Shit shot on is the heaven right here. Look, a little, that's how tender it is. It just fell off. Just in my backyard, second home right here. Caballion. And I might just have to change my name to Boy Ube. Chicken feet is called Adidas. Yes. Chicken feet. What's the difference between traditional Filipino food, casual Filipino food, and street Filipino food? We're with our R&B singer friend to go find out. Hit that like button. Let's go. What's going on everybody? Welcome to a very, very special Filipino episode of Fumbro's Food Right Now. We are on Woodside Queens. The official, the little manila, Filipino town of New York City. And we are joined today by our good friend, Ren. What's going on, y'all? My name is Ren, aka Boy Angel. I'm an upcoming R&B artist from Queens. Curious, I wanna know what's on your mind. Respectfully, I feel like you'll be satisfied. Girl, I'm curious, if I got closer with your mind. Love is a gamble, but I risk it every time. We're here about to eat, feast, take it back home to the Filipino style. Guys, our first stop on this Filipino crawl where we are comparing fast food Filipino to traditional Filipino food out here in Queens. We're starting off at Max's. This is a new location that opened up this year. This is a chain from the Philippines. This is the house that fried chicken made. Even if you've been to Max's, they got some new dishes right now. I'm excited to try them. No, you ever had Max's? I've heard of Max's, but I've never had it, so I'm very excited to try it. We might even have Ren kind of sing us a little tune about Max's. I don't know. You might have to serenade. I might have. Ren, I'm just saying you might have to serenade some of the aunties in there. If I do that, I'm gonna have to do this. All right, guys, let's go check out Max's. This is round one of many guys. They brought out the works. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we started with it. Just like any Filipino party that I would go to, I would be going first for the Lumpia. Lumpia is the go-to. Might have to hit that C-sig. Ren said, go for the C-sig, bro. I'm going for the embudito. This is something that I've never seen before. It has an egg inside, it's got some raisins, but it's kind of shaped like a kebab meat. Oh, hold on, Ren, before you, don't forget some, you want some java rice, man?   Gotta eat with rice. Every dish got rice. Speaking of rice, man, I'm going for the shrimp paste rice. Oh, hey. Yeah. Let's let Charlie right here. The way you eat lechon, the healthy way, there's a special way. Whoa, what's the healthy way to eat lechon, bro? The healthy way to eat lechon, right?  Okay, yeah. You can't not eat with a spoon. Of course, of course.  So you're busting the fatty skin, why?  You know what, I'm actually lying. This is actually the most unhealthy way to eat it, because I'm only eating the skin. And you take it and dip it in some vinegar and soy sauce. That's how you do it. Yo, this is the chicharon bulaklok, guys. Oh, my God. Chicharon bulaklok, he said that this is really good. I saw this in the photo, this is the new Max's dish. Chicharon bulaklok right here. Here we go. Yo. Yo, that's good, man. There's like a fatty pork wood ear or something. In the Philippines, when something is fire, when you're eating it, you say, Bu-tang-i-na. Bu-tang-i-na. Why, what does that mean? It's actually a curse. It's actually like, it's actually like, holy f***. Oh. All right, guys. I'm trying the embodito. This is the egg and pork meatloaf. Mm, all right, you guys. I'm trying the chicken chicharon here. Oh, I might have to try that too. Let me get some of the sauce. Chicharon is the heaven right here. Wow. This is one of the most popular dishes right here. Desserts, rather, at the Philippines. It's called jalo jalo. It's literally like uber ice cream, ice shavings, a bunch of different fruits. It's kind of like, reminds me of Queens, you know? Because Queens is like a jumble of everything, of all different nationalities. So like, it's a good way to look at Queens. Jalo jalo. Queens is jalo jalo. Y'all, I'm a huge fan of noodle soup. And this one looks thick. Just how I like it. Oh, okay, god damn. This right here is my life. Growing up, this is all I ate. I will say this. Lechon Kuali really put me on the Filipino food. The first time at like a backyard barbecue, they busted it out with the pineapple sauce right here. Okay. That lechon kuali right here. But I will say the question I have is, do you like your lechon kuali with this sauce right here or the soy sauce vinegar combo? That to me. That's the question. Let us know in the comments down below. Ooh! If you guys are into the shrimpy and Cantonese, we would say like ha mai flavor. This baga un rice, this is where it's at. Tomorrow? Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Baga un rice. Shrimp paste rice. Baga un rice. This is something kind of new. It's kind of got that kind of soury fermented flavor, but it's nice. I think Filipinos do the best rice. Like do do the best regular rice because they got the garlic rice, they got the java rice, they have this baga un rice. Filipinos just know how to flavor the rice. I mean the garlic rice, growing up, that's all we ate. Every breakfast, every morning, garlic rice. Mix it with a little spam. See, that's the other thing. We don't got no spam on the table, right? You Filipinos, you know. All right, wrapping up round one at Max's. What was your favorite dish, Nelson? I'ma go with the noodles, man. Love me a noodle soup, nice and warm. All right, my favorite was this chicharro. Not the chicken chicharro, but this pork one. Oh, the chicharro, hulakla. Hulakla, I don't know what part of pork the pig this is, but it's delicious. It's amazing. Mine was gone with the sea sick right here. I haven't had this in a while, so oh my God, this had to hit right there. For me, my favorite out of round one here at Max's was the baga un rice. This shrimp paste rice was something that I think my dad would like, my grandpa would have liked it, everybody would have liked it, and all lineages of my family. This was good. All right, we need a palate cleanser before round two. Here I have a creamy mango with coconut jelly. You got the ube with the flan and the cheese on top. I always thought cheese on top of the holo holo is very interesting. And this is actually a vanilla syrup with the little boba's in it. That's the clear boba's. Yo, we actually have another dessert over here too. Like we said, palate cleanser for round two. Oh my God. Is that with pandan jelly? All right. These desserts are hidden. They're hidden. I don't know what else to say. Perfect mixture of Asian flavors, jelly, you got a little bit like the candiness in there, and then it's just creamy. All right, everybody, we got round two at Max's. Of course, starting off, we got the classic Max's no batter fried chicken. But real quick to talk about your album that's out right now, flowers on the table. You know, I feel like there's a lot of Asian rappers. We used to rap back in the day as well, but like there's not as many Asian like R&B artists that are making like sexy songs. You know what I mean? To put it plainly, like you're making kind of like, I guess baby making music. And there's not a lot of Asians that want to take on that role. I guess what propels you to want to like even sing that style? When I was younger, I started rapping. Like I started rapping high school in the hallways with the homies. As years went by, oh yeah, don't go, keep going, pause, pause. As years went by when I was younger, I kept rapping, kept rapping, but I started to want to sing. Like I wanted to be more for the ladies. I always wanted to be more for the ladies. So like a few years went by of experimenting, rapping, and then one day I just told my homie, I was like, I want to sing. Nobody could pull it. Nobody was like, all right, you ain't gonna sing. Started singing one day, just really, really started tapping in, trying to make that type of music. And next thing you know, I'm an R&B artist now, so. That's what's up, man. I mean, I guess what kind of got you into music? I know a lot of Filipinos grow up doing karaoke. They are musical, right? Because there's a Western influence from Spain and also just the local culture in the Philippines is very performance centric. Maybe more so than like other Asian countries. Like what got you into it? What young, was it the karaoke sessions? At family parties or was it like more the environment of Queens in New York City? Well, music growing up, like you said, Magic, Mikes, and Karaoke, it wasn't really my ticket into music though. When I was younger, like I said, I was rapping. And at an early stage, I actually got a great opportunity. Believe it or not, when I was younger, I was on a mixtape with Waka Flaka Flame and Nicki Minaj, which is crazy. Shout out to Young Joey, that was the family, my brother, he put me on. That was a rapper. He gave me a chance, yeah, it was a rapper. My brother, Rain, is Young Joey's cousin and Rain was one of the first people to hit me rap. So long story short, I came from that and saw that I had an opportunity in music early and then I kept going and now I'm here. All right, everybody, yo, check out his album right down below. Man, I will tell you that. I'm carrying it.  