Into the dying fire each member of the family threw a white stone marked so that he could recognize it again. Circling about the fire hand-in-hand they said their prayers and went to bed.

 In the morning each searched for his stone, and if he could not find it, he believed that he would die within the next twelve months. This is still credited.

There is now the custom also of watching the fires till the last spark dies, and instantly rushing down the hill, "the devil (or the cutty black sow) take the hindmost."

A Cardiganshire proverb says: "A cutty [short-tailed] black sow On every stile, Spinning and carding Every Allhallows' Eve."