5 Long-Lost Love Rituals From Halloween’s Past, Because It Used To Be More Romantic And Less Spooky
Halloween Is Known For Being The Spookiest Holiday Of The Year
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Trick-or-treating, dressing up in frightful costumes, visiting haunted houses, watching horror movies, and telling scary stories are all common Halloween traditions.
But It Used To Be A Much More Romantic Holiday
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What you may not know about Halloween is that it used to have a much more romantic element. When you think of holidays dedicated to true love, Valentine’s Day is probably what comes to mind.
But long ago, Halloween was a day when people engaged in rituals to summon up the love of their lives.
Here Are 5 Long-Lost Love Rituals From Halloween’s Past
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Here are some long-lost love rituals from Halloween’s past that you might want to partake in this year. Whether you’re single or married, these games will get the Halloween party roaring.
Bobbing For Apples
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Today, bobbing for apples is still a fun part of the seasonal fall activities. It’s a favorite pastime among children, but before it became a tradition with kids, it was associated with romance.
There were a few different variations of the game. In one, the men would use a knife to carve what they wanted to acquire onto their apples.
Then, the apples were tossed into the water, and the boys would try to grab the stems of the apples with their teeth. In another, an apple was assigned to each man at the party. The girls would bob for the apple of the boy they desired.
Kale-Picking
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This leafy, green vegetable is now popular among health nuts, but once upon a time, kale was used to predict your romantic future. In Scotland, single adults would participate in kale-picking as a way to find love.
After dark, they would head over to the kale fields and pull stalks from the ground while blindfolded. Each person must pull the first stalk they come into contact with. The size and shape of the stalk represented your future spouse’s height and figure, while the amount of dirt still clinging to the roots determined how wealthy they would be.
Dumb Cakes And Dumb Suppers
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Dumb cakes and dumb suppers were another way to see who you would eventually marry. However, they weren’t exactly fun party games. Instead, they were more like spooky summonings, which is in line with how we see Halloween nowadays.
The cake or supper was meant to be made in complete silence. Girls would bake simple cakes consisting of flour, water, and salt. Each girl would engrave the cake with her initials and place it in the oven, all without uttering a single word.
Afterward, they put pieces of cake underneath their pillows, where they would then dream of their future husbands. A dumb supper pretty much follows the same process, but it’ll actually cause the dream boy to show up in the flesh.
Snapdragon
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This game was definitely played at great risk, for it has the potential to inflict harm. It involves pouring brandy into a shallow bowl filled with nuts and raisins and setting them on fire. Then, you must reach into the flames to grab the fruit.
Snapdragon was usually played around Christmastime, but it was popular during Halloween, too. If you managed to pull a piece of candied ginger from the fire, that signified your future spouse would be wealthy.
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