Anyways, guys, we're gonna get back into the chicken. Look at how tender this is. Look, look, a little... That's how tender it is. It just fell off. Max's fried chicken. Oh my God, oh my God, thank God that didn't drop. I'll just eat that. Listen, guys, if you look at the wall, it says set up to the bone. I'm telling you, literally, and I'm not sponsored at all. No cap. This is tasty, AF to the bone and set up means tasty in Tagalog. Sometimes in the videos, you can't tell what it tastes like, but you can just look at this and you can see. Do you see that? No batter is crazy. To do no batter, guys, like, listen, I love Jollabies and we're gonna go there soon, but there's a beauty in the naked batter. The naked batter, it's a good way to put it. We might have to drop a sexy song about them. Shorty in that naked batter. I love it. I love that naked batter. Oh my God. Hey, moving on, guys, round two. What are we looking at, Ren? That's bangos? This is the bangos, the dying bangos. This is my favorite fish dish growing up. We're just gonna rip into it, bro. Why do you like this milk fish dish so much? This right here, it's like fried chicken or fish. Growing up, this is all like, anytime we go to a Filipino restaurant, I have to get the lemon. Here, I got the pancit canton. It's kind of like lo mein. It got a lot of Chinese influence, but done in a Filipino way. They do it differently here, but it tastes just as good. Because it's like pancit, it's like the regular pancit, except mostly with different noodles. Oh! This is crispy, brother. Oh my goodness. Look at that, look at the inside. Oh my gosh. But the part we gotta try is this, right here. Oh, snap! The skin, right in here. You gotta dip it in this sauce. The soy sauce vinegar right here. That's a big word for that, man. Oh my God. Kare kare. Every island culture likes a good oxtail, you know? Like the Caribbean needs a lot of oxtail and the Philippines does too. Oh, kare kare oxtail right here. I mean, I've eaten a lot of Filipino food and Max's is actually a hoist. Every time I come, one of the most enjoyable experiences, man. Ren, I've got to hear a lot of your music as Boy Angel. I got to say, you got the hooks on lock. They're so catchy. A lot of the horses, they really stay in your mind. What are your favorite tracks they're coming out?  Right. This month's EP that's out right now is Flowers on the Table. My favorite song on this one is called Flowers. It's the main song on the EP. It's definitely very personal. All my music is personal. All my music is about real life, but definitely Flowers. The Flowers that I gave you, why they dying on the table.  That's me right there. That's the one. We are wrapping up round two here at Max's. This is the very first location within the limits of New York City. Prior to this, the only other Max's was in Jersey.  What was your favorite thing? Man, between all the crispy pasta, lechon kawale, bangos, I'm going to have to just pick everything pork. Ooh, that's a good one. No, the pork, honestly, you just got to come to Max's. Everything was excellent, excellent. But like you said, for this round, I'm going to have to go with Max's famous fried chicken. My favorite got to be the fried fish, man.  We met playing basketball and then I found out you were doing music and then we checked out one of the studio sessions and we heard actually the entire album, which you're just releasing the EP like three songs at a time. So you're kind of teasing them. You're kind of junk. Hey, this is just the beginning. Come back. There's a song called 42 that's going to come out later that I really like, but curious. Is it hit? That's a hit, man. It's a hit like this. Crispy Pata's a hit. My God. All right, everybody, we're on our way to Dollar Hits where we're going to get a lot of Filipino skewers, you know, you know, but we got to stop by Red Ribbon because Red Ribbon, it's a staple. I mean, we got to all pick one item. And you know what I like about the Red Ribbon is they always have new items, sort of like Max's, you know, the chains. The chains, they always got like inventing stuff. Love chains, you know, love chains. Check it out. All right, you guys, we just came out of Red Ribbon and I had no idea, Red, that you guys ate empanadas in the Philippines. Yeah, yeah, that's a thing, but it's not like a Spanish empanada. I think if you bite into that, you might find a raisin in there. Okay. Oh, there is. I see. Oh, there is a raisin. Guys, this beef empanada has kind of shaped more like a Jamaican beef patty, I want to say. I don't know if it's the queen's influence. Yes, there are raisins. That looks so good. That's like a beef stew with carrots and raisins. Get with it. Wow. Shout out to the raisins in the empanadas. I like it. I'm pro raisin. I'm pro raisin in empanadas. We got this ube blonde cake. Ube everything. How do you feel about ube blowing up?  Oh, man. The flowers that I gave you Why they dying on the table? What's popping?  Wow, wow, wow. Look at the color. Now you're about to try the butter and mamon. The butter and mamon. This looks like the trance. We got 40 dollar hits. This is so soft. Oh, this is good. It's not good. Red ribbon is like the 85C. It's like everything is soft. Everything's delicious. They do everything at a high quality. I love it. All right, you guys. We just arrived at our traditional food spot location. We're at Dollar Hits all the way from historic Filipino town in Los Angeles. They made it over. They opened up one in New York City in Woodside. Where are we at? What's up, man? How's it going, guys? Welcome to Dollar Hits. So here we have our canteen. We call it Turo Turo. So basically you point where you want and we give it to you. Like a cafeteria style, too. Is this something that is new to the New York environment in terms of like they're good? Most of the Filipino restaurants they set up in. Right, in the Philippines. Ren, have you eaten this Turo Turo style before? Yes, I have eaten this style, but I haven't been in Dollar Hits yet. So this is going to be my art style. All right, Ren, you're going to pick out some skewers, some, how do we call it, eno, eno? E-O-E-Haw. E-Haw, E-Haw. I highly recommend getting the intestines. OK, you got to get some funky stuff. We got to get some intestines. Yo, I did not know Chicken Feet is called Adidas. Did you know that? Chicken Feet. Adidas, yeah, I got to get one. Adidas. All right, guys. I have pretty much what is pork belly adobo. I'm going to try this. We got plantains. I like it. Let's go. What do you even do? And I picked the pork skewer. Pork skewer, I love my pork. Man, you know I got to go with the Chicken Feet, a.k.a. Adidas, but you know, check so many stripes all day. Go in Dollar Hits, guys, from LA, coming out to New York, Woodside Queens. It's popping out here. Fire. Mm, wow. Fire right here. First time having this Filipino dish is the innards. It's got some meat and some intestines. Oh, man. I went Tocino. This is the classic breakfast right here at Tocino. Here, I got the coconut CC. Also, if we're eating breakfast, you know you got to go with the longanisa sausage.  If you guys know me, I'm not the biggest fan of pig's blood, but I do it. Picked up another skewer. I think this is the chicken intestine. I'm going with the quail egg. Oh, all right. Cheers, guys. Cheers.  Not bad, though. It's different. All right, we're ending off with dessert here at Dollar Hits. But, Ren, how would you compare the food at Dollar Hits to, like, Max's as far as, like, culture? I would say that Max's is, like, you know, the home cook, table full, at home meal. So it's something I grew up eating a lot.  And all the time skewers in most cultures is, like, drinking food, too. So I could see us having some beers or some tandoe. Some Adidas. Yeah. All right, guys, I got this fruit salad. The first time I actually had this Filipino fruit salad is at my friend, Vance's house. He's Filipino. I fell in love with it. I recreated it at my home, too. It's very simple. You got some sweet creams, a little bit of sour cream and some other creams in there. So fruit salad. Let's do it. Mm. Yo, I remember what was in this. It's cottage cheese and whipped cream. That's why I like it, because I love cottage cheese. It just has cream, cream, cream and just some other creams. All right, our last spot on our Filipino Woodside Crawl. We got a spot behind us called Cabellon. And it's really nice inside. You only find spots like this in Filipino enclaves, because if you just have a few Filipino restaurants, maybe there won't be a market big enough for this. But this is, like, a lounge-type spot. You know, this is looking real upscale. They got the white leather in there, you know. It's real plush. Yeah, man, I don't know. You might have to see if you can shoot a music video here or something. Boy, Ubeg won't have to pull up here. Hey, the Ultra Ego. Let's go. Let's check it out. I love being in spots like Cabellon, because it's just like it shows you the whole diversity. You know, we're at Max's, which is a chain from the Philippines. Then we hit Dollar Hits, which is from Pampangas. But it's almost imitating, like, a street-style stalled-type food. And then now we're here at Cabellon, which is almost like an upscale Filipino-American thing for, like, I want to say rich aunties. All right, we got one of your favorite desserts right here, the Charon. This is the fried banana, kind of looking like an egg roll, but it's a dessert egg roll. Let's crack this open. We got the banana in there. Yeah, well, how do you describe Charon to people who are like, oh, it's just a fried banana and egg roll? It's like a, yeah, pretty much a fried banana and egg roll. Where can people check out your stuff? So everything is going to be on Spotify, Apple Music. We also have a website, 7summies.com. Everything will be there. That's 7-E-V-E-N for the 7. How would you describe your style if you had to compare? I know, like, sometimes when you ask artists, and you're like, oh, who do you sound like? People want to be like, no, I sound like myself. But if we had to, like, I get a lot of my inspiration from 90s R&B. So, like, I mean, I wouldn't say I sound like Usher, but like, there's so many aspects of, like, the way I tell my stories that I get from Usher. You know, inspirations come from everywhere. Now, you know, I always ask this question to other people, so what do y'all think? All right, well, hey guys, let us know in the comments section below what you think about Boy Angel's music. Who would you compare them to? Give them your review, give them your breakdown. We got the link included down below, but we are about to head back to Manhattan and try even more Filipino fusion food. So, huge shout out to Ren. Man, thank you for showing us the Woodside, man. Good, of course. By the time you watch this video, the EP will be out, but there's also more songs coming. It's not just three songs. I've seen the whole track listing. You got a bunch of bangers in there. Just beyond the lookout, Filipino from Queens, right here, Boy Angel, AKA Boy Ube. All right, everybody, we just got back from Queens from Chilling with Ren and we're back in the Lower East Side on Broom Street in a very hip area. And guys, we're outside of Calier.  