3666 – Replica Divination Cabbage
- Physical description:
- A plastic replica cabbage with stalk attached, together with interpretation card from Glitter & Gravedust Exhibition
- Size:
- 30 cm long
- Information:
Cabbages and divination
The cabbage, with its long stalk attached, was hugely important in traditional celebrations of October 31st.
‘Pou [pull] the stalks’ was a game and form of love divination. Men and women of marriageable age were blindfolded and guided into a garden to uproot cabbage stalks. The appearance of the stalk would reveal characteristics about a future partner: tall and healthy, stunted, short, withered and old, etc. The amount of soil clinging to the root was thought to determine how much dowry or fortune one should expect from one’s future wife or husband. A clean root meant poverty.
A plastic replica cabbage with stalk attached, together with interpretation card from Glitter & Gravedust Exhibition
- Resource:
- Object
- Materials:
- Plastic
- Copyright ownership:
- MWM
Cabbages and divination
The cabbage, with its long stalk attached, was hugely important in traditional celebrations of October 31st.
‘Pou [pull] the stalks’ was a game and form of love divination. Men and women of marriageable age were blindfolded and guided into a garden to uproot cabbage stalks. The appearance of the stalk would reveal characteristics about a future partner: tall and healthy, stunted, short, withered and old, etc. The amount of soil clinging to the root was thought to determine how much dowry or fortune one should expect from one’s future wife or husband. A clean root meant poverty.
A plastic replica cabbage with stalk attached, together with interpretation card from Glitter & Gravedust Exhibition