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Posted: 16 Oct 2017

Taken: 16 Oct 2017

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Halloween Cabbages—Is My True Love Tall and Grand?

Halloween Cabbages—Is My True Love Tall and Grand?
"O, is my true love tall and grand? O, is my sweetheart bonny?"

Mirrors, cakes, apple peels, and chestnuts (see below) have all figured in the Halloween fortune-telling games depicted on early twentieth-century postcards. So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when I found this postcard by Ellen H. Clapsaddle, which suggests that young women could use cabbages (or kales) to foretell what kind of husband–tall and grand? bonny?–they might marry.

In a discussion about Pumpkins and Postcards and Portents–Oh My!, Mikaela Taylor of Middlebury College explains how picking a cabbage from the garden could predict a woman's romantic future: "If the selected cabbage or kale was difficult to unearth, it denoted difficulty in a relationship. Kale with clumps of dirt stuck to the roots signified a rich husband, and the size, shape, and taste of the kale foretold the physical attributes and personality of a future spouse."

Ellen Clapsaddle illustrated a number of other prognosticating postcards like this one. For another example, see Halloween Chestnuts—Uncertainly, Hope, Despair, Happy Ever After.

Wishing You a Lucky Halloween
May This Be Your Luck on Halloween
Halloween Apple Peeling to Predict the Future
Halloween Chestnuts—Uncertainly, Hope, Despair, Happy Ever After

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