ST. AGNES’ DAY
Reading edition
(Charm to know who your husband shall be.)
Falls on the 21st of January: you must prepare yourself by a twenty-four hours’ fast, touching nothing but pure spring water, beginning at midnight on the 20th, to the same again on the 21st; then go to bed, and mind you sleep by yourself, and do not mention what you are trying to any one, or it will break the spell; go to rest on your left side, and repeat these lines three times:
St. Agnes, be a friend to me, In the gift I ask of thee; Let me this night my husband see—
and you will dream of your future spouse: if you see more than one in your dream, you will wed two or three times, but if you sleep and dream not, you will never marry.