Man, I heard they got Filipino sumais and ube everything. Let's go. All right, everybody, here at Calier, which Calier actually means street in Tagalog. They have a lot of different street food and snack, but done fusion style. Check out this ube slider, longanisa sausage on an air-fried ube bun. You like the longanisa sausage with a little bit of spice and cream into it? Definitely try this one. Here we have the ube pal with ube jam in the middle, topped off with a little bit of coconut shreds. Soft, sweet, warm ube. For dessert, we have a ube flan right here and then a sans-revol. I've never actually had this one, so I'm gonna go for this first. Ooh, I like it. Cookies and cream in between. Ooh, I'm stuck in it. Of course, you gotta have the ube flan two-tone. I think it's so cool to go from Queens, which is more traditional food and kind of the traditional Filipino chains and then going out to the fusion zone in the LES where they're doing things really differently. Now, here we have the pork and the shrimp shumai, but different than the Cantonese shumai, they give you lemon and the fillings are a little bit different. Man, I'm going in, man, going on a shrimp one. Oh, do you want a little lemon, though? Cause you know, Filipinos, they like the lemon. I didn't know Filipino has so much Chinese influence in their foods. All right, let's try the pork one and you got a little chili oil. Man, that actually looks good, man. I can't wait to try that. It's really different about the fish and the sumais compared to like the Chinese sumais is that they put different ingredients and spices in theirs. It's just, it is good too. It's good too, it's just different. Man, we eating cow yay on the cow yay. All right, everybody, we're here at Cabocera. Now this is a really cool Filipino cafe that also serves a lot of hot and sweet cold foods over in the Lower East Side. Here we have their rendition of merrienda, which is kind of like the Spanish tea time tradition. That's why it kind of looks like the British one where it's stacked up, but man, they have a lot of cool like ube and multi-layered pandan flavored cakes right here. And then we also have the lumpia musubi.  I mean, you know, you're very familiar with the musubi out in the West Coast, but an egg roll on top? The lumpia one? I know it doesn't sound that crazy, but it is just something you haven't seen before. All right, guys, I'm trying in the cassava right here and then Nelson's gonna try to stop and stop and all these are very warm. Here at Cabocera, I like how it's hot. Cheers. The texture is really good, really consistent, very ooey-gooey. It's like going to one of those, I guess, bakeries and you just see all those cakes, except all those cakes are actually Filipino desserts. Nelson, you're digging into some ube here I have. They're actually like pandan and corn dessert. Let's check it out. Very delicate, very delicate. Oh, wow. This one is my favorite right here. Finally, I have this long-awaited lumpia musubi. I'm about to dive into this and then you have the ube taho. Ube taho. Oh, with the bobas. Oh, yeah, there we go. Mm, pudding is so nice and warm. Ube not too sweet, which is really good. They have a great lumpia. I could eat it by itself. This A1. Closing up with the ginger latte, guys. I'm mixing up. I saw the ginger at the bottom. I'm very excited about this one. Well, basically what I like about Cabocera, it's like a coffee shop vibe. Everything's super fresh. Everything's made super high quality. The ownership team is great too and honestly, they just do things a little bit differently. Our next spot is a staple in the Filipino community. Mama Fina's originally started in Jersey City in a Filipino enclave. Now, it's out here in the East Village and they serve all different types of seasick. Yo, I've tried seasick before, but I've never had this seasick. Let's go. Food here at Mama Fina's has arrived and here are some dishes that I have not had before. First of all, we got fried chicken wings with gravy on a sizzling plate. Now, you might think that's an ode to Jollibee's but actually this is an ode to the owner's wife's restaurant in the Philippines in Biko. This is how they do it on the sizzling plate. Here, you have seasick gambas. This is a shrimp seasick, guys. I know you can make seasick with all different types of things but I've never had it with shrimp. Look at the colors, delicious. Oh yeah, here you have the lanca. This is actually jackfruit. I know that you thought it was meat but it's jackfruit cooked with coconut. And then here you have this red Java rice which is actually quite different than other rices. It's not garlic rice but it's a little bit red due to the tomatoes they cook it with and it kind of reminds me of Spanish rice so I think this is like the fusion right here. All right, garlic wing with gravy. Let's go. That savory salty gravy just tops off the wing so nicely. As we have not ran into any lanca in this video yet but this is nicely cooked jackfruit. It does, and jackfruit actually does make a really good meat substitute because it kind of has like this feeling almost like it's pork or fish. I would have never thought, man. Try it, bro. Serve it up, man. You're just telling me this is not meat. Not only man, a lot of vegan restaurants using jackfruit but you know who was using it first? The Filipinos. All right. Sisig gambas. Shrimp Sisig. But that was jam packed with a whole bunch of different flavors. I'm eating it with the Java rice. I like the name too, Java rice. That's a cool name. This is so cool because, you know, we went to a lot of very traditional Filipino spots and like kind of cafes and then we also went to some fusion spots but here I love it because they're bringing dishes that they eat in the Philippines that are maybe a little bit less common to find but they're not exactly modern fusion. They're maybe a little bit more localized so I think that's really cool and shout out to Mama Fimas. The food is so good and that skillet is hot.


CHAPTER 12 THE TUTONIC RELIGION, WHICHES THE TUTONS, that race of northern peoples called by the Romans barbarians, comprised the Goths and Vandals who lived in Scandinavia, and the Germans who dwelt north of Italy and east of Gaul. The nature of the northern country was such that the people could not get a living by peaceful agriculture. So it was natural that in the intervals of cattle-tending they should explore the seas all about, and ravage neighboring lands. The Romans and Gauls experienced this in the centuries just before and after Christ, and England from the 8th to the 10th centuries. Such a life made the Norsemen adventurous, hardy, warlike, independent and quick of action, while the Celts were by nature more slothful and fond of peaceful social gatherings, though of quicker intellect and wit. Like the Greeks and Romans the Tutons had twelve gods and goddesses, among whom were Odin or Wotan, the king and his wife Freya, queen of beauty and love. Idon guarded the apples of immortality, which the gods ate to keep them eternally young. The chief difference in Tutonic mythology was the presence of an evil god, Loki. Like Vulcan, Loki was a god of fire. Like him, Loki was lame because he had been cast out of heaven. Loki was always plotting against the other gods, as Lucifer, after being banished from heaven by God, plotted against him and his people and became Satan, the enemy. Him the almighty power hurled headlong, flaming from the ethereal sky, with hideous ruin and combustion down to bottomless perdition, there to dwell in adamantine chains and penal fire, who durest defy the omnipotent to arms. Milton, paradise lost. It was this god of evil in Tutonic myth who was responsible for the death of the bright, beautiful sun god, Baldur. Misalto was the only thing in the world which had not sworn to harm Baldur. Loki knew this and gave a twig of Misalto to Baldur's blind brother, Hodor, and Hodor casted at Baldur and unwittingly slew him. Volly, a younger brother of Baldur, avenged him by killing Hodor. Hodor is darkness and Baldur light. They are brothers. The light falls a victim to blind darkness, who reigns until a younger brother, the son of the next day, rises to slay him in turn. Below these gods all nature was peopled with divinities. There were elves of two kinds, black elves called trolls, who were frost spirits, and guarded treasure seeds in the ground, and white elves, who lived in mid-heaven and danced on the earth in fairy-rings, where immortal entering died. Willa the Wisps hovered over swamps to mislead travelers, and jack-o'-lanterns, the spirits of murderers, walked the earth near the places of their crimes. The other worlds of the Tutons were Valhalla, the abode of the heroes whom death had found on the battlefield, and Nifelheim, the misty realm, secure from the cold outside, ruled over by Queen Hel. Valkyries, warlike women who rode through the air on swift horses, seized the heroes from the field of slaughter, and took them to the halls of Valhalla, where they enjoyed daily combats, long feasts, and drinking bouts, music and storytelling. The sacred tree of the Druids was the oak, that of the Tutonic priests the ash. The flat disk of the earth was believed to be supported by a great ash tree, Yggdrasil, supported by three fates, was, will, and shall be. An ash, I know standing, named Yggdrasil, a stately tree sprinkled with water the purist, thence come the dew-drops that fall in the dales, ever blooming it stands over the Urdara fountain. Balus Pasaga, Blackwell translation. The name of was means the past, of will the power, how be it small which men have over present circumstances, and shall be the future over which man has no control. Verda, the name of the latter, gives us the word weird, which means fate or fateful. The three weird sisters in Macbeth are Sieresses. Besides the ash, other trees and shrubs were believed to have peculiar powers, which they have kept, with some changes of meaning to this day. The elder, Elvesgrave, the Hawthorn, the Juniper, were sacred to supernatural powers. The priests of the Tutan sacrificed prisoners of war in consecrated groves to tear God of the sword. The victims were not burned alive as by the druids, but cut and torn terribly, and their dead bodies burned. From these sacrifices auspices were taken. A man's innocent or guilt was manifested by gods to men through ordeals by fire, walking upon red-hot plowshares, holding