activity prevented her from yielding to a hopeless sorrow. She continued to farm her husband's estate, and in this employment, and in the education of her little girl was able to divert her thoughts. Not less admired for her conspicuous ability, than beloved for her benevolence and amiability, she was more than once solicited to lay aside her widow's weeds; but she persisted in a calm refusal. Her uncle, a man of much kindness of heart and clearness of judgment, frequently visited her, inspected her farm, and gave her advice and a.s.sistance. He had a nephew, whom we will call C., a prudent and energetic young man, in whom he had every confidence, and whenever they met, he would strongly recommend him to take to himself a wife, and "settle." On one occasion C. replied that it was not his fault he still remained a bachelor, but he had never yet met with any woman whom he would care to call his wife. "Well, C.," said his uncle, "you seem difficult to please, but I think I know a lady who would approve herself even to _your_ fastidious taste." After a good-humoured exchange of quip and repartee, the uncle invited the nephew to ride over with him next day, and be introduced to his niece, whom C.

had never yet seen.

The invitation was accepted; the two friends set out early on the following morning, and after a pleasant ride drew near their destination.

At a short distance they caught sight of Mrs. M. retiring towards her house after her usual daily inspection of her farm. Mr. C. started violently, and displayed a considerable agitation. Pointing towards the lady, he exclaimed, "Uncle, we need go no further, for if ever I am to be married, yonder goes my wife!" "Well, C.," replied his uncle, "that is fortunate, for yonder lady is my niece, to whom I am about to introduce you. But tell me," he continued, "is this what you call love at first sight? Or what do you mean by such a sudden decision in favour of a lady with whom you have never exchanged a word?" "Well, sir," was the reply, "as I have betrayed myself, it is well that I should make full confession.

A year or two ago, I was foolish enough to try a Halloween spell,--and sat up all night to watch the result. I declare to you most solemnly that the figure of that lady, as I now see her, entered my room, and looked at me.

She stood a minute or two by the fire, and then disappeared as suddenly and as silently as she had entered. I was wide awake, and felt considerable remorse at having thus ventured to tamper with the powers of the Unseen World; but I a.s.sure you that every particular of her features, dress, and figure have been so present to my mind ever since, that I could not possibly make a mistake, and the moment I saw your niece I was convinced that she was indeed the woman whose image I saw on that never-forgotten Halloween."

It is unnecessary to say that the uncle was considerably astonished at this extraordinary narrative, but he forbore to comment upon it, as by this time they had arrived at Mrs. M.'s house. The lady was delighted to see her uncle, and made his friend heartily welcome, discharging the duties of hostess with a simplicity and grace that fascinated her guest.

After her visitors had rested and refreshed themselves, her uncle walked out with her to inspect the farm, and seized the opportunity, in the absence of Mr. C., to bespeak for him his niece's favourable consideration. Many words were unnecessary, for the impression produced had been mutually agreeable. Before leaving the house Mr. C. obtained Mrs.

M.'s permission to visit her in the character of a suitor for her hand,--and after a brief courts.h.i.+p they were married. The story ends, as all such stories _should_ end, with the affirmation that they lived long and happily together, and it was from their daughter that Dr. Chambers's informant derived his knowledge of the preceding remarkable episode in their career.

Dr. Chambers a.s.sures us that the leading incidents of the narrative may be relied on as correct; but we think the reader will exercise a wise incredulity: that at all events his belief will not go beyond the admission of some possible resemblance, entirely accidental, between Mrs.

M. and the lady whom the imaginative Mr. C. had seen in his Halloween dream, and whose image he had so carefully treasured in his memory.

CHAPTER XIX.

_SECOND SIGHT: DIVINATION: UNIVERSALITY OF CERTAIN SUPERSt.i.tIONS: FAIRIES IN SCOTLAND._

There are many aspects of the Past which have an interest for the psychological student as well as for the antiquary, and there are not a few to which everybody may occasionally direct their attention with advantage. We are too much inclined to put it aside as a "sealed book,"

which none but the scholar can open,--which, when opened, is hardly worth the reading. Or we are attracted only by its picturesque and romantic side, and take no heed of the valuable lessons which may be deduced upon a careful examination. Yet, as all history is more or less the history of human error and human folly, those chapters which treat of the credulities and superst.i.tions of the Past, must surely embody many warnings and much counsel for the present.

