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
1154. Rub a corn, a wen, etc., with the sun if by day, with the moon if
by night. The sun or moon will draw all the pain away. Related by a
Pennsylvania German.
_Northern Ohio._
1155. To cure a curb in a horse, rub it with a bone, at the going down of
the sun.
_Plymouth, O._
1156. A "conjurer" can rub away a "rising" (boil) by coming to your
bedside about daybreak, before you speak to any one, and rubbing the
"rising" for nine successive days.
_Talladega, Ala._
1157. To cure a burn, moisten it with saliva, repeating:--
As far as the east is from the west,
Come out fire and go in frost.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Come out fire and go in frost.
Blow three times, and rub sunwise three times. To be taught to not more
than three persons of the opposite sex.
_Eastern Tennessee._
CHAPTER XVII.
DEATH OMENS.
1158. To raise an umbrella in a house is a sign of an approaching death.
_Pennsylvania; somewhat general in the United States._
1159. To open an umbrella in the house is a sign of ill luck. An action
of this sort seriously disturbed a friend of the informant, an American
girl of good family. "I would never dare to do that," she said.
_Niagara Falls, Ont._
1160. If a hoe be carried through a house, some one will die before the
year is out.
_Mansfield, O._
1161. Carrying through the house a hoe, spade, or axe indicates a death
in the family.
_Virginia._
1162. Carry an axe or any iron implement through the house, and some one
will soon die.
_Southwestern Michigan._
1163. Death is foretold by the ringing of a bell that cannot otherwise be
accounted for.
_Southern Ohio._
1164. When bread, in baking, cracks across the top, it means death.
_New Jersey and Ohio._
1165. Cracks on the top of a loaf of bread indicate the death of a friend.
_Several localities._
1166. When bright red specks resembling spattered blood appear on linen,
it is held to be a token of misfortune, probably of death.
_Northern Ohio._
1167. If the candle burns blue, it is token of a death.
1168. To see a coffin in the candle is a token of death.
_Boston, Mass._
1169. To see a "winding-sheet" in the candle has the same significance.
_Virginia._
1170. Three lamps or candles burned close together mean death.
_Virginia._
1171. If a sudden and unaccountable light is seen in a carpenter's shop,
it indicates that the carpenter will soon have to make a coffin.
_Cape Breton._
1172. If a coffin creaks in a carpenter's shop, another order soon
follows.
_Newark, N.J., and Virginia._
1173. If the coffin does not settle down smoothly into place in the
grave, but has to be raised and lowered again, another in the family will
die inside a year.
_Stevens Point, Wis._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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