a heated bar of iron, or thrusting the hands into red-hot gauntlets or into boiling water. If after a certain number of days no burns appeared, the person was declared innocent. If a suspected man, thrown into the water, floated, he was guilty. If he sank, he was acquitted. The rites of the Celts were done in secret, and it was forbidden that they be written down. Those of the Tutans were commemorated in Eda and Saga, poetry and prose. In the far north the shortness of summer and the length of winter so impressed the people that when they made a story about it they told of a maiden, the spring, put to sleep, and guarded along with a horde of treasure by a ring of fire. One night only could break through the flames, awaken her, and seize the treasure. He is the returning sun, and the treasure he gets possession of is the wealth of summer vegetation. So there is the story of Brynhilda, pricked by the sleep-thorn of her father, Wotan, and sleeping until Sigurd awakens her. They marry, but soon Sigurd has to give her up to Gunner, the relentless winter, and Gunner cannot rest until he is killed, Sigurd, and reigns undisturbed. Grimm's story of Rapunzel, the princess who was shut up by a winter witch, and of Briar Rose, pricked by a witch's spindle, and sleeping inside a hedge which blooms with spring at the night's approach, mean likewise the struggle between summer and winter. The chief festivals of the Teutonic year were held at mid-summer and mid-winter. May-day the very beginning of spring was celebrated by May-writings, when winter and spring, personified by two warriors, engaged in a combat in which winter the fur-clad king of ice and snow was defeated. It was then that the sacred fire had been kindled, and the sacrificial feast held. Judgments were rendered then. The summer solstice was marked by bonfires, like those of the Celts on May-Eve and mid-summer. They were kindled in an open place or on a hill, and the ceremonies held about them were similar to the Celtic. As late as the eighteenth century these same customs were observed in Iceland. A may-pole, wreathed with magical herbs, is erected as the center of the dance in Sweden, and in Norway a child chosen may-bride is followed by a procession, as at a real wedding. This is a symbol of the wedding of sun and earth deities in the spring. The may-pole, probably imported from Celtic countries, is used at mid-summer because the spring does not begin in the north before June. Ewell Tide in December celebrated the sun's turning back, and was marked by banquets and gaiti. A chief feature of all those feasts was the drinking of toast to the gods with boughs and prayers. By the sixth century Christianity had supplanted druidism in the British Isles. It was the ninth before Christianity made much progress in Scandinavia. After King Olaf had converted his nation the toasts which had been drunk to the pagan gods were kept in honor of Christian saints. For instance, those to Freya were now drunk to the Virgin Mary or to St. Gertrude. The wedding of the sark-sleeve, that custom of Scotland in Ireland, was in its earliest form a right to Freya as the northern goddess of love. To secure her aid in a love affair a maid would wash in a running stream a piece of fine linen, for Freya was fond of personal adornment, and would hang it before the fire to dry an hour before midnight. At half-past eleven she must turn it, and at twelve her lover's apparition would appear to her, coming in at the half-open door. The wind howled through the leafless boughs, and there was every appearance of an early and severe winter as indeed befell. Long before eleven o'clock all was hushed and quiet within the house, and indeed without, nothing was heard, except the cold wind which held mournfully in guests. The house was an old farmhouse, and we sat in the large kitchen with its stone floor, awaiting the first stroke of the eleventh hour. It struck at last, and then all pale and trembling we hung the garment before the fire which we had piled up with wood, and set the door ajar, for that was an essential point. The door was lofty and opened upon the farmyard, through which there was a kind of thoroughfare, very seldom used it is true, and at each end of it there was a gate by which wayfares occasionally passed to shorten the way. There we sat without speaking a word, shivering with cold and fear, listening to the clock which went slowly, tick, tick, and occasionally starting as the door creaked on its hinges, or a half-burnt billet fell upon the hearth. My sister was ghastly white, as white as the garment which was drying before the fire. And now half an hour had elapsed, and it was time to turn. This we did, I and my sister, without saying a word, and then we again sank on our chairs on either side of the fire. I was tired, and as the clock went tick, a tick, I began to feel myself dozing. I did doze, I believe. All of a sudden I sprang up. The clock was striking one, two, but Eric could give the third chime mercy upon us, but Eric could give the third chime mercy upon us. We heard the gate slam, too, with a tremendous noise. Well, and what happened then? Happened. Before I could recover myself, my sister had sprung to the door, and both locked and bolted it. The next moment she was in convulsions. I scarcely knew what happened, and yet it appeared to me for a moment that something pressed against the door with a low moaning sound. Whether it was the wind or not, I can't say. I shall never forget that night. About two hours later my father came home.  Borough, Lavengro. Freya and Odin especially had power over the souls of the dead. When Christianity turned all the old gods into spirits of evil, these two were accused especially of possessing unlawful learning as having knowledge of the hidden matters of death. This unlawful wisdom is the first accusation that has always been brought against witches. A mirror is often used to contain it. Such are the crystals of the astrologers and the looking glasses which on Halloween materialize wishes. From that time in the Middle Ages when witches were first heard of, it has nearly always been women who were accused. Women for the most part were the priests in the old days. It was a woman to whom Apollo at Delphi breathed his oracles. In all times it has been women who plucked herbs and concocted drinks of healing and refreshment. So it was very easy to imagine that they experimented with poisons and herbs of magic power under the guidance of the now evil gods.  The idea arose of a witch's Sabbath when women were enabled by evil means to fly away and adore and secret the gods from whom the rest of the world had turned. There were such meeting-places all over Europe. They had been places of sacrifice, of judgment, or of wells and springs considered holy under the old religion, and whether the gods had now been banished. The most famous was the Blocksburg in the Harz Mountains in Germany. Dane Bobo first to lead the crew, a tuffled sow and the mother thereon, then followed the witches every one. Giertha, Faust, Taylor translation. In Norway the mountains above Bergen were a resort, and the Doverfield, once the home of the trolls. It's easy to slip in here, but outward the Dover King's gate opens not. Ibsen, Pier Gent, Archer translation. In Italy the witches met under a walnut tree near Benevento, in France, at Puy-de-Dome, in Spain, near Sevilla. In these night ridings Odin was the leader of a wild hunt. In stormy, blustering autumn weather the wanted roar was up among the woods. Milton, Comus. Odin rode in pursuit of a shadowy deer with the furious host behind him. A ghostly huntsman of a later age was Dietrich von Bern, doomed to hunt till the judgment day. Frau Venus in Wagner's Tonhäuser held her revels in an underground place in the Horselberg in Thuringia, Germany. This was one of the seats of Holde, the goddess of spring. Venus herself is like the Christian conception of Freyja and hell. She gathers about her a throng of nymphs, silks, and those she has lured into the mountain by intoxicating music and promises. The enchanting sounds enticed only those in whose hearts wild, sensuous longings had already taken root. Of these, Tonhäuser is one. He has stayed a year, but it seems to him only one day. Already he is tired of the rosy light and eternal music and langer, and longs for the fresh green world of action he once knew. He fears that he has forfeited his soul salvation by being there at all, but cries, at the holy name Venus and her revelers vanish, and Tonhäuser finds himself in a meadow, hears the tinkling herd-bells, and a shepherd's voice singing, Frau Holde, goddess of the spring, steps forth from the mountains old. She comes and all the brooklets sing, and, fled, is winter's cold. Play, play, my pipe, your lightest lay, for spring has come and merry may. Tonhäuser, huckle translation, praising the goddess in her blameless state. By the fifteenth century Satan, taking the place of the gods, assumed control of the evil creatures. Now that witches were the followers of the devil, they wrote their names in his book, and were carried away by him for the rebels by night. A new witch was pricked with a needle to initiate her into his company. At the party the devil was adored with worship due to God alone. Dancing, a device of the pagans, and hence considered holy wicked, was indulged into unseemly lengths. In 1883 in Sweden it was believed that dances were held about the sanctuaries of the ancient gods, and that whoever stopped to watch were caught by the dancers and whirled away. If they profaned holy days by this dancing they were doomed to keep it up for a year. At the witches' sabbath the devil himself sometimes appeared as a goat, and the witches were attended by cats, owls, bats, and cuckoos, because these creatures had once been sacred to fray at. At the feast horse-flesh, once the food of the gods at banquets was eaten. The broth for the feast was brewed in a kettle held over the fire by a tripod, like that which supported the seat of Apollo's priestess at Delphi. The kettle may be a reminder of the one Thor got, which gave to each guest whatever food he asked of it, or it may be merely that used in brewing the herb remedies which women made before they were thought to practice witchcraft. In the kettle were cooked mixtures which caused