The beginning of November is not solely a time of memory of the dead; customs of other sorts linger, or until lately used to linger, about it, especially in Scotland, northern England, Ireland, Cornwall, Wales, and the West Midlands. One may conjecture that these are survivals from the Celtic New Year's Day, for most of them are of the nature of omens or charms. Apples and nuts are prominent on Hallowe'en, the Eve of All |196| Saints;[89] they may be regarded either as a kind of sacrament of the vegetation-spirit, or as simply intended by homoeopathic magic to bring fulness and fruitfulness to their recipients. A custom once common in the north of England{27} and in Wales{28} was to catch at apples with the mouth, the fruit being suspended on a string, or on one end of a large transverse beam with a lighted candle at the other end. In the north apples and nuts were the feature of the evening feast, hence the name "Nutcrack night."{29} Again, at St. Ives in Cornwall every child is given a big apple on Allhallows' Eve--"Allan Day" as it is called.{30} Nuts and apples were also used as means of forecasting the future. In Scotland for instance nuts were put into the fire and named after particular lads and lasses. "As they burn quietly together or start from beside one another, the course and issue of the courtship will be."{31} On Hallowe'en in Nottinghamshire if a girl had two lovers and wanted to know which would be the more constant, she took two apple-pips, stuck one on each cheek (naming them after her lovers) and waited for one to fall off. The poet Gay alludes to this custom:-- "See from the core two kernels now I take, This on my cheek for Lubberkin is worn, And Booby Clod on t'other side is borne; But Booby Clod soon falls upon the ground, A certain token that his love's unsound; While Lubberkin sticks firmly to the last; Oh! were his lips to mine but joined so fast."{32} In Nottinghamshire apples are roasted and the parings thrown over the left shoulder. "Notice is taken of the shapes which the parings assume when they fall to the ground. Whatever letter a paring resembles will be the initial letter of the Christian name of the man or woman whom you will marry."{33} |197| Hallowe'en is indeed in the British Isles the favourite time for forecasting the future, and various methods are employed for this purpose. A girl may cross her shoes upon her bedroom floor in the shape of a T and say these lines:-- "I cross my shoes in the shape of a T, Hoping this night my true love to see, Not in his best or worst array, But in the clothes of every day." Then let her get into bed backwards without speaking any more that night, and she will see her future husband in her dreams.{34}