Uncover the initials of your future husband! Dream about your next lover! Discover which of your suitors you’ll
marry!
Just eat a mixture of hazelnuts and nutmeg before bed, or throw an apple peel over your shoulder! Then get ready to find your true love.
Yeah, about that…
These are a couple traditions that 18th century women performed on Halloween to identify their future husbands, according to the History Channel. Though my psychology class warned me of the total infallibility of superstitions as pseudoscience, a part of me wants to try one of these methods out anyway. I figure either I’ll dream about someone really hot, someone I totally would never go for, or no one at all—and then my roommate and I can laugh about it on November 1st.
Want to see if you can find true love with these centuries-old methods? Or at least find out if you’ll actually marry Justin Timberlake? Here are the steps to enacting these Halloween superstitions:
Nuts Before Bed
Legend has it that if a young woman eats a concoction of hazelnuts, walnuts and nutmeg before bed on Halloween night, she will dream of her future husband. Grab some quarters to hit up the vending machine for some trail mix on Monday, and get ready to dream about Mr. Timberlake!
Apple Peels
Women used to peel apples and throw the red peelings over their shoulders. The peels would mysteriously land in the shape of the women’s suitors. Steal some apples from the DUC and just try to toss the peeling into the shape of a J and a T.
Hazelnuts
Scottish fortune-tellers told women looking for love to name a hazelnut after each of their suitors. Tossing the nuts into the fireplace would determine their future husbands; the nut that burned to ash instead of popping or exploding represented the winning suitor. For this one, you can gather around the Longstreet fireplace with the rest of your trail mix and see which one of your ex’s or hook-up buddies has boyfriend potential (probably not going to get Justin with this method…).
Apple-Bobbing
This one is a little competitive. At Halloween parties, guests would bob for apples, and the first to bite one would be the first to marry. This game is kind of messy to set up—but lucky for you, Woodruff Residential Hall’s Fall Fiesta this Friday will feature bobbing for apples! Grab your friends around 6:30 that afternoon and see who can snag an apple first.
Though of course I don’t believe in them, I love the superstitions of Halloween. Come Monday night you can probably find me stealing my roommate’s trail mix and flipping through as many People magazines as I can get my hands on to prime my mind of a night of Timberlake-filled dreaming…
Comment on this article if you have any funny future-husband-finding experiences with Halloween superstitions! You may not find love, but you will definitely find laughs.
Happy Halloween!!!