storms and shipwrecks, plagues, and blights. No salt was eaten, for that was a wholesome substance. The witches of Germany did not have prophetic power. Those of Scandinavia, like the Norse fates, did have it. The troll-wives of Scandinavia were like the witches of Germany. They were cannibals, especially relishing children like the witch in Hansel and Gretel. From the fourteenth to the eighteenth century all through Europe and the New World, people thought to be witches, and hence in the devil's service were persecuted. It was believed that they were able to take the form of beasts. A wolf or other animal is caught in a trap or shot and disappears. Later an old woman who lives alone in the woods is found suffering from a similar wound. She is then declared to be a witch. There was once an old castle in the middle of a vast thick wood. In it lived an old woman quite alone, and she was a witch. By day she made herself into a cat or a scree-chow, but regularly at night she became a human being again. Grimm. Jorinda and Jorengel. Herr is found on May morning are witches and should be stoned, reads an old superstition. If you tease a cat on May Eve it will turn into a witch and hurt you. End of Section 12. Read by Professor Heather Mby. For more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Section 13 of the Book of Halloween by Ruth Edna Kelly. Read for LibriVox.org into the public domain. CHAPTER XIII. WALPURGIS NIGHT. WALPURGIA was a British nun who went into Germany in the eighth century to found holy houses. After a pious life she was buried at Eichstadt, where it is said a healing oil trickled from her rock-tomb. This miracle reminded men of the fruitful dew which fell from the mains of the Valkyrie's horses, and when one of the days sacred to her came on May 1st, the wedding-day of Frau Holda and the sun-god, the people thought of her as a Valkyrie and identified her with Holda. As like a Valkyrie she rode armed on her steed, she scattered, like Holda, spring-flowers and fruitful dew upon the fields and veils. When these deities fell into dispute, Walpurgia, too, joined the pagan train that swept the sky on the eve of May 1st, and afterwards on mountaintops to sacrifice and to adore Holda, as the priests had sacrificed for a prosperous season and a bountiful harvest. So this night was called Walpurgia's night, when evil beings were abroad and with them human worshippers who still guarded the old faith in secret. This is very like the occasion of November Eve, which shared with May 1st Celtic manifestations of evil, which is complete the list of supernatural beings which are out on Halloween. All are to be met at crossroads, with harm to the beholders. A superstition goes that if one wishes to see witches, he must put on his clothes wrong side out, and creep backwards to a crosswords, or wear wild radish on May Eve. On Walpurgia's night, precautions must be taken against witches who may harm cattle. The stable doors are locked and sealed with three crosses. Sprigs of ash, hawthorn, juniper, and elder, once sacred to the pagan gods, are now used as protection against them. Witches are nailed prongs up on the threshold or over the door. Holy bells are hung on the cows to scare away the witches, and they are guided to pasture by a goat which has been blessed. Shots are fired over the cornfield. If one wishes, he may hide in the corn and hear what will happen for a year. Signs and omens on Walpurgia's night have more weight than at other times except on St. John's Day. On Walpurgia's night, make good crops of autumn grain, but rain on May Day is harmful to them. Lovers try omens on this Eve, as they do in Scotland on Halloween. If you sleep with one stocking on, you will find on May morning, in the toe, a hair the color of your sweethearts. Girls try to find out the temperament of their husbands to be, by keeping a linen thread for three days near an image of the Madonna, and at midnight on May Eve pulling it apart, saying, Thread I pull thee, Walpurgia I pray thee, that thou show to me what my husbands like to be. They judge of his disposition by the threads being strong or easily broken, soft or tightly woven. Dew on the morning of May 1st makes girls who wash in it beautiful. The fair maid who on the 1st of May goes to the fields at break of day, and washes and dew from the Hawthorne tree will ever after handsome be. Encyclopedia of Superstitions A heavy dew on this morning presages a good butter year. You will find fateful initials printed in dew on a handkerchief that has been left out all the night of April 30th. On May day girls invoke the cuckoo. Cuckoo, cuckoo, on the bow, tell me truly, tell me how many years there will be till a husband comes to me. Then they count the calls of the cuckoo until he pauses again. If a man wears clothes made of yarn spun on Walpurgis night to the May shooting, he will always hit the bull's eye, for the devil gives away to those he favors, fry cooglin, bullets which always hit the mark. On Walpurgis night, as on Halloween, strange things may happen to one. Jacques tells a story of a Walpurgis night dream that is more a vision than a dream. Led to be unfaithful to his wife, a man murders the husband of a former sweetheart. To escape capture he fires a haystack, from which a whole village is kindled. In his flight he enters an empty carriage and drives away madly, crushing the owner under the wheels. He finds that the dead man is his own brother. Faced by the person whom he believes to be the devil, responsible for his misfortunes, the wretched man is ready to worship him if he will protect him. He finds that the seeming devil is in reality his guardian angel, who sent him this dream that he might learn the depths of wickedness lying unfathomed in his heart, waiting an opportunity to burst out. Both Mae Eve and St. John's Eve are times of freedom and unrestraint.  For you see, pastor, within every one of us a spark of paganism is glowing. It has outlasted the thousand years since the old Teutonic times. Once a year it flames up high and we call it St. John's fire. Once a year comes freenight. Yes, truly freenight. Then the witches, laughing scornfully, ride to Bloxburg, on the mountaintop, on their broomsticks. The same broomsticks with which at other times their witchcraft is whipped out of them. Then the whole wild company skims along the forest way, and then the wild desires awaken in our hearts which life has not fulfilled. CHAPTER XIV. MORE HALLOWTIDE BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS. Only the Celts and the Teutons celebrate an occasion actually like our Halloween. The countries of southern Europe make of it a religious vigil, like that already described in France. In Italy, on the night of all souls, the spirits of the dead are thought to be abroad as in Brittany. They may mingle with living people and not be remarked. The miseryre is heard in all the cities. As the people pass dressed in black, bells are rung on street corners to remind them to pray for the souls of the dead. In Naples the skeletons in the funeral vaults are dressed up, and the place visited on all souls' day. In Salerno, before the people go to the all-night service at church, they set out a banquet for the dead. If any food is left in the morning, evil is in store for the house. Hark! Hark to the wind! Tis the night, they say, when all souls come back from the far away.  Have you reached the country of all content, old souls we know since the day you went, from this time-worn world where your years were spent? Would you come back to the sun and the rain, the sweetness, the strife, the thing we call pain, and then unravel life's tangle again? I leaned to the dark, hush, was it a sigh, or the painted vine-leaves that rustled by, or only a night-bird's echoing cry. Sherd Halloween In Malta bells are rung, and prayers said, and morning worn on all souls day. Graves are decorated, and the inscriptions on tombs red and re-red. For the poor is prepared in all souls dinner, as cakes are given to the poor in England and Wales. The custom of decorating graves with flowers and offering flowers to the dead comes from the crowning of the dead by the ancients with short-lived blooms to signify the brevity of life. In Spain at dark on Halloween cakes and nuts are laid on graves to bribe the spirits not to disturb the vigils of the saints. In Germany the graves of the dead are decorated with flowers and lights, on the first and second of November. To drive away ghosts from a church a key or wand must be struck three times against a beer, and all souls' divination in Germany is a girl's going out and asking the first young man she meets his name. Her husbands will be like it. If she walks thrice about a church and makes a wish she will see it fulfilled. Belgian children build shrines in front of their homes with figures of the Madonna and Candles and beg for money to buy cakes. As many cakes as one eats, so many souls he frees from purgatory. The races of northern Europe believed that the dead returned and were grieved at the lamentations of their living relatives. The same belief was found in Brittany and among the American Indians. Think of this, Ohioatha, speak of it to all the people, but henceforward and forever they know more with lamentations saddened souls of the departed on the islands of the blessed. Longfellow, Ohioatha. The Chinese fear the dead and the dragons of the air. They devote the first three weeks of April to visiting the graves of their ancestors and laying baskets of offerings on them. The great dragon, Fengxin, flies scattering blessings upon the houses. His path is straight unless he meets with some building. Then he turns aside and the owner of the two lofty edifice misses the blessing. At Niko, Japan, where there are many shrines to the spirits of the dead, masks are held to entertain the ghosts who return on mid-summer day. Every street is lined with lighted lanterns, and the spirits are sent back to the other world in straw boats lit with lanterns, and floated down the river. To see ghosts in Japan one must put a hundred rush lights into a large lantern and repeat one hundred lines of poetry, taking one light out at the end of each line, or go out into the dark with one light and blow it out. Ghosts are identified with witches. They come back especially on moonlit nights. On moonlight nights, when the coast wind whispers in the branches of the tree, Omasu and Tioyo may sometimes be seen, with bamboo rakes in their hands, gathering together the needles of the fur. Render, great fur tree of Takasago. There is a Chinese saying that a mirror is the soul of a woman. A pretty story is told of a girl whose mother before she died gave her a mirror saying, Now after I am dead, if you think longingly of me, take out the thing that you will find inside this box and look at it. When you do so my spirit will meet yours and you will be comforted. When she was lonely or her stepmother was harsh with her, the girl went to her room and looked earnestly into the mirror. She saw there only her own face, but it was so much like her mother's that she believed it was hers indeed and was consoled. When the stepmother learned what it was her daughter cherished so closely her heart softened toward the lonely girl and her life was made easier. By the Arabs spirits were called jins or genie. They came from fire and looked like men or beasts. They might be good or evil, beautiful or horrible, and could disappear from mortal sight at will. Nights when they went abroad it behooved men to stay undercover. Ha! They are on us, closed without.   