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Christmas Divinations
- After the Christmas dinner, one of the popular parlor games is to
float walnut shells as boats in a bowl of water with small burning
candles in them. The owners whose boat cross across the bowl safely
is said to be endowed with prosperity for the coming year while bad
luck awaits those whose boats get sunk in the bowl.
- Everyone is given an apple after dinner, which is then cut in
half lengthwise. If the core is star-shaped, the company is sure of
meeting again safely next year. If anybody's core is in a different
shape, his death is predicted within twelve months' time. The
appearance of four-point cross was a particularly bad omen.
- Small amounts of lead was melted over the Yule log then poured
into a container of water. The resulting shape was then used to
predict future about the pourer.
- Young unmarried girls used to cut a twig from the cherry tree on
St Barbora's Day or 4th of December and put it in water. If it
bloomed by Christmas Eve, her marriage was predicted within a year.
- If shaking an Elder Tree on Christmas Eve makes a dog bark, then
the young girl was said to find the man of her dreams in the general
direction of the bark.
- The gender of the first visitor to the house on Christmas Eve was
said to foretell the sex of the child of the pregnant women in the
household.
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