Also called bay leaves under the pillow, St Valentine's Eve dream charm
On the night before St Valentine's Day, five bay leaves are pinned to the pillow so you will dream of your sweetheart. It was recorded in a 1755 London magazine, along with an egg-and-salt charm and a paper-in-clay lottery for valentines.
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Take care: Use real bay laurel; some plants sold as 'bay' are not culinary. Do not eat a salt-filled egg or eggshell. Keep pins secured so they cannot scratch you in your sleep.
A hard-boiled egg had its yolk replaced with salt and was eaten shell and all at bedtime, without speaking or drinking afterward, to bring the same dream as the bay leaves. It is recorded here as history; eating shells and that much salt is not advised.
Uses: egg, salt
Young women wrote their admirers' names on slips, rolled each in clay and dropped them in water. The first to float free named the valentine. A safer modern version uses paper wrapped in a little flour dough in a bowl of water.
Uses: paper, clay
The writer lay in bed with her eyes closed all morning so that the first man she saw would be her chosen sweetheart, Mr Blossom, rather than a stranger.
The best record comes from 'The Connoisseur', a London periodical written by 'Mr Town'. A letter dated 17 February 1755, signed Arabella Whimsey and probably written by John Duncombe, describes the night before Valentine's Day: five bay leaves pinned to the pillow, a salted egg eaten in silence, names rolled in clay and dropped in water, and lying with eyes shut until her chosen man came to the house. The letter is playful, but it describes customs its readers clearly knew.
Bay laurel was linked to Apollo and prophecy in Classical tradition, which may explain its place in dream charms. Valentine's Eve love divination was widespread in England and was reprinted in British and American newspapers well into the 19th century. Writing qualities rather than a name is a modern adjustment for a charm that once simply asked, 'who will it be?'
Peel an apple in one unbroken strip, throw it over your shoulder, and read the letter it makes on the floor as the initial of a future partner.
An old Scottish and English way to dream of a future partner: eat a small salty oatcake or 'dumb cake' in silence before bed, drink nothing, and see who brings you water in your dream. It was done on Halloween, Shrove Tuesday, St Agnes' Eve and Midsummer.
On the night of 20 January, a person goes to bed without supper after a small rite with pins and a prayer, hoping to see a future sweetheart in a dream.
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