About Michaelmas village girls in the west of England went along the hedges gathering crab apples, carried them home and laid them out in a loft in the shapes of the initials of their supposed suitors. On Old Michaelmas Day they looked at them again. The initials that had kept most perfect were taken to show the strongest attachments and the best choice of husband. The custom is one of the additions to the Michaelmas pages of the 1849 edition of Brand.
Crab-apple Initials on Old Michaelmas Day
11 October
Lore and belief
The initials which are found on examination to be most perfect on Old Michaelmas day, are considered to represent the strongest attachments, and the best for the choice of husbands.
From Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 356. Read the original
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