Our glance at Halloween superst.i.tions in Scotland reminds us of other old Scottish practices, which serve to point a moral, if not to adorn a tale.

We have met with a volume by a Mr. Walter Gregor, which furnishes some curious ill.u.s.trative instances. On his vivid picture of the gloom and desolation of a Scottish Sabbath, we will not dwell, for our readers will probably have gathered from other sources, or even from personal experience, an idea of the dreariness of that sombre inst.i.tution in the days when bigotry was mistaken for zeal, and the spirit was killed outright by the letter. It is pleasanter to read of the strong yearning for knowledge that then possessed the hearts of our Scottish youth; and how, in the age before School Boards were conceived of, the parish school supplied for twenty s.h.i.+llings per annum an education which fitted the scholar for entering the University. No Royal Road to Learning had as yet been discovered; and with much sweat of brain did the aspiring student brood over his Homer or Virgil by the flickering light of the peat-fire.

When the time came for his removal to Glasgow or Aberdeen, thither he trudged afoot with his little "all" in a knapsack slung from his st.u.r.dy shoulders; and during the "sessions" it was a hard hand-to-hand fight with poverty which he stoutly fought, while delving deep into cla.s.sical and mathematical lore; not forgetting occasional excursions into that vague metaphysical region which has always had so keen an attraction for the strong Scotch intellect. Our "present-day" students would too often shrink, we suspect, from the sacrifices demanded of their forefathers, and give way under the hards.h.i.+ps which they endured, when a few potatoes and a salt herring served for dinner, and all the expenses of the academical year were covered by some twelve to sixteen pounds! We are by no means sure that knowledge was not more valued when it was attainable only at such a cost of self-denial and rigid effort; and we certainly believe that it was more thorough, more entirely a man's own, because it was wrung, so to speak, from the reluctant G.o.ddess by strenuous, steadfast work and sheer mental travail. To the Age of Gold and the Age of Iron has succeeded the Age of Veneer; and we trouble ourselves too little now-a-days, in spite of the teaching of Ruskin and Carlyle, about the solidness and durability of the material, so long as it will take a ready polish.

But what a strange world was that of the Scotch peasant in those far off days--far off at least they _seem_, on account of the immense social revolution that has taken place, and set between the _now_ and the _then_ a profound chasm. Men often speak of the hard-headedness and matter-of-fact stolidity of the Scotch nature; but is it not true that below the surface lies an abundant fountain of wild, quaint, original fancy? And how, in the olden time, it surrounded itself with signs and omens and wonders! How it loved to put itself in communion, as it were, with that _other_ world which lies beyond and yet around us, which perplexes us with its subtle intelligence, which we cannot discern, though of its presence we are always sensible! From the cradle to the grave the Scotch peasant went his way attended by the phantoms of this mysterious world; always recognising its warnings, always seeing the shadows which it cast of coming events, and so burdening himself with a weight of grim and eery superst.i.tion, that we marvel he did not stumble and grow faint, seeing that his dreary Calvinistic creed could have brought him little hope or comfort. Nay, it is a question whether his superst.i.tion did not partly grow out of, or was fostered by, his hard, cold religion. Superst.i.tion is the shadow of Religion, and from the shadow we may infer the nature of the substance or object that casts it.

But of these darker things we shall not speak. Let us trace a few of the common traditions and customs of the people, though in doing so we digress, perhaps, from the main lines of the present volume. While less impressive than the mere mystical practices, they proceeded from the same source,--an imagination haunted by the formidable presence of Nature, by the forms of lofty mountains, by the mysteries of pine-clad ravines, and the murmurs of storm-swept lochs and falling waters. For it has been truly said that the Scotch people have been made what they are by Scotland; that the Land has moulded and fas.h.i.+oned the People; and that in their literature, their religion, their manners, their history, the influence is seen of the physical characteristics of the country.

