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[IRELAND] SUPERSTITIONS |
| Date: |
5/8/01 8:44:21 AM Eastern Daylight Time |
From: Romilly@home.com
(Irish Mom)
To: IRELAND-L@rootsweb.com
|
These sent to me by one of our very nicest subscribers (xx)
Thanks! :-)
Superstitions
To cause love, keep a sprig of mint in your hand until the herb
grows moist
and warm, then take hold of the hand of the woman you love, and
she will
follow you as long as your two hands close over the herb. No
invocation is
necessary; but silence must be kept between the two parties for
ten minutes
to give the charm time to work.
When yawning, make the sign of the cross instantly over your
mouth, or the
evil spirit will make a rush down and take up his abode with you.
If a man is ploughing, no one should cross the path of the
horses.
Never disturb the swallows, wherever they may build, and neither
remove nor
destroy their nests; for they are wise birds, and will mark your
conduct
either for punishment or favor.
It is unlucky to offer your left hand in salutation, for there is
an old
saying: 'A curse with the left hand to those we hate, but the
right hand to
those we honor.'
By accident, if you find the back tooth of a horse, carry it
about with you
as long as you live, and you will never want money; but it must
be found by
chance.
A red haired woman is considered unlucky. Red haired women are
said to be
typically Irish but were nonetheless treated with great
suspicion, and if a
man met one as he was going to work he would certainly forget all
about his
labors and go home.
The first person seen by a cat that has wiped it's face with it's
paws may
be the first of a household to die.
If a chair falls as a person rises, it is an unlucky omen.
If your ear itches and is red and hot, someone is speaking ill of
you.
It is unlucky and a bad omen to carry fire out of a house where
anyone is
ill.
To breakfast by candle-light on Christmas morning is lucky.
If the palm of your hand itches you will be getting money; if the
elbow
itches, you will be changing beds.
Every day has one hours in which a wish may be granted and in
which a person
has the power to see spirits.
For ague, a few spiders tied up in a bag and worn around the neck
will keep
off fever; but no-one except the fairy doctor must ever open the
bag or the
charm will be broken.
To cure fever, place the patient on the sandy shore when the tide
is coming
in, and the retreating waves will carry away the disease.
To cure tonsillitis, apply a stocking filled with hot potatoes to
the
throat.
For freckles, anoint the face with blood of a bull or hare. The
distilled
water of walnuts is also good for this purpose.
Ancient tests used to see if a child was a changeling:
If a mother wants to know whether the child in its cot is indeed
her own,
there a number of methods she can use to expose a changeling for
what it
really is.
As fairies are passionate about music and song, placing some
bagpipes next
to the babies cradle is an easy way to trick the fairy changeling
into
revealing itself. No changeling can resist the temptation of the
bagpipes,
and very soon they will begin to play them. Soon fairy music
engulfs the
house as the changeling is revealed.
It is also believed that if the parents of the child made it
cross over a
stream, any changeling that had been left in replacement would
reveal
itself. This is because changelings hate water so much that they
would
reveal themselves to avoid it.
Fairy Superstitions
If your child is not baptised, they are a easy candidate to be
snatched by a
fairy.(This of course assumes that some fairies are evil).
To avoid the child being seized, the child's parents must tie a
little bit
of salt up in the babies dress, before laying it down to sleep.
Another method is to hang a pair of scissors above the child's
bed, or to
cover the sleeping child with some article of clothing that
belong to the
father.
Humans use fire to protect themselves from fairy magic, because
only humans
have the power to overcome and control the flames of fire. If a
ring of fire
is made round cattle or a child's cradle, or if fire is placed
under the
churn, the fairies have no power to harm nor steal the child.
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