By Edwin and Mona A. Radford
Published 1949
It is unlucky to meet a man with flat feet on a Monday
morning. (How will I know if he has flat feet?)
Windows of a house should be kept shut on the first day in
March to prevent the annual effort of fleas to gain entrance.
If birds find your hair cuttings and build nests with them,
you will have an eruption of the head.
(ERUPTION?!)
To cure the whooping cough, roast a mouse and give it to the
patient.
Spit upon a newborn baby and you will bring it luck. (Thanks
to Uncle Mike, Baby Theo is all set!)
If you wear a snake skin round your head, you will never
have a headache.
Take the forelegs of a mole and one of the hind legs and put
them into a bag. Wear it around your
neck and you will never have the toothache.
A superstition is a widely held, yet unjustified belief in consequences
of certain actions. Because they are
unjustified, they are often quite humorous, and with 2,300 superstitions listed
in this book, there is much humor found!
To dream of your sweetheart, take the blade bone of a rabbit
and stick nine pins into it. Then put it
under your pillow and you will be sure to see the object of your affection.
This encyclopaedia also gives explanations for how some
superstitions started. For instance,
walking under a ladder has been considered bad luck because the shape of a
ladder leaning against a wall forms a triangle which is a symbol of the Holy
Trinity. Breaking that trinity would
bring bad fortune. Of course, walking
under a ladder is usually not the smartest thing to do anyway, as you may end
up with a bucket of paint or a hammer on your head.
Now please excuse me while I go put a knife in my pocket to
prevent the fairies from lifting me tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment