2-982-505 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Allhallow-Eve" - a sketch in Kilkenny by Edmund Fitzpatrick, 1858. 'Allhallow-eve (1st of November)...is the night of all others on which the Irish peasantry believe that ghosts, witches, and fairies, but especially the redoubtable phoca, are so industrious in playing pranks on unwary travellers, and that supernatural events narrated by such adventurers form themes for gossip at many a cottage fireside for many a long night afterwards. It is, therefore, not surprising that this evening should be spent in a more festive manner than any other by this imaginative people...A collection being made, the merry party are soon supplied with plenty of eatables, and the indispensable mountain dew in profusion, for the occasion; the scaltheen, or cross sticks, being then suspended from the roof and decorated with apples and lighted candles placed alternately on its points, and, being kept twirling round, invites many a candidate to compete for the ruddy prize; but singed hair or eyelashes, together with the pleasure of being laughed at, is often the reward of his exertions...diving for money in a tub of water is next resorted to...Burning nuts, fortune-telling, and stories are next engaged in, all of which are wound up with a dance'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.