Old Wive's Tales and Superstitions..

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We own a black cat. Not only does he cross my path, he walks over me, flops on top of me, completely obstructs the walkway, so there really is no escaping from him.

My Nana used to believe a wedding band on a string hanging over a pregnant belly would tell the baby's gender.

MIL told DH if he pulled the leaves off a magnolia tree he would die.

I throw salt over my shoulder. Better safe than sorry.

The reason you say "Bless you" to someone is because sneezing makes your soul fly out of your body. Saying "Bless you" keeps the evil spirits off their soul so it can re-enter their body safely.

I always tell someone about my nightmares so they won't come true.

 

[C.Ann]

It takes your soul 3 days before it leaves your body..

If your favorite color is red, you are a very angry person..

 

[ugadog99]

and then there is that Shakespearian play that should not be mentioned in a theater!

Yep, never, ever, ever say that!

 

[C.Ann]

If you dream of the dead, you need to pray for the living..

If you have little snow in February, you will have much in March and April..

 

[kimblebee]

Never put a hat on a bed.

Say rabbits when you wake up on the first day of the month and you will have good luck for that month. I guess if one rabbits foot is supposed to be good luck the whole rabbit must be great luck lol

 

[WDWBarb]

I don't think anyone's posted this one yet..

So I was walking with a group of co-workers out of a restaurant one day and we came to a pillar. I walked around one side of it and they all went around the other side. Two of them yelled NO!! and made me walk back around the pillar and past it on the same side that they were.

I was so confused but they said it was bad luck to "split" the group and they were dead serious. Never heard that one before!

I know that my grandparents had a few. If your nose was itching or a broom fell, company was coming.

They said the one about the bird flying into the house and had some story about how it happened once in the family.

I'll have to think hard and come back with more!!

 

[C.Ann]

I know that my grandparents had a few. If your nose was itching or a broom fell, company was coming.

This reminded me of another one from my mom.. If you dropped a piece of silverware on the floor, company was coming from whichever direction the handle was pointing..

 

[C.Ann]

Cracking your knuckles will cause arthritis..

Always get out of bed on the same side you got in.. If you don't, it will bring you bad luck..

If you drop a piece of food on the floor and it's there for less than 5 seconds, pick it up, "kiss it up to God", and it's prefectly safe to eat..

If you continually cross your eyes, one day they'll freeze that way..

 

[mousebymarriage]

These are some of the superstitions I remember hearing as a child, a few are from my 90 year old great aunt.

If your nose itches it means you are going to have a fight.

If your palm itches it means you are going to receive money.

If your ear is ringing or buzzing it means someone is talking about you.

If you suddenly get goosebumps or the chills (for no apparent reason) it means either:
-someone just walked over the place you will be buried OR
-your guardian angel just touched you

If a bird lands on your window sill then it means someone you know is going to die.

*The pregnancy superstitions are ones my 90 year old great aunt believed. I think they had a lot of superstitions about pregnancy back then.

When your pregnant if you give into a craving then your baby will be born with a birthmark in the shape of that food.

When pregnant you should never reach over your head because that could cause the cord to wrap around the baby's neck.

When your pregnant you shouldn't get angry because then your baby will have a difficult temperment.

A lot of heartburn during pregnancy means your baby will be born with a head of dark hair.

Sorry, this one is morbid:

Look into the face of death and never feel your baby's breath. (It means that when you are pregnant you should never look into the face of anyone or anything that is dead because you will be cursed and your baby will be born still.)

**Even though I remember hearing these things since I was a child my aunt "reminded" me of the pregnancy ones when I was pregnant with DD14. I know they were only "Old wives tales" but, it scared the heck out of me when I was pregnant with DD14. The weird thing is I had major heartburn when I was pregnant with her (I kept a bottle of TUMS on my night table) and she was born with a head full of black hair. With DS9 I had zero heartburn and he was completely bald.

 

[Buckalew11]

When I was pregnant I was told the one about "do not put your arms over your head or the umbilical cord will wrap around the baby's neck."

Cows laying down = rain is true. I say it everytime I see them down in a field.

