Matchmaking and Halloween

Other superstitions include breaking mirrors, stepping on cracks and spilling salt on Halloween. However, not all have lasted through the years. A lesser known but extremely popular tradition from the 18 century was matchmaking. The power to predict the future was stronger when the realms of the living and the dead crossed, so Halloween was an even bigger romance centered holiday than Valentine’s Day.

In Ireland, a matchmaking cook would hide a ring in mashed potatoes and love would come to the person who found the ring. In Scotland, fortune tellers advised young women to name a hazelnut for each of their suitors and throw them into the fire. Whichever, nut did not explode represented the future husband. Women did all sorts of crazy rituals, which only worked during Halloween like throwing apple peels over their shoulder to reveal the initials of their future husband, or holding a candle in front of a mirror in a dark room to see the face of their husband over their shoulder.