Halloween Superstitions

Halloween is a fun holiday full of superstition and magic. It has been that way since the very first Halloween and will continue to be that way over the years. Halloween costumes were worn to help people dress as the dead because people believed that the dead returned to the Earth on this holiday.

Today, black cats are considered a sign of bad luck. This originated in the Middle Ages because people believed back then that witches turned themselves into cats a disguise. For this reason, black cats are a popular decoration and symbol for this holiday. Surprisingly, most of the superstitions regarding the holiday have long since forgotten and had romantic purposes instead of spooky ones.

In Ireland, during the 1700s, some cooks would put a ring in a girl’s mashed potatoes on Halloween night to bring true love the girl who would find it. In Scotland, single young women were told by fortune tellers to name a hazelnut for each of her suitors. She should then toss each nut into the fire and the one that burned to ashes instead of exploding would be her future husband. However, in other versions of this superstition, the nut that burned away suggested a love that wouldn’t last.

Nine was a popular number for superstitions in the olden days. Young women would make what was called a mash of nine sorts on Halloween. It was made of milk, vegetables, and salt with a ring hidden inside. The girl who found the ring would be the first to marry. Single girls would also make a cake with nine ingredients and then walk backwards to bed. It was said that the girl would either dream of the man she would marry or of her coffin.

Apples were a popular tool then as well. While bobbing for apples, the size of the apple that a person could hold was supposed to represent how much luck he or she would have in the following year. On a romantic note, if you were able to retrieve an apple on the first try while apple bobbing, it was said that you would have a romantically happy marriage.

All of these fun superstitions date back to the first years of Halloween, but have since been lost along the way. While these are just fun stories that probably do not predict the future, our ancestors did believe in them and had a lot of fun with them as well.