the Dumb Supper: A Divination Rite
The cooling of autumn is approaching, bringing with it the dark half of the year, the necessary death (and eventual rebirth) of the flora and fauna around us, and a significant time for introspection, growth, and renewal for us all. There are many magical practices and crafts that lean heavily upon the darkening of the year – spirit work, symbolic death journeying, and divination being among those works. Before Halloween became focused around children trick-or-treating, parties, and horror films, divinatory customs were commonly practiced on the night of (and the nights leading up to) Halloween. One such divination rite is that of the Dumb Supper.
the Dumb Supper & Its Origins
While the Dumb Supper has come to be more commonly known today as a ritual used to honor the dead and our ancestors (which we have a post about here), its origins are said to lie in a divination rite used to foretell one’s future spouse, and in some rural regions of the United States (particularly within the Appalachian, Southern, and Ozark regions), the use of the term Dumb Supper is still mostly used when speaking of the divinatory practice. Believed to have been brought Stateside by immigrants from the British Isles, the Dumb Supper was practiced in the United States at liminal points in the year, which varied from region-to-region – in the South, Halloween was traditional, while in other areas it’s been said to have been performed on May Eve, on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, during solstices, or during any transitionary period between seasons.
In Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion (Vol. 35, released in July of 1849), the act of divining around Halloween is touched upon in an article by T.S. Arthur titled ‘Love Tests of Halloween’ –
“In the United States, Halloween used to be observed by country maidens as a time for trying sweethearts, and gaining such an intelligible peep into futurity as would enable them to find out whether they would be married or not; and if that happy event was to crown their lives, who would be the man of their choice. And even at this time; “Hallow-Eve,” as it is called, is not suffered to come and go without the effort of some loving maidens to penetrate the mystery of their matrimonial future.”
And penetrating the mystery of one’s matrimonial future is precisely what the Dumb Supper was used for.
Performing the Dumb Supper Divination Ritual
PURPOSE: to divine to identity of one’s future spouse or beloved.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
Food
Dining Ware & Cutleries
Candles
A Quiet Location
WHO TO INVITE:
The Dumb Supper was typically performed by at least two young women, though men could also attend or host one; and it was common that small groups of four or more would come together to carry out this love test of Halloween.
LOCATION:
It was once the custom that abandoned buildings or empty barns were the preferred places to carry out this rite, but these days it just isn’t safe to run around hosting ritual dinners in abandoned buildings. The reason such places were preferred was because one needed somewhere quiet and peaceful where there wouldn’t be any disturbances. That being said, any such place will suffice. You can host this dinner in your home, at an event space, or wherever tickles your fancy, so long as you can ensure a quiet night where no one will come barging in and interrupting your rite.
TIMING:
Preparing the Dumb Supper can take anywhere from half an hour to an entire night, depending on the amount of work you’re willing to put into your meal. The actual moment of foresight is believed to come at the stroke of midnight, so you’ll have to have everything readied beforehand, and you should be seated at the table waiting to receive your vision by midnight.
WHAT TO DO:
From the moment you start preparing your meal for the Dumb Supper, you must maintain total silence. You cannot speak, as it’s said that speaking will break the spell and ruin your chances of successfully divining the identity of your future spouse or beloved. The silence is where the name Dumb Supper comes from, ‘dumb’ being an antiquated (and not very nice) term for silent.
Aside from keeping silent, you must also walk backwards from the moment preparation beings – this includes while cooking and preparing the meal, while setting the table, while placing the foods upon the table, and while walking into the room and finding one’s seat.
In some customs, the seats are all placed facing away from the table.
The cutleries are to be placed in the opposite positions than they normally would. The usual rules are that utensils are laid out in the order in which they’re used, and the diner works their way from the outside in toward the plate; and forks are placed to the left of the plate, with spoons and knives placed to the right. How many utensils used would be determined by how formally you’ve set your table. For a Dumb Supper, regardless of formality, everything is reversed – forks to the right, knives to the left. If you’re including napkins in your place setting, the napkins would normally go at the end of the forks on the left, but for the Dumb Supper, you’ll place them at the end of the forks on the right. The same goes for drinkware – glasses are normally placed above the knives to the right, but they’ll now be placed to the left as well.
Not only will the table be set in reverse, the meal will also be served in reverse – dessert first, appetizers last!
*Note: the backwards dinner concept is more heavily emphasized stateside, while in Scotland and the North of England, the inclusion of a special cake called ‘Dumb Cakes’ were a main focus of the Dumb Supper.
The meal must be prepared and the table set before midnight. You must be seated at the table before the stroke of midnight. Some customs call for leaving an open seat next to each participant, in case an apparition of their future beloved comes to sit at the table beside them. Other traditions state that the face of the beloved will appear in the plate of the participant, or in the flames of the candles that burn on the table. Whichever way they choose appear, this peek into the future is said to come at midnight, but only if everything was prepared correctly, in total silence, and in reverse. There are also claims that instead of an apparition, the future beloved appeared in the flesh, simply walking through the door at midnight and joining in on the meal.
It is also believed that should the participant be presented with the vision of a coffin instead of a person, then that means they wouldn’t be married. The coffin was also seen, in many beliefs, as a portend of death.
To close out the ritual, one must blow out their candles and leave the room as they came – in silence, walking backwards. From then on, you may speak, for the spell is broken and the rite is over.
As with any rite, your Dumb Supper can be as simple or as fancy as you would like. For those of you planning to revive this divination custom as part o your Halloween observances, may you receive the happiest of results and enjoy the best of fortunes. Happy Holidays!
SOURCES & FURTHER READING:
‘the Dumb Supper’ -Frazier, Paul B.
’Anglo-American Folk Belief & Custom: the Old World’s Legacy to the New’ -Hand, Wayland D.
’American Regional Folklore: A Sourcebook and Research Guide’ -Mood, Terry Ann
’Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion, Vol. 35; article ‘Love Tests of Halloween’ -Arthur, T.S.
Atlas Obscura
Holler Notes
In Fiction:
‘Judith of the Cumberlands’ -MacGowan, Alice (Chapter 22, Ebb-Tide & Chapter 23, the Dumb Supper)
On table setting:
Keziah (she/her/they/them) | Keziah is one of Crowsbone’s staff writers. She is a diviner, a dream interpreter, a Jewitch, and a practitioner of traditional regional folk magic and medicine from the area she was raised in (the Southern United States) and from the practices of her ancestors (she is Jewish, a second generation Irish-American, and Aniyvwiya, with French and Scottish roots). She is a scholar of folklore, mythology, and Jewish mysticism, and a would-be historian. Outside of magical craft and all things related, Keziah enjoys puzzles, codes and ciphers, baking, reading, and drinking tea.