On the birth of a child--to begin at the beginning--we read that both mother and offspring were "sained," a lighted fir-candle being carried three times round the bed, and a Bible, with a bannock or bread and cheese being placed under the pillow, while a kind of blessing was indistinctly uttered. Sometimes a fir-candle was set on the bed to keep off fairies. If the new-born showed any symptoms of fractiousness, it was supposed to be a changeling; and to test the truth of the supposition, the child was placed suddenly before a peat-fire, when, if really a changeling, it made its escape by the "lum," throwing back words of scorn as it disappeared. Great was the eagerness to get the babe baptised, lest it should be stolen by the fairies. If it died unchristened, it wandered in woods and solitary places, bewailing its miserable fate. In Ramsay's "Gentle Shepherd,"

Bauldy, describing Manse the witch, says of her:--

"At midnight hours o'er the kirkyard she raves, And howks unchristened weans out of their graves."

It was considered "unlucky" to mention the name of an "unchristened wean;"

and even at baptism the name was commonly written on a slip of paper, which was handed to the officiating minister. What care was taken that the consecrated water should not enter the child's eyes! For if such a mishap occurred, his future life, wherever he went and whatever he did, would be constantly marred by the presence of wraiths and phantoms. If the babe remained quiet at the font, it was supposed to be destined to a brief career; and hence, to extort a cry, the woman who received it from the father would handle it roughly or even pinch it. If a boy and girl were baptised together, much anxiety was evinced lest the girl should first receive the rite. And why? In the "Statistical Account of Scotland," the minister of an Orcadian parish says: "Within these last seven years the minister has been twice interrupted in administering baptism to a female child before the male child, who was baptised immediately after. When the service was over, he was gravely told he had done very wrong, for, if the female child was first baptised, she would, on her coming to the years of discretion, most certainly have a strong beard, and the boy would have none."

Following up the course of human life through the honeyed days of "wooing and wedding," we find it darkened still by the clouds of Superst.i.tion. If a maiden desired to call up the image of her future husband, she read the third verse, seventeenth chapter of the Book of Job after supper, washed the supper dishes, and retired to bed without uttering a single word, placing before her pillow the Bible, with a pin thrust through the verse she had read. It is curious to observe the use of the Bible in these wild and foolish customs: was it not an indirect testimony to the reverence, not always intelligent, perhaps, but certainly sincere, in which the holy book was held? Nor are we certain that it is not sometimes turned to worse purposes in these "enlightened days," when a pseudo-science seeks to convert it into the battle-field of audacious theories, and an ignorant intolerance too often professes to discover in its bright and blessed pages an excuse for its uncharitable follies.

But we must continue our _resume_. It is curious to read that the wedding-dress might not be "tried on" before the wedding-day, and if it did not fit, it might not be cut or altered, but was adjusted in the best manner possible. The bride, on the way to church, was forbidden to look back, for to do so was to ensure a succession of disasters and quarrels in the married state. It was considered inauspicious, moreover, if she did not "greet" or weep on the marriage-day; a superst.i.tion obviously connected with the wide-spread idea of the necessity of propitiating the Fates which inspired the advice of Amasis to the too fortunate Polycrates,[66] that he should fine himself for his success by throwing some costly thing into the sea. It was thought well to marry at the time of the growing moon, and among fisher-folk a flowing tide was regarded as "lucky." These customs were puerile enough, undoubtedly, but before we censure them too severely we may ask whether our modern bridals are wholly free from superst.i.tious observances; whether we do not still pretend to "bribe" the fickle Fortune by showers of rice and old slippers rained on the departing couple!

It is needless to say that the "last scene of all" was invested with all the attributes of grotesque terror the wayward popular imagination could invent. Before it took place the light of the "death-candle"--the Welsh call it the "corpse-candle"--might be seen hovering from chamber to chamber; or the c.o.c.k crowed before midnight; or the "dead-drap," a sound as of water falling monotonously and lingeringly, broke the silence of the night; or three dismal and fatal knocks were heard, at regular intervals of one or two minutes' duration; or over the doomed person fluttered the image of a white dove. And when the spirit had departed, the doors and windows were immediately opened wide; the clocks were stopped; the mirrors were covered; and it was held to disturb the rest of the dead, and to be fatal to the living, if a tear fell upon the winding sheet. And thus, from the cradle to the grave, Superst.i.tion dogged the steps of life; nor even at the grave did it cease to vex and worry the minds of men with the fancies and visions born of excited imaginations.

