Other Halloween food superstitions, researched by Ashley Gorrell:

— If a girl can't decide between two suitors, cook three chestnuts in a pan, one for the girl and two to represent her suitors. The first to pop open will be the one she marries. If neither pop, she will remain single. If her chestnut doesn't pop open, she will die before she's able to marry.

— Bake small cakes and put in one a piece of money, in another a ring, in a third a rag, and in the fourth, a thimble for guests to find in their cake. These foretell who will be rich, who will be married, who will be poor and who will earn his or her own living.

— If you feel you're being followed by a spirit, turn your pocket inside out. This will confuse the ghost and it will leave you alone.

— The Halloween bonfire encourages dreams of a future husband or wife: Drop a cutting of your hair into the burning embers and then dream of your loved one.

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Sources: "The Folklore of American Holidays," by Hennig Cohen & Tristram Coffin; "The American Book of Days," by Stephen G. Christianson; "A Taste of Ireland in Food & Picture," by Theodora Fitz Gibbon; and www.friends-of-ireland.org and irishabroad.com.