Nut-crack night

On November first was Samhain ("summer's end").
~Ruth Edna Kelley

A nutty picture for Art Thursday. What does Halloween have to do with nuts? If you're trying to choose between suitors, apparently Halloween Night is the time to find out who's best. All you need are nuts and a fire. (Details below!)

Still Life with Mice
by Lodewik Susi

A bit of Halloween lore from The Book of Hallowe'en by Ruth Edna Kelley, A. M., originally published in 1919.

In the north of England Hallowe'en was called "nut-crack" and "snap-apple night." It was celebrated by "young people and sweethearts."

A variation of the nut test is, naming two for two lovers before they are put before[Pg 91] the fire to roast. The unfaithful lover's nut cracks and jumps away, the loyal burns with a steady ardent flame to ashes. "Two hazel-nuts I threw into the flame, And to each nut I gave a sweetheart's name. This with the loudest bounce me sore amaz'd, That in a flame of brightest color blaz'd; As blaz'd the nut, so may thy passion grow, For 't was thy nut that did so brightly glow."

Gay: The Spell.

If they jump toward each other, they will be rivals. If one of the nuts has been named for the girl and burns quietly with a lover's nut, they will live happily together. If they are restless, there is trouble ahead.

"These glowing nuts are emblems true Of what in human life we view; The ill-matched couple fret and fume, And thus in strife themselves consume, Or from each other wildly start And with a noise forever part. But see the happy, happy pair Of genuine love and truth sincere; With mutual fondness, while they burn[Pg 92] Still to each other kindly turn: And as the vital sparks decay, Together gently sink away. Till, life's fierce ordeal being past, Their mingled ashes rest at last."

Graydon: On Nuts Burning, Allhallows Eve.