Folk-Lore of West and Mid-WalesDavies, Jonathan Ceredig
History
Folk-Lore of West and Mid-Wales
Davies, Jonathan Ceredig
Folklore -- Wales; Wales -- Social life and customs
I remember the following test or divination resorted to in
Cardiganshire only about twelve years ago. It was tried by young
maidens who wished to know whether their husbands were to be bachelors,
and by young men who wished to know whether their wives were to be
spinsters. Those who performed this ceremony were blindfolded. Then
three basins or dishes were placed on the table, one filled with
clean water, the other with dirty water, and the third empty. Then the
young man or young woman as the case might be advanced to the table
blindfolded and put their hand in the dish; and the one who placed
his hands in the clean water was to marry a maiden; if into the foul
water, a widow; but if into the empty basin, he was doomed to remain
single all his life. Another way for a young maiden to dream of her
future husband was to put salt in a thimble, and place the same in her
stockings, laying them under her pillow, and repeat an incantation
when going to bed. Meyrick in his History of Cardiganshire states
that "Ivy leaves are gathered, those pointed are called males, and
those rounded are females, and should they jump towards each other,
then the parties who had placed them in the fire will be believed by
and married by their sweethearts; but should they jump away from one
another, then, hatred will be the portion of the anxious person."
Testing a lover's love by cracking of nuts is also well known in West
and Mid-Wales.
It was also a custom in the old times for a young girl on St. John's
Eve to go out at midnight to search for St. John's Wort in the light of
a glow worm which they carried in the palm of their hand. After finding
some, a bunch of it was taken home and hung in her bedroom. Next
morning, if the leaves still appeared fresh, it was a good omen;
the girl was to marry within that same year; but, on the other hand,
if the leaves were dead, it was a sign that the girl should die,
or at least she was not to marry that year.
THE BIBLE AND KEY DIVINATION.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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