Christmas is a time when you're liable to lie around a) feeling sleepy due to eating too much, b) feeling slightly bored after everything has been 'done' (presents opened, dessert eaten) and c) ruminating about the fact 2009 is nearly over, and what on earth are you going to do next year?! When a), b) and c) all collide at around 4pm at your house, it's time for some Christmas divinations.

Historically, folk gathered around for post-Christmas dinner parlour games and indulged in this exact pursuit. You can take a page out of their book and...

• Float walnut shells as boats in a bowl of water with small burning candles in them. The owners whose boat cross across the bowl safely is said to be endowed with prosperity for the coming year while bad luck awaits those whose boats get sunk in the bowl.
• Give everyone an apple, which is then cut in half lengthwise. If the core is star-shaped, the company is sure of meeting again safely next year. If anybody's core is in a different shape, his death is predicted within 12 months' time(!). The appearance of a four-point cross was a particularly bad omen.
• A leaf of ivy was left in a bowl of water on Hogmany (New Years Eve) until the eve of Twelfth Night (Little Christmas) on January 6. If it remained fresh and green a good year was expected. If it withered and had black spots by the end, ill health was prophesised.
• Young unmarried girls used to cut a twig from the cherry tree on St Barbora's Day (or December 4) and put it in water. If it bloomed by Christmas Eve, her marriage was predicted within a year.
• The 'dumb cake' made at midnight on Christmas Eve was prepared in complete silence by the bachelors and spinsters. One who made it left their initials on the upper surface of the cake. If the silence remained unbroken, the future partner was believed to come and leave their initials on the cake. If one walked backwards to bed after eating dumb cake, a dream about a future spouse was sure to visit them.
• Unmarried girls may throw a shoe over their shoulders and towards the door. If the shoe lands with its toe pointing towards the door the girl will marry within a year.
• The gender of the first visitor to the house on Christmas Eve was said to foretell the sex of the child of the pregnant women in the household.

And here's some quirky Yuletide superstitions to consider:

• It is believed that on the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve, animals can talk but it is bad luck to eavesdrop to what they are saying.
• The Christmas table was always set for an even number of guests for odd numbers were said to bring bad luck.
• No one sat with his or her back to the door.
• Traditionally, the doors of the home were thrown open at midnight on Christmas Eve to let the trapped evil spirits out.
• A bowl of garlic was placed under the dining table for strength and protection.
• Fish scales were placed under the dinner plates for luck.
• Christmas dinner consisted of nine courses.
• Sweeping the threshold was thought to clear out trouble for the next year.
• No alcohol was consumed on Christmas Eve.
• All pets were fed after dinner with the spirit to leave no living thing hungry on Christmas Eve.
• In Victorian Times, people stirred the pudding mix thrice and added silver charms into the mix.
• It was considered unlucky to refuse a mince pudding on Christmas Eve.
• It was a bad omen to eat mince pies before Christmas Eve and after Twelfth Night.
• Holly was used as a protection against witches and thunder.
• One must never cut the Christmas pie as it cuts the luck.
• It was believed to be lucky to eat an apple on Christmas Eve.
• Burning old mistletoe was said to predict marriage prospects of an unmarried girl. Steady flames ensured happy marital life while the spluttering flames predicted bad tempered and cross husbands.