Dragon and vampire fill the sky. Hugo. The Jins. CHAPTER XV Halloween in America In colonial days Halloween was not celebrated much in America. Some English still kept the customs of the Old World, such as apple-ducking and snapping, and girls tried the apple-pairing charm to reveal their lovers' initials and the comb and mirror test to see their faces. Ballads were sung in ghost stories told, for the dead were thought to return on Halloween. There was a young officer in Phips's company at the time of the finding of the Spanish treasure ship, who had gone mad at the sight of the bursting sacks that divers had brought up from the sea as the gold coins covered the deck. This man had once lived in the old stone house on the fair green lane, and a report had gone out that his spirit still visited it and caused discordant noises. Once on a gusty November evening, when the clouds were scutting over the moon, a hall door had blown open with a shrieking draft and a force that caused the floor to tremble. Butterworth. Halloween Reformation. Elves, goblins, and fairies are native on American soil. The Indians believed in evil manatews, some of whom were water gods who exacted tribute from all who passed over their lakes. Henry Hudson and his fellow explorers haunted as mountain trolls the Catskill Range. Like Ossian and so many other visitors to the other world, Rip Van Winkle is lured into the strange gathering, and thinks that he passes the night there, wakes and goes home to find that twenty years have whitened his hair, rusted his gun, and snatched from life many of his boon companions. My gun must have cutched the rheumatics, too. Now that's too bad.  Why, is that the village of falling waters that I see? Why, the place is more than twice the size it was last night. I— I don't know whether I am dreaming, or sleeping, or waking. Jefferson, Rip Van Winkle. The persecution of witches, prevalent in Europe, reached this side of the Atlantic in the seventeenth century. This sudden burst of wickedness and crime was but the common madness of the time, when in all lands that lie within the sound of Sabbath bells a witch was burned or drowned. Longfellow—Giles Corey of the Salem Farms. Men and women who had enemies to accuse them of evil knowledge and the power to cause illness in others were hanged or pressed to death by heavy weights. Such sicknesses they could cause by keeping a waxen image and sticking pins or nails into it, or by melting it before the fire. The person whom they hated would be in torture or would waste away like the waxen doll. Witch's power to injure and to prophesy came from the devil, who marked them with a needle-prick. Such marks were sought as evidence at trials. Witch's eyes are of coals of fire from the pit. They were attended by black cats, owls, bats, and toads. Iron, as being a product of fire, was a protection against them, as against evil spirits everywhere. It had a special power when in the shape of a horseshoe. This horseshoe I will nail upon the threshold. There unite hags and witches that torment the neighborhood. Ye shall not enter here. Longfellow—Giles Corey of the Salem Farms. The holiday time of elves, witches, and ghosts is Halloween. It is not believed in here except by some children, who people the dark with bogies who will carry them away if they are naughty. Once there was a little boy who wouldn't say his prayers, and when he went up to bed at night, away upstairs, his mammy hear'd him holler, and his daddy hear'd him bawl, and when they turned the covers down he wasn't there at all. And they seek'd him in the rafter room and cubby-hole and press, and seek'd him up the chimney-flu and everywhere's, I guess. But all they ever found was this'd his pants round about. And the goblins'll get you if you don't watch out. Riley, little Orphan Taney. Negroes are very suspicious, putting faith in all sorts of supernatural beings. Blame my trap. How to when do blow? And dis is denied for the witches' show. There's trouble going to waste when they ol' slut whine. And you hear'd a cat a spit in when the moon don't shine. Riley, when the folks is gone. While the original customs of Halloween are being forgotten more and more across the ocean, Americans have fostered them, and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days overseas. All Halloween customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries. All superstitions, every day ones, and those pertaining to Christmas and New Year's, have special value on Halloween. It is a night of ghostly and merry revelry. Mischievous spirits choose it for carrying off gates and other objects, and hiding them or putting them out of reach. Dear me, Polly, I wonder what them boys will be up to to-night. I do hope they'll not put the gate up on the shed as they did last year. Right. Tom's Halloween joke. Bags filled with flowers sprinkle the passers by. Doorbells are rung and mysterious wraps sounded on doors. Things thrown into halls and knobs stolen. Such sports mean no more at Halloween than the tricks played the night before the Fourth of July have to do with the Declaration of Independence. We see manifested on all such occasions the spirit of free night, of which George von Hartvig speaks so enthusiastically in St. John's's fire. Halloween parties are the real survival of the ancient merry makings. They are prepared for in secret. Guests are not to divulge the fact that they are invited. Often they come masked as ghosts or witches. The decorations make plain the two elements of the festival. For the centerpiece of the table there may be a hallowed pumpkin, filled with apples and nuts and other fruits of the harvest, or a pumpkin chariot drawn by field mice. So it is clear that this is a harvest party, like Pomona's feast. In the coach rides a witch, representing the other element of magic and prophecy. Jack-o-lanterns, with which the room is lighted, are hallowed pumpkins with candles inside. The candle-light shines through holes cut like features. So the lantern becomes a bogey and is held up at a window to frighten those inside. Corn stalks from the garden standing clumps about the room. A freeze of witches on broomsticks, with cats, bats and owls surmance the fireplace, perhaps.  The prevailing colors are yellow and black. A deep yellow is the color of most ripe grain and fruit. Black stands for black magic and demonic influence. Ghosts and skulls and crossbones, symbols of death, startle the beholder. Since Halloween is a time for lovers to learn their fate, hearts and other sentimental tokens are used to good effect, as the Scotch lads of Burns's time wore love-nots. Having marched into the dining-room, to the time of a dirge, the guests find before them plain, hearty fare, doughnuts, gingerbread, cider, popcorn, apples, and nuts honored by time. The Halloween cake has held the place of honor since the beginning here in America. A ring, key, thimble, penny, and button baked in it for tell respectively, speedy marriage, a journey, spinsterhood, wealth, and bachelorhood. Polly was going to be married, Jenny was going on a long journey, and you, down went the knife against something hard. The girls crowded round.  It was more than you could bear, soaking, dripping wet, and an old maid. Bradley, the kitchen is the best place for the rough games and after supper-charns. On the stems of the apples, which are to be dipped for, may be tied names, for the boys in one tub, for the girls in another. Each searcher of the future must draw out with his teeth an apple with a name which will be like that of his future mate. A variation of the Irish snap-apple is a hoop hung by strings from the ceiling, round which, at intervals, are placed bread, apples, cakes, peppers, candies, and candles. The strings are twisted, then let go, and as the hoop revolves, each may step up and get a bite from whatever comes to him. By the taste he determines what the character of his married life will be, whether wholesome, acid, soft, fiery, or sweet. Whoever bites the candle is twice unfortunate, for he must pay a forfeit too. An apple and a bag of flour are placed on the ends of a stick, and whoever dares to seize a mouthful of apple must risk being blinded by fire. Apples are suspended to one string in a doorway. As they swing, each guest tries to secure his apple. To blow out a candle as it revolves on a stick requires attention and accuracy of aim. The one who first succeeds in threading a needle as he sits on a round bottle on the floor will be first married. Twelve candles are lighted and placed at convenient distances on the floor in a row. As the guest leaps over them, the first he blows out will indicate his wedding month. One candle only placed on the floor and blown out in the same way means a year of wretchedness ahead. If it still burns it presages a year of joy. Among the quieter tests some of the most common are tried with apple seeds. As in England a pair of seeds named for two lovers are stuck on brow or eyelids. The one who sticks longer is the true, the one who soon falls the disloyal sweetheart. Seeds are used in this way to tell also whether one is to be a traveler or stay at home. Apple seeds are twice ominous, partaking of both apple and nut nature. Even the number of seeds found in a core has meaning. If you put them upon the palm of your hand and strike it with the other, the number remaining will tell you how many letters you will receive in a fortnight. With twelve seeds and the names of twelve friends the old rhyme may be repeated. One I love, two I love, three I love I say, four I love with all my heart, five I cast away, six he loves, seven she loves, eight they both love, nine he comes, ten he tarries, eleven he courts, and twelve he marries. Nuts are burned in the open fire. It is generally agreed that the one for whom the first that pops is named loves. If he loves me, pop and fly.  