8 Lost Halloween Traditions That Prove the Holiday Used to be All About Getting Hitched

Lost Halloween traditions dating back to 18th-century Ireland also centered around, you guessed it, matchmaking. For instance, on Halloween night, a cook might place a ring inside a bowl of mashed potatoes. Whoever found it was sure to find true love.

Pictured above: "Snap-Apple Night" by Irish artist Daniel Maclise, influenced by a Halloween party he attended in Blarney, Ireland, in 1832. One line of Maclise's description of the scene stated "There was Kate, and her sweet-heart Will, / In nuts their true-love burning."