Games for All Mallow Eve.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 436, 11 January 1890, Page 6

Games for All Mallow Eve.

The charmed number, seven (so called by the superstitious), rules the evening. So the girl who catches seven nuts, or larger number, which is a multiple of seven, is considered most fortunate. The one who secures the largest number of all (if it can bo divided evenly by seven) is declared the fairy godmother, and she becomes arbitress of the ‘ Shake,’ says the ‘ Ladies’ Home Journal.’ Seven baskets are brought, into which the nuts which have fallenupon the blankets are gathered. Double nuts are said to signify an early wedding ; clusters of three a legacy ; four indicate great wealth ; five, a vo\age across the sea; six, fame as a public speaker; seven, the possession of the gift most desired by the finder. The tires are now, probably, sufficiently advanced so that the loasting of nuts, apples,"and late-planted corn may begin. So with long pointed sticks, some spear the corn and apples, while others bury nuts and apples in the hot ashes. Still oihers name the nuts and lay them upon a shovel above the red-hot coals, watching with deepest interest what their behaviour while roasting may predict. If the nuts roast quickly, it foretells long and true friendships. If they fly about snappishly, a quarrel is prophesied. If one or more bursts, loss of money is to be expected. Those that keep moving are unstable, and such as fly off the shovel will remain single still another year.

The same mystical interest and meaning must enter into the apple roasting. Apples are named, likewise,, for those present, after which the app'es must be turned seven times about on the palm of the hand before being consigned to the ashes. If an apple cooks evenly to the core without scorching, and the seeds number seven or fourteen, or possibly twenty-one, greatgood-fortune may be expected. If the core proves hard or worm-eaten, and less than-even seedsmay be counted, bad fortune is anticipated. If the apple bursts its skin and flies in pieces it indicates great wealth; if it fails to cook at all there is little hope of a wedding ring during the year. Again, the corn roasting must go on under the mysterious influence of the fairy folk. The unhusked ears are placed by sevens in baskets. Each person chooses one. If the kernels are full and run in straight lines the full length of the ear, a prosperous year is heralded ; if the lines run unevenly, and the kernels are not found in full numbers and well filled out, bad fortune is at hand. If the kernels, however, number seven, or some multiple of seven, the evil omens may be overcome.