Often the superstition connected therewith is forgotten in the excitement of the moment. When every one among us toe to smallest pick and any would huddle in the chimbly conus glow, to listen to them chilly winds of old novembas, go astretian like a spook round of huts, twel to pick and any's fingers gets to shake in autumn embers, and they like to roast in knuckles instead of nuts. In Werner's readings, number thirty-one. Letters of the alphabet are carved on a pumpkin. Fate guides the hand of the blindfolded seeker to the fateful initial which he stabs with a pin. Tears cut out of paper are sprinkled on water in a tub. They form groups from which any one with imagination may spell out names. Girls walk down cellar backward with a candle in one hand and a looking glass in the other, expecting to see a face in the glass. Last night was witching Halloween. Dearest, an apple-russet brown, I paired and thrice above my crown, whirled the long skin. They watched it keen, I flung it far, they laughed and cried me shame. Dearest, there lay the letter of your name. Took the mirror, then, uncrepped, down, down the creaking narrow stair, the milk-pans caught my candle's flair, and mice walked soft and spiders slept. I broke the spell and stood the magic space. Dearest, and in the glass I saw your face. And then I stole out in the night, alone the frogs piped sweet and loud. The moon looked through a ragged cloud, thrice round the house I sped me light. Dearest, and there me thought, charm of my charms, you met me, kissed me, took me to your arms. Opera, the charms. There are many mirror tests. A girl who sits before a mirror at midnight on Halloween, combing her hair and eating an apple, will see the face of her true love reflected in the glass. Standing so that through a window she may see the moon in a glass she holds, she counts the number of reflections to find out how many pleasant things will happen to her in the next twelve months. Alabama has taken over the scotch mirror test in its entirety.  She goes to meet her fate.  The instant after we heard a great laugh. Off the piazza she had stepped backward directly against two gentlemen coming in. Dr. Ingleside was one, coming to get his supper. The other was a friend of his. Dr. John Hotain, he said, introducing him by his full name. Whitney, we girls. A custom that is a reminder of the lighted boats sent downstream in Japan to bear away the souls of the dead is that which makes use of nutshell boats. These have tiny candles fastened in them, are lighted and named, and set adrift on a tub of water. If they cling to the side, their namesake will lead a quiet life. Some will float together. Some will collide and be shipwrecked. Others will bear steadily toward a goal though the waves are rocked in a tempest. Their behavior is significant. The candle which burns longest belongs to the one who will marry first. The Midsummer Wheel which was rolled down into the Moselle River in France, and meant if the flames that wreathed it were not extinguished, that the great harvest would be abundant, has survived in the Fortune Wheel which is rolled about from one guest to another, and brings a gift to each. The actions of cats on Halloween betoken good or bad luck.  If one rubs against him it brings good luck, doubly good if one jumps into his lap. If a cat yawns near you on Halloween, be alert and do not let opportunity slip by you. If a cat runs from you, you have a secret which will be revealed in seven days. Different states have put interpretations of their own on the commonest charms. In Massachusetts, the one who first draws an apple from the tub with his teeth will be first married. If a girl steals a cabbage, she will see her future husband as she pulls it up, or meet him as she goes home. If these fail, she must put the cabbage over the door and watch to see whom it falls on, for him she is to marry. A button concealed in mashed potato brings misfortune to the finder. The names of three men are written on slips of paper and enclosed in three balls of meal. The one that rises first when they are thrown into water will disclose the sought-for name. Maine has borrowed the yarn test from Scotland. A ball is thrown into a barn or cellar and wound off on the hand. The lover will come and help to wind. Girls in New Hampshire place in a row three dishes with earth, water, and a ring in them respectively. The one who blindfolded touches the earth will soon die, water will never marry, the ring will soon be wedded. To dream of the future on Halloween in Pennsylvania, one must go out of the front door backward, pick up dust or grass, wrap it in paper, and put it under his pillow. In Maryland, girls see their future husbands by a right similar to the scotch wedding of the Sark's Leave. They put an egg to roast and open wide all the doors and windows. The man they seek will come in and turn the egg.  The South has always been famous for its hospitality in good times. On Halloween a miniature druid fire burns in a bowl on the table. In the blazing alcohol are put fortunes wrapped in tin foil, figs, orange peel, raisins, almonds, and dates. The one who snatches the best will meet his sweetheart inside of a year, and all may try for a fortune from the flames. The origin of this custom was the taking of almonds from the death struggles of creatures burning in the fire of sacrifice. Another southern custom is adapted from one in Brittany. Needles are named and floated in a dish of water, those which cling side by side are lovers. Good fortune is in store for the one who wins an apple from the tub, or against who's glass a ring suspended by hair strikes with a sharp chime. A very elaborate charm is tried in Newfoundland. As the clock strikes midnight a girl puts the twenty-six letters of the alphabet cut from paper into a pure white bowl which has been touched by the lips of a newborn babe only. After saying, kind fortune, tell me where is he, who my future lord shall be, from this bowl all that I claim is to know my sweetheart's name. As she puts the bowl into a safe place until morning, then she is blindfolded and picks out the same number of letters as there are in her own name and spells another from them. In New Brunswick, instead of an apple, a hard-boiled egg without salt is eaten before a mirror with the same result. In Canada a thread is held over a lamp. The number that can be counted slowly before the thread parts is the number of years before the one who counts will marry. In the United States a hair is thrown to the winds with the stands enchanted I pluck this lock of hair off my head to tell whence comes the one I shall wed. Fly silk and hair, fly all the world round, until you reach the spot where my true love is found. The direction in which the hair floats is prophetic. The taste in Halloween festivities is now to study old traditions and hold a scotch party using Burns's poem Halloween as a guide or to go a-soling as the English used. In short, no custom that was once honored at Halloween is out of fashion now.  In the scotch custom of cabbage-stop pulling, if the stonk comes up easily, the husband or wife will be easy to win. The melted lead test to show the occupation of the husband to be has been adopted in the United States. If the metal cools in round drops, the tester will never marry, or her husband will have no profession. Quite a fag is used in the same way. Like the Welsh test is that of filling the mouth with water and walking around the house until one meets one's fate. An adaptation of the Scottish Three Luggies is the row of four dishes holding dirt, water, a ring, and a rag. The dirt means divorce, the water a trip across the ocean, the ring, marriage, and the rag no marriage at all.  Sometimes the cabbage stalks are used in the elements to take the place of faggots. To induce prophetic dreams, salt, in quantities from a pinch to an egg-full, is eaten before one goes to bed. Miss Jeanette, that's such a fine trick.  Adams, Chrissie's Fate. If after taking three doses of salt two minutes apart, a girl goes to bed backwards, lies on her right side, and does not move till morning, she is sure to have eventful dreams. Pills made of a hazelnut, a walnut, and nutmeg grated together and mixed with butter and sugar cause dreams. If of gold, the husband will be rich. If of noise, a tradesman. If of thunder and lightning, a traveller. As in Ireland, bay leaves on or under a man's pillow will cause him to dream of a sweetheart. Also, turn your boots toward the street, leave your garters on your feet, put your stockings on your head, you'll dream of the one you're going to wed. Lemon peel carried all day and rubbed on the bed-posts at night will cause an apparition to bring the dreaming girl two lemons. For quiet sleep and the fulfilment of any wish, eat before going to bed on Halloween a piece of dry bread. A far more interesting development of the Halloween idea than these innocent but colourless superstitions is promised by the pageant at Fort Worth, Texas, on October 31, 1916. In the mask and pageant of the afternoon, four thousand school children took part. At night scenes from the pageants were staged on floats which passed along the streets. The subject was preparedness for peace, and comprised scenes from American history in which peace played an honourable part. Such were the Conference of William Penn and the Quakers with the Indians, and the opening of the East to American trade. This is not a subject limited to performances at Halotide. May there not be written and