Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-24

sections of each quartered onion if n l. ro,eo..,.
peeled, fits the sections together. wrsns 49,
his Tnose IN tissue paper, ties it up in handler.
ehiet and in turn swings it over each noaidN,,.
mead, while the madens chant:
| GOOD st. Thomas do me right
| AND see my true love come tonight
That may see him in the face
| - ana MN IN my kind arms embrace
me ceremony should be so timed that az tho
iast onion is swung over the last head tbe o1oaI.
Will strike H. Not a word has been snols, H.,
any but st. Thomas" since the saint commenced
ms chaht until the maidens invoke his favor
IN silence as the clocks boom forth the hour Of
lrllunignt' without so much as a Merry Christ
nuas' one nladens, In their white robes take I'D
the snufed candles, light them at the YuIe loo
and solemnly march from the room to their beds
whlle the saint slowly vanishes into the gloom.
NoI "ord must be spoken while preparing
Tor bed, nor must the onion be unwrapped THE
SAINT mas placed the names of four men on the
Sips OF paper put between the quarters of the
onion, or perhaps "he" has written one name
four times "oi''
Ihe onions are placed beneath the pillows and
the maidens settle themselves for the dream
promised
Unwrapping the Onion
Should a man appear In the dream the maiden's
future is revealed. She will marry him ere an
other st. Thomas eve come around, but should
the god OF dreams pass her by she still has an.
other chance. She must unwrap her onion care
fully, let the four quarters drop slowly to the
floor, and should a slip stick to quarter, her
fate is settled. She, too, will have been wooed
and won ere long by the man whose name an
pears on the slip. Should all four names fall
from this strange love symbol, then the maid
must know that she cannot expect assistance
from good St. Thomas that year. but must wait
until another twelve months have rolled around
and Christmas eve has come again
There are several variations of this game
Sometimes the young folks give a dance on the
of the 24th of December, and after refresh
ments the onions are brought FORTH peeled and
quartered while the saint" chosen for the of
hce chants the appropriate refrain. The boys
sit in silence until the chant is ended, then they
escort the girls from the room, returning later TO
slip their names in the onions. As none of the
onions are marked, except secretly so that their
owners may know them this is very much a
game of chance
Before dispensing the girls open their onions
and examine the four slips of paper and select
the which pleases them most. Upon this
they may write their name and slppSng it into
a stamped envelope provided by the hostess. mail
it to the lucky winner. All this, of course, is
done in the spirit of fun but it symbolizes pro-
posal and acceptance and very often results :
on Christmas Day, later in just this.
There are various ways of cheating the little
god of love, and in this very modern way of cee-
brating st. Thomas eve, the girls have been
known to surreptitiousy exchange slips where
the boys in their ignorance have happened upon
the wrong onions
They have also been known to select one boy
for their favor, and to him will go four slips
from St. Thomas onion. AS this puts him in
a pretty fix if his home is outside of Utah, he
is allowed to buy off three all four of these
maidens if he wishes with box of candy or
bundle of American beauties on Christmas morn
ing.