Omens and Superstitions [pp. 138-140]

140 APPLETONS' JO LTRNAL OF POPULAR [SEPTEMBER 1 8
places them in such a position as to form a resemblance to the "holy
sign," or makes the sign of the cross on his instep at the moment
(after wetting the finger in the mouth).
If you cut your finger-nails on Monday, without thinking of a red fox's tail, you will have a present during the month-but, if the nails
be cut Monday, before eating, you may expect a present; if, however,
when you are cutting them, you think of a white-calf's tail, it will
spoil the charm. (So, don't think of either of the tails.)
If one puts on new clothes on Sunday, happiness and ease; oia
Monday, clothes will tear; Tuesday, even if standing in water, the
clothes will catch fire; Wednesday, he will readily obtain a new suit;
Thursday, his dress will appear neat and elegant; Friday, as long as
the suit is new, he will be happy and delighted; Saturday, he will be
taken ill. If put on in the morning, he will be wealthy and fortunate;
noon, elegant; sunset, wretched; evening, continue ill.
Shaving shoild be performed only Mondays, Wednesdays, Thurs days, and Fridays-the other days being inauspicious.
"A person born on Christmas-day will be able to see spirits."
Whistling at sea, sailors suppose, increases the wind.
If two persons chance to make the same remark at the same time,
they must hook little, fingers and wish, before either of them speak
again-then they will get their wish of course.
Not a little of the philosophy of omens is contained in the Scottish
proverb " Them that follow freits, freits follow."
Tom Miller says, our forefathers "believed that if a little shrew mouse only ran over their feet, it produced lameness," also that the
same effect was produced if it ran over the feet of a horse, cow, or
sheep; and that the twigs of the shrew-ash-tree, when applied to
them, would ease the pains any animal might suffer from that event;
and to prevent or cure this dreaded complaint, they bored a large hole
into the ash-tree, and into this hole they put a little shrew-mouse
alive; then plugged up the hole, and left the poor harmless thing to
die.
If a raven is heard creaking near a house, in the night, it is con sidered an evil omen; just as though the poor bird could help having
a natural hoarseness, or being black.
It was a custom in Devonshire, and probably in the adjoining
counties also, to perform the following ceremonial on Christmas Eve,
or Twelfth Day, namely: In the evening the farmer's family and
friends being assembled, hot wheat-flour cakes were introduced with
cider, and this was served round to the company-the cake being
dipped in the cider and then eaten. As the evening wore on, the
assembled company adjourned to the orchard, some one bearing hot
cake and cider as an offering to the principal tree in the orchard; the
cake was deposited on a fork of the tree, and the cider was then
thrown over it, the men firing off muskets, fowling-pieces, pistols, etc.,
the women, girls, and boys, shouting and screaming to the trees, with
all the excitement of young Indians, the following rhyme:
"Bear blue apples and pears enoug';
Barnfuls, bagfuls, sackfuls. Hurrah I hurrah I hurrah!
A crooked sixpence, or a copper coin with a hole through, are accounted lucky coins.
If a person's left ear burn, or feel hot, somebody is praising the
party; if the right ear burn, then it is a sure sign that some one is
speaking evil of the person.
Omens of death and misfortune are drawn from the howling of
dogs-the sight of a trio of butterflies-the flying down the chimney
of swallows or jackdaws; and "swine are sometimes said to give
their master warning of his death by uttering a certain peculiar whine, known and understood only by the initiated in such
matters."
If a person's hair, when thrown into the fire, burn brightly, it is a
sure sign that the individual will live long. The brighter the flame
the longer life, and vice versa.
"A young person frequently stirs the fire with the poker to test
the humor of a lover. If the fire blaze brightly, the lover is good-humored, and vice versa."
Dough in preparation for the baker is protected by being marked
with the figure of a cross.
"Warts are cured by being rubbed over with a black snail, but the
snail must be afterward impaled upon a hawthorn." If a bag, containing as many small pebbles as a person has warts, be tossed over
the left shoulder, it will transfer the warts to whoever is unfortunate
enough to pick up the bag.
A red-haired person is supposed to bring in ill-luck, if he be the
first to enter a house on New-Year's Day. " Black-haired persons are
rewarded with liquor and small gratuities for'taking in the New
Year' to the principal houses in their respective neighborhoods."
Artemidorus says: "To dream that you receive obstructions from
your adversary shows that you shall dispatch your business speed ily."
To dream of bees is good, if they sting not; but bad, if they sting
the party dreaming, for then they signify enemies.
To dream that one is buried and interred, signifies he shall have as
much wealth as he hath earth laid over him.
To dream of talking with dead folks is good, and signifies boldness
of courage, with a very clear conscience.
To dream of apples, signifies long life and riches, and success in
trade.
Of peaches; content, health, and pleasure.
Of cherries; disappointment in love.
Of eating grapes; cheerfulness and profit.
To dream of the law, places, of pleading, of judges, attorneys, and
other persons in the law, signifies trouble, anger, expense, and reveal ing of secrets (not a bad interpretation for the present day).
If a sick man dreams of a nose, it denotes death, for dead men's
heads have no noses.
To stumble in walking denotes misfortune.
To see a hare crossing your path is unlucky, but to see a wolf
crossing is good.
To meet an old woman is unlucky.
If hunters of old met a priest or friar, they coupled up their hounds
and went home in despair of any further sport that day.
"Three Mondays in the year," says an old Arabian philosopher,
"are most unfortunate, either to let blood, or begin any notable
worke, viz.: the first Monday of April, ye which day Caine was borne,
and his brother Abell slaine; the second is the first Monday of Au gust, the which day Sodom and Gomorrha were confounded; the third
is the last Monday of December, the which day Judas Iscariott was
borne, who betrayed our Saviour Jesus Christ."
White spots on the finger nails are called "nail gifts, and for
thumb and each successive finger say:
'A gift, a friend, a foe,
A lover to come, a journey to go.'"
The casual putting the left shoe on the right foot, or vice versa,
was thought in olden times to be the forerunner of some unlucky accident.
Grose says: "Washing the hands in the same or with the same
water that another person has used, is extremely unlucky, as the parties will infallibly quarrrel."
If two spoons are accidentally placed in a cup or saucer at table,
it signifies a wedding will soon take place in the family.
It is a bad omen to postpone a marriage after the time positively
appointed.
Clergymen and priests are considered very unlucky to a ship.
"A superstition prevails among the lower classes of many parts
of Worcestershire, that when storms, heavy rains, or other elemental
strifes take place at the death of a great man, the spirit of the storm
will not be appeased till the moment of burial. This superstition gained
great strength on the occasion of the Duke of Wellington's funeral,
when after some weeks of heavy rain, and one of the highest floods
ever known in this county, the skies began to clear and both rain and
flood abated. The storms which have been noticed to take place at
the time of the death of many great men known to history, may have
had something to do with the formation of this curious notion in the
minds of the vulgar. It was a common observation in the week before
the interment of his grace,' Oh, the rain won't give over till the duke
is buried.'"
"Sleep in a beanfield all night, if you want to have awful dreams,
or go crazy."
"A May baby's always sickly. You may try, but you'll never rear
it."
"In buying onions, always go in by one door of the shop and out
by another. Select a shop with two doorways (common in London)."
Of course, what I have written is merely a general brushing over
of the prominent points embraced under my title.
APP-LETONS' JO U_RN-4AL O-F POPULA-R
[SEPTEMBE,R 18~,
140