"[626] On Hallowe'en, too, the
Lancashire maiden "strews the ashes which are to take the form of one or
more letters of her lover's name; she throws hemp-seed over her shoulder
and timidly glances to see who follows her."[627] Again, witches in
Lancashire used to gather on Hallowe'en at the Malkin Tower, a ruined
and desolate farm-house in the forest of Pendle. They assembled for no
good purpose; but you could keep the infernal rout at bay by carrying a
lighted candle about the fells from eleven to twelve o'clock at night.
The witches tried to blow out the candle, and if they succeeded, so much
the worse for you; but if the flame burned steadily till the clocks had
struck midnight, you were safe. Some people performed the ceremony by
deputy; and parties went about from house to house in the evening
collecting candles, one for each inmate, and offering their services to
_late_ or _leet_ the witches, as the phrase ran. This custom was
practised at Longridge Fell in the early part of the nineteenth
century.[628] In Northumberland on Hallowe'en omens of marriage were
drawn from nuts thrown into the fire; and the sports of ducking for
apples and biting at a revolving apple and lighted candle were also
practised on that evening.[629] The equivalent of the Hallowe'en
bonfires is reported also from France. We are told that in the
department of Deux-Sevres, which forms part of the old province of
Poitou, young people used to assemble in the fields on All Saints' Day
(the first of November) and kindle great fires of ferns, thorns, leaves,
and stubble, at which they roasted chestnuts.
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