Domestic folk-loreThiselton-Dyer, T. F. (Thomas Firminger)
History
Domestic folk-lore
Thiselton-Dyer, T. F. (Thomas Firminger)
Folklore; Superstition
candle, the woman of the house strongly remonstrated, but offered him
instead a few matches. The man then created a disturbance, and on the
husband trying to eject him he broke the window.
Omens, too, from candles are very numerous. Thus, we may note
that in some of the Northern counties a bright spark in the candle
predicts the arrival of a letter, and if it drops on the first shake,
it is an indication that the letter has already been posted. To snuff
out a candle accidentally is a sign of matrimony, and a curious mode
of divination is still practised by means of a pin and a candle.
The anxious lover, while the candle is burning, takes a pin and
cautiously sticks it through the wax, taking care that it pierces the
wick, repeating meanwhile the following rhyme:--
"It's not this candle alone I stick,
But A. B.'s heart I mean to prick;
Whether he be asleep or awake,
I'd have him come to me and speak."
She then patiently watches, for if the pin remains in the wick after
the candle has burnt below the place in which it was inserted, then
the loved one will be sure to appear; but should the pin drop out, it
is a sign that he is faithless.
There are, however, a host of other superstitions relating to
home-life, some of which we can only briefly describe, scattered
as they are here and there over the United Kingdom, and varying in
different localities. Thus, according to a well-known superstition,
if a person suddenly shivers, it is a sign that some one is
walking over his future grave, a notion which is not limited to
any particular county, extending as far north as Scotland. It
is fortunate, however, that all persons are not subject to this
sensation, otherwise the inhabitants of those districts or parishes
whose burial-grounds are much frequented would, as an old antiquarian
writer has observed, "live in one continued fit of shaking." Some,
too, deem it unlucky to turn back after they have once started on
some errand, or to be recalled and told of something previously
forgotten. This superstition extends beyond our own country, and
is found on the Continent, as for example in Sweden, where it is
considered unadvisable not only to turn round when one is going on
business, lest it should turn out ill, but even so much as to look
back. At the present day, too, in the Midland counties, children
are frequently cautioned by their parents not to walk backwards
when going on some errand, it being regarded as a sure sign that
misfortune will befall them if they disobey this injunction. Akin to
this superstition, there are several others of a similar kind, among
which we may include the supposed ill-luck of walking under a ladder;
and North-country people have a dislike to meeting a left-handed
person on a Tuesday morning, although on other days it is considered
fortunate to do so. Referring to the many other items of folk-lore
associated with our daily life, we must not omit those relating to
money.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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