Nowadays, we tend to think of Halloween as a thoroughly modern phenomenon, an American Hallmark holiday. But using newspapers from the Victorian era, accessed through The Archive, we will discover in this blog how Halloween is a thoroughly ancient phenomenon. We will look at the ancient origins of the October festival, and explore its traditions, some of which have lasted through to this day, like bobbing for apples, and others that have fallen by the wayside, for example the day’s …
superstitions
We have all fallen victim to superstitions. I avoid walking under ladders, never open an umbrella indoors, and dread spilling salt at the table. Even Napoleon was influenced by superstitions. Once when he was separated from his beloved Josephine, a picture of her fell over, and with haste, Napoleon sent a message to Josephine to make sure she was well. A look through The British Newspaper Archive proves that people of all walks of life have been touched by fear …
Tags
Uh-oh! It’s that day again. To calm the nerves (we hope!), here is a newspaper cartoon that advises us that Friday 13th is just another day, and also a report about some of the very interesting superstitions observed in the 1930s on these spooky days. You can also read our blog post entitled, ‘Friday the 13th Stories, Traditions and Superstitions’. Dundee Courier – Friday 13 April 1934 Image © D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY …