Another
confirmation of the view that the Celts dated their year from the
first of November is furnished by the manifold modes of divination
which were commonly resorted to by Celtic peoples on Hallowe'en for
the purpose of ascertaining their destiny, especially their fortune
in the coming year; for when could these devices for prying into the
future be more reasonably put in practice than at the beginning of
the year? As a season of omens and auguries Hallowe'en seems to have
far surpassed Beltane in the imagination of the Celts; from which we
may with some probability infer that they reckoned their year from
Hallowe'en rather than Beltane. Another circumstance of great moment
which points to the same conclusion is the association of the dead
with Hallowe'en. Not only among the Celts but throughout Europe,
Hallowe'en, the night which marks the transition from autumn to
winter, seems to have been of old the time of year when the souls of
the departed were supposed to revisit their old homes in order to
warm themselves by the fire and to comfort themselves with the good
cheer provided for them in the kitchen or the parlour by their
affectionate kinsfolk.
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