25/10/2023
This engraving from 1849 depicts a popular Halloween superstition which spanned the mid to late 19th century. The superstition was referred to as a “love test”, to be practiced Halloween eve by women who were single in hopes of finding love and marriage.
It was said that if a woman, who was single, looked in a mirror at exactly midnight on Halloween eve, she would see the reflection of her future husband, whom she would soon meet and marry. A variation to this love test involved a woman going to the top floor of her home at midnight Halloween eve. Then, looking at herself in a handheld mirror, with a candle in the other hand for light, she was to descend every stair in the home backward. By the time she reaches the bottom stair, she was to have seen the reflection of her future husband in the mirror.
Another, more unusual love test was practiced together by two or more women, all of whom were single.
Prior to the clock striking midnight on Halloween eve, each woman would boil an egg. When the egg was boiled, the yoke was removed and the empty egg was filled with salt. At exactly midnight, the women were to eat the salt-filled egg without anything to drink. They were then to go to bed immediately afterward. Because they would be thirsty from the salt, they were supposed to dream of water, in which the image of their future husband was supposed to bring them a glass of water in that dream. If the woman accepted the glass of water from her dream suitor, she would one day meet that very man in real life and marry him. If she refused the glass of water, she would not meet that man and chances would be greater of her never being married.