Actually, it is using a threaded needle and then you put the needle's sharp end into a pencil's eraser and then hold the string with the sharpened pencil over the mom's belly and watch for straight pattern for boys and circular pattern for girls. It has almost always been right although it showed miscarriages. I've done it on pregnant and non-pregnant women. lol My mom showed 3 girls. She miscarried her 1st baby and doesn't know but she said in her heart she always thought he was a boy.

I showed a girl and a boy but I only had one child. A girl. Never even tried for 2. My sister showed girl, boy, girl, boy. Her last child is a girl. I think *it* fell off. Surely, my pencil could not be wrong??!! LOL



Oh and I had heartburn with DD and she was bald.

 

[sms]

Never buy anyone a watch, your time with them will run out.

Your hair will grow faster if you get it cut on the "growing of the moon".

Cows grazing means a good day to fish.

If you see a cardinal without its mate, you will see someone you haven't seen in a long time.

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

Peacock feathers are unlucky.

Peacock feathers are unlucky unless you own the bird. I have some feathers I got from my peacocks.


A cat has nine lives.

Wearing an opal when it is not your birthstone is bad luck.

Animals can talk at midnight on Christmas Eve.

 

[walden]

Some of you people have stated some really interesting ones - but not what is supposed to "happen" if you go ahead and do "such and such" (like wearing green to a wedding).. Later on I'm going to come back and ask about the ones that have me curious.. Hope that many of you will return to the thread and satisfy my curiousity..

I'll answer the question about not wearing green to a wedding. I'm pretty sure this is a Scottish superstition. Wearing green is always unlucky because it is associated with the "wee folk" (fairies). With apologies to Tinkerbell, in Scottish folklore the Wee Folk are almost always malevolent. They are liable to sour the milk fresh from the cow, kidnap babies and seduce adults to live with them in fairyland. When the kidnapped person finally returns to their home, having not aged a day, many years have passed and everyone they knew has aged or died.

So if you wear green to a wedding you are ill-wishing the bride and groom. My grandmother never liked to see anyone wearing green at all. I know this because it is one of my favorite colors and she always commented negatively on my green clothing.

Here are a couple of holiday ones for you too: It is very bad luck not to take down all Christmas decorations (but especially all the evergreens, ivy, mistletoe and holly) on or before the 12th day of Christmas. That would be January 6 or Epiphany. The 12 Days begin at midnight on Christmas Eve contrary to what the Today Show thinks (yes, that is a pet peeve of mine!) I think this superstition has a practical purpose because greenery dries out and could catch on fire. Having your house burn down would definitely be bad luck!

First Footing: You will have good fortune and prosper throughout the year if the first person to enter your house in the New Year is tall, dark and male (how sexist ) and carrying gifts of bread, salt and a piece of coal. Some people add shortbread and whisky to the gifts but my family historically thought that excessive. Everyone I know cheats on this superstition! They either arrange for a neighbor or friend to drop by as soon as singing Auld Lang Syne is over, or make the tallest darkest male in the house leave by the back door just before midnight, shiver on the doorstep during the singing, and knock and re-enter by the front door with the bread, salt and coal. Now I'm living in the US I don't abide by this tradition, but my family in the UK most certainly continues it.

Peacock feathers are unlucky unless you own the bird. I have some feathers I got from my peacocks.
.

Cool! I know someone who also owns peacocks. I was amazed at how noisy they are. They are better watchdogs than most dogs.

 

[minkydog]

Say rabbits when you wake up on the first day of the month and you will have good luck for that month. I guess if one rabbits foot is supposed to be good luck the whole rabbit must be great luck lol

My kids have a saying. When you're sitting around the campfire and smoke blows in your face, say "I love bunnies" and the smoke with blow in the other direction.

My step-father's Russian mother used to tell him not to eat raw cookie dough or his stomach would stick together.

My favorite is "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailors delight." This one IS actuallly true. Pink morning skies are caused by light refracting through dust or moisture particles in the air.

