Ruth Edna Kelley

“ Even after Christianity was made the vital religion in Ireland, it
was believed that places not exorcised by prayers and by the sign
of the cross, were still haunted by Druids. As late as the fifth
century the Druids kept their skill in fortune-telling. King Dathi
got a Druid to foretell what would happen to him from one
Hallowe'en to the next, and the prophecy came true. Their religion
was now declared evil, and all evil or at any rate suspicious
beings were assigned to them or to the devil as followers. ”

“ King Dagda's palace, where every one who heard their sweet singing
was charmed into a sleep of three days and three nights.
Princess Etain, of the race of the Tuatha, and wife of Midir, was
born again as the daughter of Queen Medb, the wife of Ailill. She
remembers a little of the land from which she came, is never quite
happy,
"But sometimes--sometimes--tell me: have you heard,
By dusk or moonset have you never heard
Sweet voices, delicate music? Never seen
The passage of the lordly beautiful ones
Men call the Shee?" ”

“ A
stingy man named Jack was for his inhospitality barred from all
hope of heaven, and because of practical jokes on the Devil was
locked out of hell. Until the Judgment Day he is condemned to walk
the earth with a lantern to light his way. ”

“ A lad called Guleesh, listening outside a fort on Hallowe'en heard
the spirits speaking of the fatal illness of his betrothed, the
daughter of the King of France. They said that if Guleesh but knew
it, he might boil an herb that grew by his door and give it to the
princess and make her well. Joyfully Guleesh hastened home,
prepared the herb, and cured the royal girl.
Sometimes people did not have the luck to return, but were led away
to a realm of perpetual youth and music. ”

“ After supper was over
all went into the big play-room, and dived for apples in a tub of
water, fished for prizes in a basin of flour; then there were
games----"
TRANT: Hallowe'en in Ireland.
A coin betokened to the finder wealth; the thimble, that he would
never marry.
A ring and a nut are baked in a cake. The ring of course means
early marriage, the nut signifies that its finder will marry a
widow or a widower. If the kernel is withered, no marriage at all
is prophesied. In Roscommon, in central Ireland, a coin, a sloe,
and a bit of wood were baked in a cake. ”

“ The Good People are tall, beautiful beings, as tall as
ourselves.... They direct the magnetic currents of the earth. The
Gods are really the Tuatha De Danann, and they are much taller
than our race.'"
WENTZ: Fairy-faith in Celtic Countries.
The sight of apparitions on Hallowe'en is believed to be fatal to
the beholder.
"One night my lady's soul walked along the wall like a cat. Long
Tom Bowman beheld her and that day week fell he into the well and
was drowned."
PYLE: Priest and the Piper.
One version of the Jack-o'-lantern story comes from Ireland. ”

“ These infamous spirits dwelt in grassy mounds, called "forts,"
which were the entrances to underground palaces full of treasure,
where was always music and dancing. These treasure-houses were open
only on November Eve
"For the fairy mounds of Erinn are always
opened about Hallowe'en."
Expedition of Nera. (Meyer trans.)
when the throngs of spirits, fairies, and goblins trooped out for
revels about the country. The old Druid idea of obsession, the
besieging of a person by an evil spirit, was practised by them at
that time. ”

“ Care has to be taken not to bite the candle burning on the
other end. Sometimes this test is made easier by dropping the
apples into a tub of water and diving for them, or piercing them
with a fork dropped straight down.
Green herbs called "livelong" were plucked by the children and hung
up on Midsummer Eve. If a plant was found to be still green on
Hallowe'en, the one who had hung it up would prosper for the year,
but if it had turned yellow or had died, the child would also die. ”

“ Immortal Hour.
even when she wins the love of King Eochaidh. When they have been
married a year, there comes Midir from the Land of Youth. By
winning a game of chess from the King, he gets anything he may ask,
and prays to see the Queen. ”

“ To dwell for aye in the place I reached."
Cuchulain's Sick-bed. (Meyer trans.)
that Cuchulain went thither, and championed the people there
against their enemies. He stayed a month with the fairy Fand. ”