The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 10 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 10 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
it on to another clue. As you come near the end somebody or something will
hold the other end tight in the kiln. Then you call out, “Who holds?”
giving the thread at the same time a gentle pull. Some one or something
will thereupon pull the other end of the thread, and a voice will mention
the name of your future husband or wife.(601) Another way is this. Go to
the barn alone and secretly. Be sure to open both doors and if possible
take them off their hinges; for if the being who is about to appear should
catch you in the barn and clap the doors to on you, he or she might do you
a mischief. Having done this, take the sieve or winnowing-basket, which in
Lowland Scotch is called a _wecht_ or _waicht_, and go through the action
of winnowing corn. Repeat it thrice, and at the third time the apparition
of your future husband or wife will pass through the barn, entering at the
windy door and passing out at the other.(602) Or this. Go to a southward
running stream, where the lands of three lairds meet, or to a ford where
the dead and living have crossed. Dip the left sleeve of your shirt in the
water. Then go home, take off the shirt, hang it up before a fire to dry,
and go to bed, taking care that the bed stands so that you can see your
shirt hanging before the fire. Keep awake, and at midnight you will see
the form of your future spouse come into the room and turn the other side
of the sleeve to the fire to dry it.(603) A Highland form of divination at
Hallowe’en is to take a shoe by the tip and throw it over the house, then
observe the direction in which the toe points as it lies on the ground on
the other side; for in that direction you are destined to go before long.
If the shoe should fall sole uppermost, it is very unlucky for you.(604)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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