_Popular Superstitions in Lancashire._--That a man must never "go a
courting" on a Friday. If an unlucky fellow is caught with his lady-love
on that day, he is followed home by a band of musicians playing on
pokers, tongs, pan-lids, &c., unless he can rid himself of his
tormentors by giving them money to drink with.
That hooping-cough will never be taken by any child which has ridden
upon a bear. While bear baiting was in fashion, great part of the
owner's profits arose from the money given by parents whose children had
had a ride. The writer knows of cases in which the charm is said
certainly to have been effectual.
That hooping-cough may be cured by tying a hairy caterpillar in a small
bag round the child's neck, and as the caterpillar dies the cough goes.
That Good Friday is the best day of all the year to begin weaning
children, which ought if possible to be put off till that day; and a
strong hope is sometimes entertained that a very cross child will "be
better" after it has been christened.
That May cats are unlucky, and will suck the breath of children.
That crickets are lucky about a house, and will do no harm to those who
use them well; but that they eat holes in the worsted stockings of such
members of the family as kill them. I was assured of this on the
experience of a respectable farmer's family.
The belief in ghosts, or bogards, as they are termed, is universal.
In my neighbourhood I hardly know a dell where a running stream crosses
a road by a small bridge or stone plat, where there is not frectnin
(frightening) to be expected. Wells, ponds, gates, &c., have often this
bad repute. I have heard of a calf with eyes like a saucer, a woman
without a head, a white greyhound, a column of white foam like a large
sugar-loaf in the midst of a pond, a group of little cats, &c., &c., as
the shape of the bogard, and sometimes a lady who jumped behind hapless
passengers on horseback. It is supposed that a Romish priest can lay
them, and that it is best to cheat them to consent to being laid while
hollies are green. Hollies being evergreens, the ghosts can reappear no
more.