The use of fingernails for the purposes of divination is a long-standing Jewish practice: one use the light of the Havdalah candle (used for a ceremony marking the end of the Sabbath) to gaze into one’s own nails. Young girls do so in hopes of seeing the face of the man they will marry, but earlier authorities held that all kinds of omens, for good or for ill, could be detected in the reflection. Conversely, there is a belief that cutting one’s nails can adversely effect memory unless a specific order of trimming is followed: starting with the left hand, begin with finger four (ring) and end with one (thumb) and avoid doing and two in sequence; right hand two to five. White spots on the nails are considered a good omen.