Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-17
ON ST. AGNES EVE
THE TIME TO STUDY MATRIMo-
NAL HOROSCOPES.
Charms for Testing Whether a Sweet
heart is True or
False.

Written for The Evening Star.
st. Agnes eve, January 90 is sacred to
the maiden who would know what the fu-
ture has in store for her, matrimonially
BY various arts she seeks to learn her fate.
Would she see her lord and master that
is to be in her dreams2 Then, taking Off
her shoes, she must place them '.r' fashion
and pointed in the direction of the nearest
church. repeating at the same time these
cabalistic lines:
II set my boots in the shape of IT,
Hoping my true love for to see;
The shape Of his body, the color Of his hair,
And the daily apparel my true love doth wear"
Then she must get into bed Backwards
preserving strict silence.
To know If lovers are faithful she should
follow the instructions in these verses:
1.-Two hazel nuts throw into the fame
And to each nut L give sweetheart's name.
This with the loudest bounce me amazed,
That in flame Of brightest color bazed
As blazed the nut, SO may thy passion grow.
For twas thy nut that did SO brightly glow"
There are more lines still if one chooses
to linger over the blazing hearth long
enough to repeat them:
''rhese glowing nuts are emblems true
OF what In human life view.
The Unmatched couple fret and fume,
And thus in strife themselves consume,
Or from each other wildly start
And with noise forever part
SC, 'he h"PP' H"PPy pai,
OF genuine love and truth sincere,
With mutual fondness while they burn,
Still to each other kindly turn,
And as the vital sparks decay,
Together gently sink away,
TIL life's fierce ordeal being past
Their mingled ashes rest at last
Fortunes may also be foretold by a clever
person from the shapes assumed by the
ashes of the burned nuts.
Another odd custom is to suspend three
branches of an evergreen tree from door
way. Each is named, and the person who
first passes through the door and whose
name corresponds to one given to one Of
the evergreens is the fated man.
In order to dream Of ones sweetheart
one must sleep on ones back, with the
hands under the head.
On St. Agnes day snow-white lambs are
maidens in all Catholic countries for many
centuries, st. Agnes being one Of the par
dedicated to her still stands without the
walls of Rome, upon the spot where the
saint at the age of thirteen, suffered mar
tyrdom, about 3O4 A. D.
On ST. Agnes day, snow-white lambs are
dedicated at the altar and afterward shorn,
the fleece being made into pals and sold to
high dfgnitaries Of the church for large
sums, eight ten or thirty thousand crowns
having been paid for one of these pals, at
different times.
An annual procession in the saints honor
takes place in Rome, a lamb beautifully
decorated. being led in the procession.
Formerly blessing the sheep was a
yearly occurrence The shepherd drove his
flock to the church yard, where the priest
sprinkled them with helyfwater. Then the
shepherd redeemed his flock with farth-
ing, laid upon the book Of the gospels.
ST. Agnes, according to- the legends, per-
formed many wonderful miracles before her
DEATH which was by Abeheading. She was
to have been burned and was put into the
fire, but the flames refused to touch her.
Dividing on each side they burned some
of the bystanders and then died out. Iron
did not possess this compassionate quality,
and her head was cut off at a single blow.
Eight days after her death she appeared
to her parents, arrayed in white, leading
lamb whittier than snow and attended by
virgins, wearing garlands Of pearls.