Although not to be taken seriously, pippin paring and the roasting of nuts were old matrimonial divination games often played during Halloween and All Souls Day festivities.
Nut Roasting Results
- Place two nuts (usually hazel-nuts) side by side on a roasting grate over a fire.
- If you are doing this for several couples, or different pairings, make sure you name the nuts for the supposed lovers.
- A nut burning brightly and quietly is equated to having sincerity of affection.
- If one of the nuts cracks and jumps, this could foretell unfaithfulness.
- When the nuts burn together, then the couple will be married.
Pippin Paring Prophecy
- To discover the first letter of the name of a future husband, peel a pippin (apple) in a single spiral strip.
- Take the paring and swing it three times around your head, and then let it drop.
- The paring will fall and land in the shape of a letter which will be the initial of a future spouse's name.
Future Spouse Dreams
- Sleep with a piece of wedding cake under your pillow.
- Wear your pjs or nightgown inside out.
- Put a mirror under your pillow.
- Rub lemon peel on your headboard.
- Place some mistletoe under your pillow.
- Look for and count nine stars every night for nine nights in a row.
- Find some daisies and put them under your pillow.
- Look for a falling star on St. Lawrence's Day (August 10th).
- On Midsummer Eve (June 24), after picking seven different wildflowers, be quiet as you walk home backwards, then put the wildflowers under your pillow.
- Before going to bed, brush your hair three times in front of a mirror.
Herbs
- Take a pair of shoes.
- Place a sprig of rosemary in one shoe, and a sprig of thyme in the other.
- Sprinkle them with water three times.
- Position the shoes at the foot of your bed to have a dream of your future spouse.
Boiled Egg Superstition
- Cut a boiled egg in half.
- Remove the yolk from one half and fill the cavity with salt.
- Put the egg back together and try to eat it before going to sleep.
- Whoever who brings you some water to drink in your dream will be your future mate.
Mules' Ears
- Find a mule with really long ears.
- Ask it if you will fall in love soon.
- The answer is yes if the mule shakes its head.
- If only one ear moves, the answer is maybe.
- If the mule is still, with no ears moving, the answer is no.;
Apple Stems
- Begin twisting the stem of an apple.
- Say the names of those you might marry.
- The name of your future spouse will be the one you are saying when the stem falls off.
