Ringing:

It’s an ill omen if your ears are ringing.

When you happen to get “ringing” in your ears, you have an opportunity to determine whom you will marry. Ask someone for a number when you get ringing in your ears. Count through the alphabet to the corresponding letter. Your future husband’s or wife’s name will start with this letter.

Ears and Traits:

• Small ears = mean, instinctive.
• Large ears = Generous, intellectual.
• Square-shaped = a noble heart
• Pointed = Artful, conniving.
• Flat = lack of refinement.
• Long = wise.

In the home:

• Scattering ashes over the roof of a house protects it against thunder and lightning.
• Sweeping out ashes on Christmas is bad luck.
• Sweeping out ashes on a Friday is bad luck.
• Sweeping out ashes after four in the afternoon is bad luck.

Crops:

• Spreading ashes on crops at Midsummer brings a good harvest.
• Scattering human ashes to the wind helps crops.

Livestock:

• Mixing ashes into the food of livestock makes animals strong and healthy.

Divination

Smooth out the ashes of the hearth on New Year’s Eve and in the morning look for shapes found there.

• Image: Footprints leading toward the door = death in the family
• Image: Footprints leading away from the door = a birth
• Image: A ring = a wedding
• Image: A coffin = a death

Carp:

• Carrying a carp fish charm brings good luck, especially to lovers.

Cod:

• Carrying the dried eye of a cod will bring good luck.

Eel:

• Wearing an eelskin garter cures cramps.
• Rubbing a wart with eels’ blood makes it go away.
• A live eel in a drink cures a person from drunkenness.
• Witches and sorcerers wearing eelskin jackets protects them from bullets.
• A cooked eel will become raw if left uneaten.
• A whole eel can be used to cure deafness.
• Eel fat will render fairies visible to humans
• EAting an eel heart gives you the power of prophecy
• Eating a whole eel will strike you dumb.

Haddock:

• It’s bad luck to burn a haddock.

Herring:

• Shedding blood near where herring frequent causes the herring to desert the area.
• Laying a salted herring at your feet will relieve a sore throat.
• Suspending a herring from the ceiling on Good Friday will keep your house free from flies during the summer.

Divination with Herrings:
To see an image of your future spouse: Eat a whole salted herring in three mouthfulls, retire to bed without a drink and don’t say a word. That night you will dream of your future partner.
To know if a future husband will be attractive and trustworthy:
Throw the white membrane of a herring at a wall. If the skin sticks to the wall and is not a crooked shape, your future husband will be attractive and trustworthy. If the herring skin sticks crookedly or fails to stick, your future spouse will be undesirable.

Tench:

• Eating tench makes you strong and wise and can cure illness.
• Other freshwater fish rub themselves against tench when they are sick.

Trout:

• Putting a trout’s head into a patient’s mouth cures whooping cough.
• Drinking beer in which a trout has been drowned cures whooping cough.
• Drinking milk in which a live trout has been made to swim cures whooping cough.