MySongBook.de

Henry's Songbook

© All original copyrights respected / For private use only



go to  de   Susannes Folksong-Notizen   English Notes  uk

Hallowe'en

  • (Jim Reid / Violet Jacob)

    The tattie-liftin's nearly through, they're plooin' whaur the barley grew
    And efter dark roond ilka stack you'll see the horsemen stand and crack
    O Lachlan, but I mind on you

    I mind fu' aften we hae seen ten thoosand stars keek doon atween
    The naked branches, and below baith fairm and bothy hae their show
    A-low wi' lichts o' Hallowe'en

    There's bairns wi' guys that's at their tail cloorin' the doors wi' runts o' kail
    And fine you'll hear the screechs an' skirls o' lassies wi' their drucked carles
    Bobbin' for aipples i' the pail

    The bothy fire is loupin' heat, a new heid-horseman's kist is set
    Richt's o'er the lamp whaur by the blaze the auld yin stood that kept yer claes
    I cannae thole tae see it yet

    But gin the auld folks' tales are richt an' ghaists cam hame on Hallow'n nicht
    Oh freend, oh freends what would I gie tae feel yer axe yer hand tae me
    Atween the dark an' coral licht

    Awa' in France across the wave the wee lichts burn on ilka grave
    An' you an' me their lowes hae seen, ye'll maybe hae yer Hallowe'en
    Yont whaur you're lyin' way the lave

    There's drink an' daf (?) an' sang an' dance an' ploys an' kisses get their chance
    But Lachlan, man, the place I see is whaur the auld kist used tae be
    An' the lichts o' Hallowe'en in France

    (as sung by Jean Redpath)

Susannes Folksong-Notizen

  • [1965:] The end of October and start of November is the time of Hallowe'en, All Saints and All Souls, a time once thought full of magic, when the dead temporarily returned to the world of the living and roamed around the villages on the misty evenings. Till recently in parts of the Midlands and the Northwest, children went from door to door begging for soulcakes, which were food for the momentarily returning dead, so that they would not feel rejected and thus be made angry. (A. L. Lloyd, notes Watersons, 'Frost and Fire')

  • [1977:] Halloween is thought to be a night when Witches, Devils, and other mischief-making beings, are all abroad on their baneful, midnight errands; particularly, those aerial people, the Fairies, are said, on that night, to hold a grand Anniversary. [...]

    The first ceremony of Halloween is, pulling each a Stock, or plant of kail. They must go out, hand in hand, with eyes shut, and pull the first they meet with: its being big or little, straight or crooked, is prophetic of the size and shape of the grand object of all their Spells - the husband or wife. If any yird, or earth, stick to the root, that is tocher, or fortune; and the taste of the custoc, that is, the heart of the stem, is indicative of the natural temper and disposition. Lastly, the stems, or to give them their ordinary appellation, the runts, are placed somewhere above the head of the door; and the Christian names of the people whom chance brings into the house, are, according to the priority of placing the runts, the names in question. (Beattie/Meikle, Selected Poems of Robert Burns)

Quelle: Scotland

go back de  H-Index uk


Henry
© Sammlung : Susanne Kalweit (Kiel)
Layout : Henry Kochlin  (Schwerin)

aktualisiert am 21.02.2000