Halloween Superstitions

jason

Seanchaí
Staff member
* A burning a candle inside a jack-o-lantern on Halloween keeps evil spirits and demons at bay.


* If a candle suddenly goes out by itself on Halloween, as though by breath or wind, it is believed that a ghost has come to call.


* Always burn new candles on Halloween to ensure the best of luck. It is not a good idea to burn Halloween candles at any other time of the year. It may bring bad luck or strange things will happen to you, over which you will have no control.


* Gazing into a flame of a candle on Halloween night will enable you to peer into the future.


* Girls who carry a lamp to a spring of water on this night can see their future husband in the reflection.


* It is believed that if a person lights a new orange colored candle at midnight on Halloween and lets it burn until sunrise, he or she will be the recipient of good luck.


* If you hear footsteps trailing close behind you on Halloween night, do not to turn around to see who it is, for it may be Death himself! To look Death in the eye, according to ancient folklore, is a sure way to hasten your own demise.


* To cast a headless shadow or no shadow at all is still believed by many folks in the United States and Europe to be an omen of death in the course of the next year.


* The old Celtic custom was to light great bonfires on Halloween, and after these had burned out to make a circle of the ashes of each fire. Within this circle, and near the circumference, each member of the various families that had helped to make a fire would place a pebble. If, on the next day, any stone was displaced, or had been damaged, it was considered to be an indication that the one to whom the stone belonged would die within twelve months.


* According to an old English folk belief, you will invite bad luck into your home if you allow a fire to burnout on Halloween. To remedy the situation, the fire must be rekindled by a lighted sod brought from the home of a priest.

* If a bat flies around a house three times, it is considered to be a death omen.

* A person born on Halloween can both see and talk to spirits.

* Knocking on wood keeps bad luck away.


* If you see a spider on Halloween, it could be the spirit of a dead loved one who is watching you.


* Put your clothes on inside out and walk backwards on Halloween night to meet a witch.


* You should walk around your home three times backwards and counterclockwise before sunset on Halloween to ward off evil spirits.


* In Britain, people believed that the Devil was a nut-gatherer. At Halloween, nuts were used as magic charms.
 
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