presented in America a truly Halloween pageant illustrating and befitting its noble origin and making its place secure among the holidays of the year? End of Section 15 Red for LibriVox.org Bring forth the raisins and the nuts, to-night all hallows specter struts along the moonlit way. No time is this for tear or sob, or other woes, our joys to rob, but time for pippin' and for bob, and jack-o'-lantern gay. Come forth, he lass and trousered kid, from prison to mischief raise the lid, and lift it good and high. Leave grave old wisdom in the lurch, set folly on a lofty perch, nor fear the awesome rod of birch when dawn allumes the sky. Tis night for revel set apart, to reallume the darkened heart and rout the hosts of dole. Tis night when goblin, elf, and fey come dancing in their best array, to prank and roister on the way and ease the troubled soul. The ghosts of all things past parade, emerging from the mist and shade that hid them from our gaze, and full of song and ringing mirth in one glad moment of rebirth, again they walk the ways of earth as in the ancient days. The beacon light shines on the hill, the willow wisps, the forest fill, with flashes filched from noon, and witches on their broomstick spry, speed here and yonder in the sky, and lift their strident voices high unto the hunter's moon. The air resounds with tuneful notes, for myriads of straining throats, all hailing folly queen. So join this welling choral throng, forget your sorrow and your wrong, in one glad hour of joyous song to honor halloween. J.K. Bangs in Harper's Weekly, November 5, 1910. Halloween Failure Who's that peaking in to do, set my heart a-beatin'? Thought I see a spook for show, on my way to meeting. Here to rustlin' all around, trees all sorta jiggled, and along the frosty ground funny shatters wiggled. Who's that by the winter-sail, gettin' sorta scary? Feets is feelin' kinda chill, eyes is sorta teary. Most nervous as a coon when da dogs is barkin', or a witter when some spoon comes along a-sparkin'. What's that creepin' up da road, quiet like a ferret, hoppin' softly as a toad, maybe it's a spirit! Lordy, hope there ain't no ghosts, come to tell me howdy! I ain't got no use for those phantoms, damp and cloudy. What's that standin' by defense, with its eyes a-yurnin', drivin' out my common sense, with its glance and its burnin'? Don't da scarcely go to bed with them spooks round me. Ain't no rest for this year head when them folks around me. What's that groanin' sound I hear, off dare by the garden? Lordy, lordy, lordy, dear, grant this sinner pardon! Won't never, I declare, if it ain't my Sammy. Sembo, what you doin' dare? You can't scare yo' mammy! Carlyle Smith in Harper's Weekly, October 29, 1910 Halloween Pixie, cobalt, elf and sprite, are all on their rounds tonight, in the wan-moon-silver ray thrives their helter-skelter play. Fond of cellar, barn or stack, true unto the almanac, they present to credulous eyes strange hobgoblin mysteries. Cabbage-stumps, straws wet with dew, apple-skins and chestnuts, too, and a mirror for some lass, show what wonders come to pass. Doors they move and gates they hide, mischiefs on moon-beams ride, are their deeds, and by their spells, love records as oracles. Don't we all, of long ago, by the ruddy fireplace glow, in the kitchen and the hall, those queer, coof-like pranks recall? Eerie shadows they were then, but to-night they come again. For we once more, but sixteen, precious would be Halloween. Joel Benton in Harper's Weekly, October 31, 1896 Halloween A gypsy flame's on the hearth, sign of this carnival of mirth, through the dunned fields and from the glade, flash merry folk in the masquerade, it is the witching Halloween.  Soft gusts of love and memory, beat at the heart reproachfully, the lights that burn for those who die, were flickering low, let them flare high, it is the haunting Halloween. AF Murray in Harper's Weekly, October 30, 1909 End of Section 16 End of the Book of Halloween by Ruth Edna Kelly Read for LibriVox.org into the public domain by Professor Heather Mby in Carrollton, Georgia in October 2009 For more free audiobooks or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org


Hi, Jeff Rick here with the Cube. We're on the ground at the San Jose Convention Center at the Intuit QuickBooks Connect 2015 show. About 5,000 people, second year of the show, want to come down and get a feel for what's going on. I'm really excited to be joined by our next guest, Karen Peacock, the VP of Small Biz, into a QuickBooks. Welcome, Karen. Thanks, Jeff. Nice to meet you. I'm happy to be here. Absolutely. So for the folks that haven't been to the show, kind of give an update. What's the show all about? Why did you guys decide to do this? What's the vibe this year? So QuickBooks Connect is all about helping small businesses succeed and getting small businesses connected. It's also for accountants. You used to come in the mail every year. You got your updates when the tax laws changed it. So you've been into it for a while. Yes. I've seen that transfer before. Share the story of how that changed, because that's really what it used to be. Everybody had it. You got your update every year. But now you've got things out of the cloud. Now we just talk to hobby about your developer program. I had no idea you guys had such an active developer program. So talk to the audience a little bit about that transformation. How did it come about? Where are you guys in that turn? So it's been a real transformation for us. At our core, we've always had the same mission. It's with slightly different words, but it's really all about helping small businesses succeed. We believe that when small businesses thrive, we all do. And so we started with desktop software, you know, the CDs and the mail. Right, right, right. It's going to the store. And then over the past kind of five plus years, it's really transformed to being a new business. And in particular last year, we've had four customers on our communication. You can run stable. We have the kind of connections that you can make with other products. It's accessible all the time, right? There's this little thing called local. Suddenly, it's an increasing in order. Part of your portfolio. People used to say, no way can I ever imagine doing it. One guy said, I score. I never do accounting in a local device. He picked out his phone. He's like, you know what I'm doing now? I recognize doing this all. Which is just a huge transformation. Right. Well, that's good to see. What are some of the actual functions that you find people do? Because now it's all an act. You can see how people are using what they do. What are some of the things that you do in local? Because I'm sure a lot of people are like, I haven't even got my bank of America on there yet. I don't know what I'm doing in my accounting. Let me do a couple of good examples. So one thing is, I'm driving out to my clients. And I'm trying to remember what was the last spot exactly that gives me this mind. It didn't overpay me for that invoice. And so you can go there and say, it's still only $200. That's just what we thought it to be. Maybe that $200 from the last time that we worked together. So that's a great example. Another thing that you can do. That's $200 from me. Exactly. You can just walk around. It's really a question for my husband first.  You're not just shipping it just once a year. How is that going to adopt it inside of the company? And what's that enabling you to do that? It's totally inspiring and transformational. Because you can have releases then on a weekly basis. And have them check it out. You can learn from them. Yeah, I love those three things you did. You forgot about this one thing. You lost them when you got that up. And get it out there to customers. Yeah, that's interesting. Because you guys have always been getting feedback from customers.  Yeah, absolutely. So, but now this gives you a whole another level of insight into the way that people are actually using the application. And we can see what areas of the application people use more and figure out how to make that better. Things that take too long live low. Sometimes we actually do make the product better. Okay, so then the next shift gears is this whole kind of entrepreneurship focus.  It's not just a tool. But we just had Lindsay Lorrain on. You've got a contest. Somebody's got to win a Super Bowl at. You've got a marketplace. Oh, I can't say that. The big game at Levi's Stadium in February. That's right. With gold. And also, that's something I've never heard about. You've got actually a marketplace for financing for small business. Yeah, so one of the things that we have realized is that the number one reason why small businesses fail is because of cash construction. And that's probably the surprise of what some of the things that we can do with cash construction is help you get paid. It would also help you when you need to get money. This owner has really far 100 plus. Different questions we have to use. Do you ever put that up? Yes, yes, yes. Our folks' houses. Yes, of course. I love the Anthony radio now. They're like, just bring your paperwork through last year. You already did it, right? Exactly. And so what we do is we take that 100 plus question process. We simplify it down to one. And how we do that is we take the data from Google for a long time. So there you can. And then what we've also seen is that most small businesses today, with all of this work done, and those to get done. Why? Oftentimes, it's questions about their cash flow and not knowing enough about the business. And that's what we can just respond to. So we take rather than 100 questions, one is like that's much more important than that, rather than two thirds of people getting turned down. Because with the proper authorization, the lenders now can see a different kind of detail than just the questions and the answers on those questions.   We've been building great software for a long time. We open up a third party developer top back and over. What goes in front of that? That's great. You know, it's interesting to me that we started that back in the desktop day. But it's really hard to have an open platform on the desktop. And the difference just so much is that we're really focused on this mission and all the promises that we see. That's awesome.