Traditional Samhain Divination Practices
In Scotland, young women would hang wet sheets in front of a fire on Samhain because it was said that they would be able to see the image of their future husband.
When bobbing for apples, two different factors were said to predict the participant’s love life. First, how many tries it took to catch and apple, and second how crisp the apple was.
The fewer tries it took to catch an apple, the sooner the participant would fall in love or marry.
If the apple was crisp or crunchy the participant would have a happy marriage. If the apple was soft or rotten there would be heartache and misery. (x)
The participants would peel one long strip of skin from an apple and throw the peel over their shoulder. Whatever letter the peel resembled was said to be the first letter of their soulmate’s name. (x)
Many strings would be tied to the stem of an apple and each string held by a participant as they walked around a fire (with the apple directly above the fire). The first string to break would indicate the person who will marry first. (x)
Couples would throw hazelnuts into a fire. If the hazelnuts split apart the relationship will be tumultuous and rocky. If the hazelnuts caught fire and burned without splitting the relationship will be strong, happy, and long. (x)
A barmbrack cake is an Irish tea cake made with raising and spices and filled with symbolic objects. These objects include:
A coin to predict prosperity
A key to signify a journey
A thimble for spinsterhood
A button to indicate a man will remain a bachelor
A scrap of cloth to predict poverty
The cake would be cut and served and the object in the recipient’s piece would serve as a prediction of their future. The person who cut the cake was traditionally the host or the designated “Mother or Dame Halloween”. (x)
Four saucers would be occupied by water, clay, salt, and a ring, respectively. The participant would be blindfolded and have to choose a saucer at random. The contents of the chosen saucer would predict an aspect of the participant’s future: (x)
“Perhaps the most involved divination game is The Chest. This is played at the stroke of midnight. All the girls are gathered together in a dark room. Mother or Dame Halloween lights a candle and each girl is given an unlit candle. One by one they light their candle from Mother Halloween’s and they are told to follow her leader. As she says this a side door is opened revealing a small child dressed in a fancy costume and mask. The child approaches the girl, bows, and then leads the way out of the room to a distant part of the house where there is a closed door.
The child tells her that she must enter and take a numbered box from a chest of drawers in the room but not open it. She must continue in silence and close the door behind her on the way in and out. After she has retrieved the box and if she has luck, on the way back to the door she will see the shadow of her future husband walking beside her.
Once the girls are back to the party they may open their boxes, inside are small presents or party favors.
The key to this game is in preparation. The room must be prepared in advance, cleared of everything but the chest of drawers, and it must be completely dark. The door to this room should remain closed and no guests allowed to enter. During the evening the hosts would plant ideas as to what dark, ominous, or even dangerous things are inside the room so as to scare the young girls and test their bravery when they entered.” (x)
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