The eve of St Andrew's Day

Some marriage-related superstitions have become part of Saint Andrew's feast day, November 30, and some on the eve.

One German custom is for single women who wish to marry to ask for Saint Andrew's guidance on the Eve (November 29) of his feast, then sleep naked that night; they will then see their future husbands in their dreams.

Another has it that young women should note the location of barking dogs on Saint Andrew's Eve: their future husbands will come from that direction.

In Poland, single girls would traditionally pour melted wax into a bowl of cold water, and the hardened wax was then held up to the light. The shadow it cast on the wall was supposed to prognosticate the girls' marriage: if its shape resembled something used by a man, she would marry within a year. The shadow might also reveal of the future husband his personality, interests, occupation and so on. Another traditional pastime was for the girls to fling their shoes into the middle of the floor. The first shoe to go over the threshold would be that of the girl who would be first to marry.

Tagged: folklore, europe, germany, poland, advent, saint