Hemp Seed Sowing
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RHAMANTA, OR OMEN SEEKING.
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Welsh Folk-lore
A young married woman, a native of Denbighshire, told me that if a young
woman sowed hemp seed, the figure of her lover would appear and follow
her. This was to be done by night on Hallow Eve. I find from English
Folk-Lore, p. 15, that this divination is practised in Devonshire on St.
Valentine's Eve, and that the young woman runs round the church
repeating, without stopping, the following lines:--
I sow hempseed, hempseed I sow,
He that loves me best
Come, and after me now.
Sage Gathering.
A young person who went of a night to the garden, and stripped the leaves
of the sage tree, would, as the clock struck twelve, be joined by her
lover. This was to be done on All Hallow Eve.