Lecture 4 – Romantic Divination Customs in Early Halloween Postcards – Lisa Gabbert
This talk examines the folk beliefs and practices represented in early Halloween postcards. Although Halloween in the US today is largely associated with death, horror, and even gore, 19th and early 20th century postcards and other sources reveal that Halloween was more of a romantic time, closely associated with love divination practices. People engaged in romantic parlor games and participated in customs designed to predict one’s future marital prospects, such as the burning of nuts, pouring wax or lead into water, and mirror divination. Such customs give context to other early Halloween images, such as witches, fairies, and even human-like pumpkins, which are sometimes depicted as potential paramours.
Bio:
Lisa Gabbert is Professor of Folklore Studies in the Department of History at Utah State University. She is the author of three books and numerous book chapters and articles. She is interested in all things folkloric, but particularly festivity and its overlaps with play, legendry, and sacred and supernatural figures. Other interests include folklore and landscape, and folklore in medical contexts. She currently is co-editor of the Journal of American Folklore and President of the Western States Folklore Society.
Caption: Vintage Halloween Card (1909). Public Domain.
Divining the Past, Present, and Future: Oracles, Series 2 – Four Lectures
Join us for Series Two as we journey once again into the histories and mysteries of divination. Delivered by leading scholars in the field
Curated & Hosted by
Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. She lives in Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesvos.
Attendees will receive a recording of each lecture valid for 4 weeks.
