Walnuts, Apples, and Garlic to the Rooster and the Dog

After finishing dinner, no one got up from the table quite yet. The father first took a walnut and an apple from a bowl in the center of the table. If the nut was rotten when cracked open, it was an omen of sickness, or even death. But everything could still be saved by the apple; if a star was revealed when it was split in half, this foretold health and long life. Not so fortunate was if the cross
discovered in the middle of the apple. As soon as the man of the house had read his fortune, the process was repeated by all present, from oldest to youngest.

After dinner was finished, everyone tried to stand up from the table at the same time, for it was believed that whoever stood up first would die within a year. The leftovers were then taken by the father out to the livestock. The poultry received a different treat - peas or poppy seeds so they'd lay plenty of eggs. The rooster, gander and dog got garlic in their food, so they would be as sharp as they should be in the next year.

With dinner over came the time that children then and now looked forward to most: opening the presents left under the tree by Baby Jesus. After this came time for another customary practice: A very common custom even to the present day, the floating of little boats made of nutshells on water. A bowl of water was set on the table and everyone put in their half-shell boat, in which was fixed a burning candle. The fortune of each boat-owner was read from the fate of their craft. If the boat made it across the bowl, then a long life lay ahead for the boat's owner. If it sank, then something less pleasant lay in wait for the unlucky captain.

There was another custom connected with walnuts. After dinner, three nuts were cracked open and their insides removed. The first walnut shell was refilled with dirt, the second with a little piece of bread, and the third with money. The shells were then stuck back together and placed back among the other ones. At midnight every took a walnut from the bowl on the table; if someone got the nut with the dirt inside, then poverty awaited them. Getting the nut with bread foretold a comfortable life, and the one with money
inside naturally was a prophesy of great wealth.

Other customs were practiced in particular by girls eager to marry. One way of they could look into what the future had in store was throwing their shoes over their heads. If the toes pointed to the door, then the parents knew to get a wedding dress ready, for the girl would be married within the next year. If, on the other hand, the toes of her shoe pointed back into the room, then their daughter had another year to wait.

If a girl discovered by her shoes that she had to wait for her wedding and wanted to know for how long she had to wait, she had to give up a strand of her hair. On this hair she would tie a ring and hold it as close to a glass as she could. The number of times that the ring clinked against the glass before it settled was the number of years she had to wait.

A girl curious about the physical make-up of her future husband could find out by pulling wood - closing her eyes and taking a piece of wood out of a pile. The shape of this piece of wood would reveal to her how well-built, bent, slim or fat the partner future held for her would be. This fortune could also be read by younger girls, who wanted to know about their future husbands.

Single girls could attempt to get an even better idea of what their future betrothed would be like. All she had to do was to take three slips of paper with the names of her probable partners and tie them up in handkerchiefs so that not a bit stuck out. Then she tie up a fourth handkerchief and put them all under her pillow on Christmas Eve. On the morning of God's Feast (Christmas Day), she would choose one of the hankies and untie it. If it was empty, then she was never going to marry. This gloomy fate could still be averted, however, if she put the three slips of paper with the names into three dumplings, which were cooked for the Christmas Day feast. The husband fate held for her would then be revealed by the first of the dumplings cut open.

Christmas Eve ended with Midnight Mass, which was held in every church. In some regions, Christmas plays were also part of the Mass, which was followed in any case with caroling. On Christmas Eve and God's Feast - December 25 - people wouldn't play cards, go to the pub or visit relatives. This had to wait until St. Stephen's Day - December 26 - when the dancing parties and the period of merry-making and caroling began.

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