14 | Steel Notes Magazine steelnotesmagazine . com | October 2014
apple . Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings ; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string , an activity that inevitably leads to a very sticky face .
Some games traditionally played at Halloween are forms of divination . In All Hallows ’ Eve celebrations during the Middle Ages , these activities historically occurred only in rural areas of medieval Europe and were only done by a “ rare few ” as these were considered to be “ deadly serious ” practices . A traditional Scottish form of divining one ’ s future spouse is to carve an apple in one long strip , then toss the peel over one ’ s shoulder . The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse ’ s name . Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night , the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror . However , if they were destined to die before marriage , a skull would appear . The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards from the late 19th century and early 20th century .
Another game / superstition that was enjoyed in the early 1900s involved walnut shells . People would write fortunes in milk on white paper . After drying , the paper was folded and placed in walnut shells . When the shell was warmed , milk would turn brown therefore the writing would appear on what looked like blank paper . Folks would also play fortune teller . In order to play this game , symbols were cut out of paper and placed on a platter . Someone would enter a dark room and was ordered to put her hand on a piece of ice then lay it on a platter . Her “ fortune ” would stick to the hand . Paper symbols included : dollar sign-wealth , button-bachelorhood , thimble-spinsterhood , clothespin- poverty , rice-wedding , umbrella- journey , caldron-trouble , 4-leaf clover- good luck , penny-fortune , ring-early marriage , and key-fame .
The telling of ghost stories and viewing of horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties . Episodes of television series and Hallowe ’ en-themed specials ( with the specials usually aimed at children ) are commonly aired on or before Halloween , while new horror films are often released theatrically before Halloween to take advantage of the atmosphere .
6 Haunted Attractions
Haunted attractions are entertainment venues designed to thrill and scare patrons . Most attractions are seasonal Halloween businesses . Origins of these paid scare venues are difficult to pinpoint , but it is generally accepted that they were first commonly used by the Junior Chamber International ( Jaycees ) for fundraising . They include haunted houses , corn mazes , and hayrides , and the level of sophistication of the effects has risen as the industry has grown . Haunted attractions in the United States bring in an estimate $ 300 – 500 million each year , and draw some 400,000 customers , although press sources writing in 2005 speculated that the industry had reached its peak at that time . This maturing and growth within the industry has led to technically more advanced special effects and costuming , comparable with that of Hollywood films .
On All Hallows ’ Eve , many Western Christian denominations encourage abstinence from meat , giving rise to a variety of vegetarian foods associated with this day .
Because in the Northern Hemisphere Halloween comes in the wake of the yearly apple harvest , candy apples ( known as toffee apples outside North America ), caramel or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup , sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts .
At one time , candy apples were commonly given to trick-or-treating children , but the practice rapidly waned in the wake of widespread rumors that some individuals were embedding items like pins and razor blades in the apples in the United States . While there is evidence of such incidents , relative to the degree of reporting of such cases , actual cases involving malicious acts are extremely rare and have never resulted
14 | Steel Notes Magazine steelnotesmagazine . com | October 2014