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
688. In going in at the house door, always put the right foot foremost.
This practice is observed by many intelligent people.
689. To sing at the table is a sign you will be disappointed.
690. It is an ill omen to leave the table while eating, to light the
lamp.
_Western Massachusetts._
691. To lay the knife and fork crosswise is ill luck.
_Peabody, Mass._
692. When you drop a knife or fork, and it sticks up in the floor, you
will have good luck.
693. It is lucky to find a rusty knife or other steel instrument.
_Maine._
694. If a knife be spun round, care should be taken to spin it back
again, otherwise it insures bad luck.
695. Often verses of Proverbs xxxi. are assigned to girls and boys
respectively according to the day of the month of the birth.
_Labrador and Brookline, Mass._
696. It brings bad luck to the bearer of a ring to have it taken from her
finger by another person.
_Massachusetts._
697. Measuring one's waist, as for a dress, will bring ill luck.
698. To turn a loaf of bread upside down is ill luck.
_Northern Ohio._
699. To find a four-leaved clover is lucky; but five-leaved, unlucky.
_General in the United States._
700. When a vessel is launched, break a bottle of wine over her for luck.
The bottle is to be broken by a lady.
_General in the United States._
701. Never carry clean wet clothes from one house to another, as it will
bring ill luck.
_Chestertown, Md._
702. Do not go into your new house by the back door; if you do you take
disaster with you.
703. Never build on a spot where a house has been burned. The second
house is likely to go in the same manner.
_Maine and Massachusetts._
704. Light coming in at the window is a bad sign.
_Peabody, Mass._
705. The opening of an umbrella in the house is a sign of bad luck.
_General in the United States._
706. If you drop your umbrella, you will have ill luck if you pick it up
yourself; but the ill luck may be averted by having some one else pick it
up.
_Prince Edward Island._
707. To carry a hoe through the house is ill luck.
_Alabama._
708. To light three lights with one match is good luck for a week.
_Peabody, Mass._
709. The falling of a chandelier foretells a disaster in the family.
_New York._
710. Breaking a looking-glass shows that you'll have seven years of ill
luck.
_General in the United States._
711. If a chair be turned about on one of its forelegs, there will be bad
luck in the house all that year.
_Talladega, Ala._
712. A mare-browed man, that is, one whose eyebrows meet, is unlucky and
can cast spells.
_Newfoundland._
713. It is unlucky, when going deer-hunting, to meet a red-haired man.
_Newfoundland._
CHAPTER X.
MONEY.
714. A group of bubbles on a cup of coffee signifies money.
_United States._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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