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Posted: 30 Oct 2015

Taken: 30 Oct 2015

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***HALLOWEEN*** ***HALLOWEEN***

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Wishing You a Lucky Halloween

Wishing You a Lucky Halloween
Postmark on the back of this postcard: Worcester, Mass., Oct. 30, 1909.

Addressed to: Miss Ora Bickford, New Gloucester, Maine, R.F.D. no. 1.

Message: "With best wishes for a happy Hallowe'en. Love, Elva."

"A formerly widespread tradition held that young women gazing into a mirror in a darkened room (often on Halloween) could catch a glimpse of their future husband's face in the mirror--or a skull personifying Death if their fate was to die before they married." This explanation of what the women in this postcard is doing appears in Wikipedia's article on scrying, which is defined as "the practice of looking into a translucent ball or other material with the belief that things can be seen, such as spiritual visions, and less often for purposes of divination or fortune-telling."

Cupid's presence in this postcard is somewhat puzzling, but the publisher, L. R. Conwell, also included Cupid in at least one other Halloween postcard. See The Joys of Halloween Be Yours.

See below for additional examples of early twentieth-century postcards that depict mirror-gazing and other Halloween fortune-telling activities.

Hallow'een Greeting

Halloween Greetings

Halloween Games at Midnight

May This Be Your Luck on Halloween

amylsacks, , Smiley Derleth, and 2 other people have particularly liked this photo

Comments
 Stan Askew
Stan Askew club
these are great!
9 years ago.

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