St Agnes' Eve

The Seraphic Single passes on a superstition about tonight. As Keats writes:

They told her how, upon St. Agnes' Eve,
Young virgins might have visions of delight,
And soft adorings from their loves receive
Upon the honey'd middle of the night,
If ceremonies due they did aright;
As, supperless to bed they must retire,
And couch supine their beauties, lily white;
Nor look behind, nor sideways, but require
Of Heaven with upward eyes for all that they desire.

Seraphic kindly translates this into prose for us:

Single gals may dream about their future spouse. Just don't eat your supper, and then don't look behind you or upwards when you go to bed. And, um, ask the intercession of St. Agnes, I guess.

Of course, this all seems very ironic when you actually do some research into the martyrdom of St Agnes...