That such fancies, that customs so wild and grotesque, should have existed in Scotland, and among a well-educated people, down to a comparatively recent date, might be matter of wonder, if we were not aware of the tenacity with which the heart clings to the "use and wont" of the Past.

Nor trivial as some, and inexcusable as all of them seem to the philosophic eye, is it wise to regard them too contemptuously. They seem to us to show how difficult man found it to realise to himself the idea of a living, personal G.o.d,--of a G.o.d, a FATHER, ever watching over the welfare of His children, chastening them in His mercy, but never refusing them the light of His countenance when they have sought Him with faith in the hour of sorrow and darkness. For want of this strengthening, consoling, elevating idea, he has endeavoured to support himself by the feeble prop of superst.i.tious credulity, and instead of yielding wholly and trustfully to the love of G.o.d the FATHER, has vainly striven to secure some glimpse or foreshadowing of the Future, and to avert evil by peurile practices and idle traditions.

We may next be allowed to point out the kins.h.i.+p in superst.i.tion which prevails all over the world; so that the observance or custom which seems peculiar to England or Scotland, is found in India or Tartary. This remarkable similarity indicates a certain general tendency to attach an "ominous significance" to particular things and events. Take as an ill.u.s.tration, the act of sneezing. In Asia as well as Europe, among Semitic peoples as well as among Aryan, it is usual to connect with the act some form of blessing. Sometimes the sneezer is blessed by the bystander; sometimes he blesses himself; if a Mohammedan, he blesses G.o.d.

In Italy, for example, the salutation addressed to him runs: "May G.o.d preserve you!" or "May you have children!" In Hindi it takes the form of "Sadaji's" (May you live for ever!) and a similar salutation is used by the Jews of Austria.

But in different places and at different times sneezing has been made to carry a very different meaning. Among the Arabs, if, while a person is making an a.s.sertion which some may think hazardous or dubious, another sneezes, the speaker appeals to the omen as a confirmation of what he is saying. A writer in the "Calcutta Review" thinks this notion as old as the Greeks of the time of Xenophon, as appears from a well known pa.s.sage in Chap. ii. Book iii. of the Anabasis: ?pe? pe?? s?t???a? ??? ?e???t??

?????? t?? ???? t?? s?t???? ?f???. Sneezing among the Hindus, if it occur behind your back, is regarded as so unfavourable an omen, that they at once abandon the work on which at the time they may have been engaged.

Various but not satisfactory attempts have been made to explain these customs. Thus, the Mohammedan accounts for his "Al hamdu-l Allah" by the tradition that, when the breath of life was breathed into the nostrils of Adam, he sneezed, and immediately uttered those words. While in Europe the custom of blessing the sneezer has been traced to the occurrence in Italy in the middle ages of some fatal epidemic, of which one of the symptoms was sneezing.

The superst.i.tion which regards as a favourable omen the throbbing of the eye, was well known to the ancient Greeks, is common in England, and flourishes all over India. In England, it is the man's right eye and the woman's left that is auspicious; and so it was in the Greece of Theocritus, and so it is in India and Persia.

The curious superst.i.tion that ghosts are visible to dogs, to which we find an allusion in Homer's Odyssey, still flourishes in India. It may have originated in the place given to the dog in the mythology of both Greek and Hindu, or in the position enjoyed by the watch-dog among all the shepherd peoples of the world. The belief belongs to the Semitic as well as the Aryan races; and its true origin after all may be the apparently causeless howling of the dog at night,--the time when "spirits walk abroad." Whatever the ground of the belief, it is probably in itself the cause of the superst.i.tion that the howling of dogs presages death or misfortune.

Another singular coincidence of this kind is furnished "by the custom of spitting on the breast as a charm against fascination." In his "Greek Antiquities," Potter notes that it was an ancient Greek custom to spit three times on the breast at the sight of a madman; and Theocritus has,--

t???de ??????sa t??? e?? ??? ?pt?se ???p??.

"Precisely the same effect is attributed to the act among the Aryan inhabitants of India, where its threefold repet.i.tion is also insisted on.