Our modern Christmas celebration is largely free from superstition. We practice many traditions today that have their roots in superstition and folk belief, but we practice them in a way that’s mostly devoid of their original meaning. Sure, we may put out the holly and kiss under the mistletoe, but who among us actually knows the backstories?
Christmas Past is thick with ritual and belief involving all kinds of things like bringing good luck, predicting the weather, ensuring a healthy crop, communicating with animals, and of course, finding true love.
Here are 10 love superstitions from Christmas past. As with most love superstitions, these Christmassy examples were practiced almost exclusively by unmarried young women. Give them a whirl…your mileage may vary!
- If you freeze a bowl of water overnight on Christmas Eve, the ice patterns seen on Christmas morning will disclose your heart’s desire.
- If lie on the floor on New Year’s Eve and toss your show backward over your head, the toe will point in the direction your future husband will come from.
- If you accept an edelweiss flower at Christmas, you also accept the man who presents it.
- If you peel an apple on Christmas Eve,and keep the peel in one piece, you can drop the peel to the floor from over your head. The pattern of the peel on the floor will reveal your future husband’s initials.
- If a blindfolded goose is placed in a circle of girls during the 12 days of Christmas, the first girl it touches will be first to marry.
- If you sleep with a slice of fruitcake under your pillow, you will dream of your one and only true love.
- If you knock on the hen house on Christmas Eve and a rooster crows, you will marry within the year.
- You can see an image of your future husband if you approach a pear tree backwards on Christmas Eve and walk around it three times.
- If you throw a shoe into a pear tree 12 times during the 12 Day of Christmas, and it stays in the tree at least once, you will marry the man of your dreams.
- If you swipe a sprig of mistletoe from your church’s decorations and place it under your pillow, you will dream of your future husband.