Ch 3. - Learning.
The Hallowed Lady – Hallow Eve
All Saint's day. All Soul's day. All Hallow's Eve. Hallowe'en. The Druid and Celtic tribesmen believed it was the night where the barrier between the world of the living, their own plane of existence, and the world they could not see, the world of spirits and souls, demons and fae folk, angels and monsters, was at its weakest. They would leave soul cakes for these spirits, and children of the poor would go 'a souling' for these cakes. Anyone who did not leave these cakes as 'treats' would be cursed with 'tricks' from the spirits as punishment.
Children sometimes dressed or disguised themselves as the very creatures and monsters they tried to appease, performing acts and feats for the rich of the town in exchange for treats and presents of their own. Once again, the children would play tricks if people did not participate, asking 'trick or treat?' when the head of the household answered. A tradition kept in place today, even if some do not ask before playing their tricks.
The tradition of pumpkins and jack o'lanterns comes from an old legend of a man who wandered through the spirit world to find the woman he loved, carrying a light inside a small pumpkin as his only link to the human world. People lit them to guide souls and spirits back to their world after they had spent their evening on Earth.
Born in Druid/Celtic ruled Angleand (modern day: England) to the same name, daughter to Ninian Eve and Drustan Eve. Raised in a small village with her brothers Áedán and Caohm, she was level headed but a trickster, efficient with her work and yet always begging for more time to play. Her namesake, the festival of All Hallow's Eve, also marks the date of her birth, giving her more reason than most to favour that day above others. Combined with her personality, people saw her as a true 'Hallowed Lady'. A woman borne from the world of spirits. Some feared her, some were in awe. However it is undisputable that she was the one who loved All Hallow's Eve more than any child alive. For the day, she would create costumes and twist tales together for the children of the villiage to listen to. When the night fell, she would take the children 'a soulin' for the cakes people left, dressed in the beautiful costumes made from the little her family had. She played marvellous tricks without once being punished for them, for people knew she was only carrying out the will of the spirits they had not appeased. And children loved her.
Never once would she ask for anything in exchange. She was a protector of the children, telling them stories of the creatures that lurked out of sight, but never letting them be taken by them. It was Áedán who enjoyed her stories the most, adding to them and spinning just as well as she could, despite being older. Her brother Caohm saw her as a mindless child who needed to understand the true meanings and ways of the world instead of immersing herself with the children and stories. The stories were fine, but he wished his sister would grow up and see past her childhood. He wished she would become more practical, instead of seeming to cling to the spiritual. A pity he could not believe in the spiritual as she did.
It was one night, doing nothing more than taking the children dancing for the Eve dressed as the Fae folk with soft wings, she heard a curious sound, that of bells where they could not exist. One of the children, also hearing the sound, begged Hallow to go with her. To find the source of the beautiful noise. Hallow agreed, not having the heart to disappoint the child, and, leaving Áedán in charge of the children, began to trek through the dense forest in search of the bells. The two searched for hours, the trees too thick to tell just how dark it had gotten. Until Hallow realised the child had stopped. Unmoving, not breathing, eyes wide in fright, cheeks marked with silent tears. Around her feet lay a perfect circle of small mushrooms. A Fae trap. As the bells around them got steadily louder, Hallow screamed to the Fae to leave the child alone. To spare the child. She knew the Fae stole children, knew the tales. Knew the warnings. Thankfully also knew the protection. She had, that day, given all of the children iron bands to wear on their wrists. But had left her own at home. They spared the child. They did not spare her.
The very creatures she had twisted tales about for the children were the very creatures that killed her.
Jack had to stop reading there, looking up to Bunny to find the Pooka still watching him, "She was killed by fairies? But Tooth's fairies are such cute little things!" Bunnymund shook his head,
"Read carefully mate, it may say 'Fae' and ankle biters of today may call them fairies now, but there's a difference. Fae ain't the nice little creatures people write stories on. They're vicious, taking children and killing if they need to. Like it says Jack, people don't always wanna remember the old ways." He folded his arms again, staring at the book in his hand, "people think 'fairies' is derived from 'Faeries' but you've gotta remember the differences sometimes."
Jack looked back over the book again. There was more.
Awakening
Upon awakening in the forest, she was frightened. For she had been reborn with the sight of the shadows - seeing for the first time the lights of the Fae, hearing the howling of the man-wolves, feeling the energies of the wandering spirits that haunted the Earth on that one night. It had been no myth. The gateway was weak on this night. And so Hallow was needed to protect it. For the moon told her, so it would be.
However, her village only believe in the dead when they are not people they themselves buried in the earth. She could only exist and retain her strength because even if no one believed in her, they believed in what she did. They believed in All Hallow's Eve coming every year. As long as that belief existed, so could she.
"Is that how I existed for so long?" Jack asked.
Bunny blinked at him, "eh now?" he leaned forward, trying to read where Jack was.
Jack showed him the paragraph, "when you guys began losing belief, you got weak, but I never did. Is that why? Because people still believed in winter and snow days?" after flicking over the paragraph, Bunnymund shrugged,
"Couldn't tell ya."
However, people began to want those creatures they did not understand. They wanted the fear and the exhilaration. To see the creatures that hid in the shadows or at the very least be aware and wary of their presence. It was something Hallow could not understand. Why people would want to see the monsters she protected them from. And so, Hallow met Pitch.
