One of the New Year’s Eve traditions around Ashley is the Eszlinger onion calendar, which, according to folklore, predicts moisture for the upcoming year.

Each Dec. 31, Donna and Delbert Eszlinger slice an onion into 12 “cups” to represent each month and add salt. The next day, the amount of moisture in each cup is said to reflect the amount of moisture to come in the next year.

Sometimes, the cups are overflowing. Not so this year.

Here is the report: January and February predict a small amount of moisture, March had a bit more, and April and May showed the most.

June and July look to be dry, and August drier still. September looks to be improved over August.

October and November had some moisture, while December 2018, looks dry with the clump of salt in the onion cup, barely wet.