Luther in his "Table Talk" describes how on the evening of the feast of St. Andrew the young maids
in Germany would strip themselves naked and utter the following prayer: "Deus, Deus meus, o Sancte Andrea, efface ut bonum pium acquiram virum; hodie mihi ostende qualis sit cui me in uxorem ducere debet" ("God, my God, O Saint Andrew, bring it about that I may obtain a good affectionate husband; show me today what manner of man it is that shall lead me to the altar"). Probably there is an allusion to this custom in "The Popish Kingdom" of Naogeorgus, thus translated by Barnaby Googe:
"To Andrew all the lovers and the lusty women come,"
"Believing through his aid and certain ceremonies done"
"(While as to him they presents bring, and conjure all the night)"
"To have good luck, and to obtain their chief and sweet delight."
A pretty German superstition that still survives locally on St. Andrew's Day is the following:
To learn which of the persons present love each other, or will one day be united, a vessel with pure water is set on the table, and there are placed, to float upon the water, little cups of silver foil, inscribed with the names of those whose fortune is to be determined. If a youth's cup advances to a maiden's, or a maiden's to a youth's, it is worth while to note which makes the chief advances; and if they eventually cling together, they will be sweethearts. But little cups must also be set floating marked as priests; and it is only when the youth and the maid coming together get a priest between them that they can look forward with any certainty to marriage.
Reference: my-spiritual-path.blogspot.com