"Woah, Woah, Woah. This girl knew Pitch?!" Jack exclaimed, earning a twitch of the mouth from his fellow guardian,
"She was on better terms with him than we were. Quit getting distracted, keep reading you you ain't gonna finish before next winter."
Pitch became almost a tutor for her. Guiding the young, inexperienced girl in the ways of people's nightmares, explaining to her how there are people who thrive off of fear and the monsters. It was because of Pitch's influence that she learned the extent of her abilities. The fragile balancing act between too much fear and just enough, and the true extent of darkness that lay beyond the gateway she protected. However she was fooled. Pitch gained her trust for it was something she easily gave. Once he had it, he attempted to open the gate that separated this world from the next. To flood the world with monsters and nightmares.
Hallow did nothing to stop him. It is unknown whether she was an accomplice in this scheme, or unknowing. It is, however, important to take note that she is the only one with access to the gate unless she allows others to reach it. To some extent, she was responsible.
"That's how the dark age came about."
This time Jack looked up, "what?" he asked. Bunny's expression was grim.
"The dark age. When we were first called upon as guardians. It happened because Pitch managed to let loose the shadows and the nightmares until the gate was closed again." He sighed, "there's no way it couldn't have been her who opened it. She's the only one who holds the key and she ain't one to give it away" Bunny looked down at the book,
"She's a trickster. More than that book tells you. She don't care for the people she tricks either." Well someone sounded grouchy. (Jack was willing to bet money that the Easter guardian had been on the receiving end of her tricks more times than he'd like.) He turned back to the book.
Overall, Hallow is an unpredictable character, one who has no reputable allies or friends after Pitch's betrayal. She rarely leaves her land, what she does there is not known. All that is know, is that she falls into a heavy sleep for six months, waking exactly three months before All Hallow's Eve, sleeping again exactly three months after.
Jack paused again, "why does it just stop there?"
Bunny peered over his shoulder again, "there still more, mate. It hasn't stopped." Jack frowned and Bunny looked again, "you mean why does it just stop there? Well, this book's added to by The man in the moon. And in her world, Manny can't reach her to check up on her. No one's heard from her in years. She ends out her sweets and her pumpkins and her costumes to the kids, but we don't see her. Not once in well over five hundred years. We know less about her than we do about the groundhog." Jack gave a grin,
"She grows punpkins?" he chuckled to himself as he looked up at Bunnymund, "she honestly grows pumpkins?" a furred paw pointed to a small list at the bottom of the page.
Responsibilities
Hallow Eve holds many responsibilities to her holiday, many simple traditions, as well as many much more important:
~Pumpkins will be plentiful and grown on time for the families to carve, without early rotting, and in enough sizes for even the smallest hands to carve designs.
~Costumes shall be embedded with enchantments which ward off the spirits and Fae folk who come through.
~Confectionery will be plentiful without running out, with enough variety to keep all children content
Jack laughed, "Are you telling me it's genuinely a responsibility for her to make sure there's enough candy for the kids?" even Bunny smiled at him,
"One of the few times she spoke to Tooth was an argument about exactly that."
~Creatures from the spirit world will be closely monitored; any passing through should be registered and accounted for upon returning.
~wayward passers will be found and returned IMMEDIATELY.
~The gate shall be protected at all times. No dangerous spirit or creature shall pass through. No one shall be allowed to use the Gate past it's keeper.
The winter guardian read that last line four times, "she's one girl…and she's in charge of a whole different world? Why did Manny do that? And I still don't get it. Why isn't she full guardian? There doesn't really seem to be much wrong. She does her job, and does it well if the Halloweens I've seen are anything to go by. And it even says she protects the kids from the horrors beyond whatever this 'gate' is. She may as well already be a guardian!" Once again, his fellow guardian's face turned grim,
"Some people aren't designed to be guardians. She sure a hell ain't designed for it. She couldn't protect that gate against even Pitch."
Jack looked back at the book. Taking up the last page was another picture. This girl was very similar in looks to Hallow, but her smile was slightly kinder. Her hair, a deeper shade of red, not the pumpkin orange from before, short and messy around her head but tied in a long braid over one shoulder. Green eyes framed only by light makeup. Jack assumed her outfit was a costume, the shirt in silvery-grey and black, torn almost to shreds, the sleeves miraculously staying against her arms. The skirt matched the shirt, torn edges brushing around her knees. Her boots were knee high but made of loose fabric, tied to her legs with thick string…or was that vines again? He couldn't tell. He pointed to it, "When she was human?"
Bunny gave a nod, "yeah." His voice was low, quiet. Jack turned back to the book. Flicking the pages to look between the pictures.
Hallow was a Celtic born girl. She was carrying more responsibility than she should need to. She had a land, a home, that she rarely left. She wasn't believed in. Just like Jack. The more he learned, the more he questioned. The more he wanted to know. Eyes meeting Hallow's wide one in the picture, he asked himself again,
'Who was Hallow Eve?'
"I guess the fastest way to find out about her is to talk to the girl in person, huh?"
This took much longer than it should have done. I took a lot of old druid and Celtic tales and roots/links to Halloween when writing her record. I also made very small changes to parts here and there to either suit the flow of the story more to to suit later parts of the story better.
and yes, you'll get to see how she truly behaves and what her land looks like soon. reviews/comments/corrections on grammar and spelling appreciated. flames are not.