Halloween as we know it stems from an old Celtic tradition called Samhain, in which participants would wear costumes and light bonfires in an effort to ward off ghosts. Many unique practices have taken place on this spooky holiday over the years, but one of the more peculiar ones involves a future-predicting piece of kale.

During the Iron Age in Ireland and Scotland, October 31 was a superstitious day where people performed rituals to ward off bad luck, including a matchmaking game. Eligible young people used to blindfold themselves, then uproot a kale stalk from the garden to learn about their future love lives or future spouses.

For examples of different fortunes, a dried-up, short stalk of kale could mean a shorter and older partner in one's future, while a lot of dirt clinging to a root could mean a wealthy future partner; even the taste of the kale was said to have meaning. Some historians attribute this ritual to the wide availability of kale at the time.