Current superstitions : $b collected from the oral tradition of English speaking folk
General
Current superstitions : $b collected from the oral tradition of English speaking folk
Folklore -- England; Folklore -- United States
319. On Halloween, girls place three saucers beside each other, two
filled with earth and water, in the other a ring. They are respectively
death, cloister or unmarried life, and marriage.
_Convent School, Manchester, N.H._
320. On Easter Monday, put on one black garter and one yellow one, and
wear them constantly, and you'll have a proposal before the year is out.
_Chestertown, Md._
321. Knit a garter and color it yellow. Don it on Easter Day. Wear it for
a year. The wearer will be engaged before the year is out.
_Salem, Mass._
322. On May first look in an unused well, and you'll see the face of your
future husband or wife.
_New Hampshire._
323. If you look into a well at exactly twelve o'clock, on the first day
of May, through a smoked glass, you will see your future husband.
_Alabama._
324. Hold a mirror over a well on May first, and you will see the image
of your future husband or wife.
_Talladega, Ala._
325. On Midsummer's Day wet a new garment in running water and hang
across a chair, wrong side out, to dry. At twelve noon or midnight the
one who is to marry you will be seen turning the garment.
_Labrador._
326. Place an egg in a tumbler on St. John's Day. The tumbler being half
filled with water, an egg is broken into it at early dawn, and it is
placed in the window, where it remains untouched till sundown. At that
time the broken egg is supposed to have assumed a special shape, in which
the ingenious maiden sees dimly outlined the form of her future lord, or
some emblem of his calling.
_Newfoundland._
CHAPTER VI.
LOVE AND MARRIAGE.
ENGAGEMENT.
327. If you are a bridesmaid three times you will never stand in the
middle.
_Baldwinsville, N.Y._
328. Three times a bridesmaid, never a bride.
_New England._
329. Don't let another person put on your engagement ring, taken from
your finger, or the engagement will be broken.
_Bathurst, N.B._
330. The mother-in-law's test of the incoming daughter-in-law is to place
a broom on the floor. If the daughter removes it and places it on one
side, she will be a good housewife; if she steps over it, she will be a
bad housewife.
_Labrador._
331. A girl will have as many children after marriage as she has
"holders" given her before marriage.
_Eastern Massachusetts._
ATTIRE OF THE BRIDE.
332. If you try on your wedding dress before the ceremony, you will not
be happy.
_Cambridge, Mass._
333. The bride should wear a borrowed garter, and also a yellow garter.
_Boston, Mass._
334. If a bride wear a yellow garter tied on by a girl friend, the latter
will be married inside the year.
_Eastern Massachusetts._
335. The bride should wear
Something old,
Something new,
Something borrowed,
And something blue.
_Very common._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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