he fire after a prayer to the god Zimiennik (possibly an ancestral
spirit), asking for protection through the year and offering the animals.
Portions were thrown to the corners of the room with the words "Accept
our burnt sacrifice, O Zimiennik, and kindly partake thereof." Then
followed a great feast. Further, the spirits of the dead were invited to
leave their graves and visit the bath-house, where platters of food were
spread out and left for three days. At the end of this time the remains
of the repast were set out over the graves and libations poured.{26}

* * * * *

The beginning of November is not solely a time of memory of the dead;
customs of other sorts linger, or until lately used to linger, about it,
especially in Scotland, northern England, Ireland, Cornwall, Wales, and
the West Midlands. One may conjecture that these are survivals from the
Celtic New Year's Day, for most of them are of the nature of omens or
charms. Apples and nuts are prominent on Hallowe'en, the Eve of All
|196| Saints;[89] they may be regarded either as a kind of sacrament of
the vegetation-spirit, or as simply intended by homoeopathic magic to
bring fulness and fruitfulness to their recipients. A custom once common
in the north of England{27} and in Wales{28} was to catch at apples
with the mouth, the fruit being suspended on a string, or on one end of a
large transverse beam with a lighted candle at the other end. In the
north apples and nuts were the feature of the evening feast, hence the
name "Nutcrack night."{29}

Again, at St. Ives in Cornwall every child is given a big apple on
Allhallows' Eve--"Allan Day" as it is called.{30} Nuts and apples were
also used as means of forecasting the future. In Scotland for instance
nuts were put into the fire and named after particular lads and lasses.
"As they burn quietly together or start from beside one another, the
course and issue of the courtship will be."{31} On Hallowe'en in
Nottinghamshire if a girl had two lovers and wanted to know which would
be the more constant, she took two apple-pips, stuck one on each cheek
(naming them after her lovers) and waited for one to fall off. The poet
Gay alludes to this custom:--

"See from the core two kernels now I take,
This on my cheek for Lubberkin is worn,
And Booby Clod on t'other side is borne;
But Booby Clod soon falls upon the ground,
A certain token that his love's unsound;
While