 

[live4christp1]

I don't know if this one was posted or not but when I was pregnant with my first child, my DH's grandmother, who was from Poland, told me not to watch scary movies while pregnant because the baby would come out ugly. I didn't believe it but I don't watch them anyway.

My mom told me that one too but said anything gory would "mark the baby"....so I shouldn't watch anything or look at anything gory....didn't necessarily have to be a scary movie.

She also insisted that I shouldn't be hanging clothes on the line or reaching up for things as lifting my hands above my shoulders would wrap the cord around the babies neck.

If your foot itches you are going on a journey.

If you heard a whipperwhil (? sp) at either dawn or dusk (don't remember) someone close to you would die.

Lots of the one's already mentioned. Will try to think of some more.

 

[Buckalew11]

My favorite is "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailors delight." This one IS actuallly true. Pink morning skies are caused by light refracting through dust or moisture particles in the air.

This one is actually from the Bible.

And I do think hair grows faster/slower when it is cut in different phases of the moon!

 

[pilikia97]

I worked for several years with a young woman whose family was Navajo...when she became pregnant with twins her grandmother would not allow her to wear anything that tied in a knot, so no shoe laces, no halter tops, no fabric scarves, et al...

Apparently it's another cultural reference to the possibility that the umbilical cord will become tangled or twisted 'round the baby and harm or kill it

 

[simba20]

Wearing green is always unlucky because it is associated with the "wee folk" (fairies). With apologies to Tinkerbell, in Scottish folklore the Wee Folk are almost always malevolent. They are liable to sour the milk fresh from the cow, kidnap babies and seduce adults to live with them in fairyland.

I took a Chldren's Literatue course when I was pregnant with DD and learned about the fairies superstition. I refusd to even consider decorating DD's room with fairies, because of the "fairies stealing the baby." I then thought, if those who decorate with Tinkerbell/fairies only knew.....

 

[BELLE1109]

there is lots of Irish folklore about faeries. Road construction was halted in my grandmothers town b/c it would interfere with a faerie path!

another superstition is if you spill salt it is bad luck unless you throw some over your left shoulder.

 

[C.Ann]

I'll answer the question about not wearing green to a wedding. I'm pretty sure this is a Scottish superstition. Wearing green is always unlucky because it is associated with the "wee folk" (fairies). With apologies to Tinkerbell, in Scottish folklore the Wee Folk are almost always malevolent. They are liable to sour the milk fresh from the cow, kidnap babies and seduce adults to live with them in fairyland. When the kidnapped person finally returns to their home, having not aged a day, many years have passed and everyone they knew has aged or died.

So if you wear green to a wedding you are ill-wishing the bride and groom. My grandmother never liked to see anyone wearing green at all. I know this because it is one of my favorite colors and she always commented negatively on my green clothing.

Here are a couple of holiday ones for you too: It is very bad luck not to take down all Christmas decorations (but especially all the evergreens, ivy, mistletoe and holly) on or before the 12th day of Christmas. That would be January 6 or Epiphany. The 12 Days begin at midnight on Christmas Eve contrary to what the Today Show thinks (yes, that is a pet peeve of mine!) I think this superstition has a practical purpose because greenery dries out and could catch on fire. Having your house burn down would definitely be bad luck!

First Footing: You will have good fortune and prosper throughout the year if the first person to enter your house in the New Year is tall, dark and male (how sexist ) and carrying gifts of bread, salt and a piece of coal. Some people add shortbread and whisky to the gifts but my family historically thought that excessive. Everyone I know cheats on this superstition! They either arrange for a neighbor or friend to drop by as soon as singing Auld Lang Syne is over, or make the tallest darkest male in the house leave by the back door just before midnight, shiver on the doorstep during the singing, and knock and re-enter by the front door with the bread, salt and coal. Now I'm living in the US I don't abide by this tradition, but my family in the UK most certainly continues it.

Thanks for the explanation on wearing green to a wedding.. That's one of the ones I'd never heard before..

Now that people are posting all of these pregnancies ones, they're starting to come back to me as well - especially the not lifting your arms over your head..

This has turned out to be very interesting.. I'll have to try to remember some more..