Floors should not be swept at Night--Fires at New Year
and Christmas--Presents at New Year and
Christmas--Lucky and Unlucky "First-Foots"--Looking
through a Ladder--Sneezing--Air Bubbles on Tea--Tea
Stalks--Stepping out with the Left Foot--Left Shoe to
be put on first--Weather Prognostications--How to
secure Favourable Gales--Superstitious Customs at time
of Death--Corpse of one guilty of _Felo-de-se_, how to
be Buried--Finding of Persons who die
unseen--Superstitious Belief of Russian
Seamen--Ancient Customs of Scotland--Friday an Unlucky
Day for commencing an Important Undertaking--Friday as
a Marriage Day--Anecdote of a Ship called
"Friday"--Loss of the Ship "Amazon"--Sunday a
Favourable Day for commencing a Voyage--Lawyers and
Clergymen, how looked upon by Sailors at Sea--It is
Lucky to have Women and Children at Sea--Dogs and Cats
at Sea--Rats deserting a Ship--Whistling to raise the
Wind--Deceased Sailors' Clothes--Old Boats not to be
Broken up--Reluctance to go to Sea in a Boat from
which a Person has been Drowned--Sharks following a
Ship--Unfavourable Sign to see a Hatch turned upside
down--A Four-footed Beast not to be named at
Sea--Legend of Vanderdecken or the Flying Dutchman--A
Grandfather's Axe--Other Signs and Warnings.
If a housewife wish everything to prosper with her and her family, she
will not permit the floors of her house to be swept at night. The
sweeping not only prevents good fortune, but it disturbs the spirits
of the dead, supposed to be constantly walking about in thousands. If
the kitchen fire burn down on New Year's morning or Christmas eve, it
is thought, some person belonging to the house will die before these
seasons come round again. Old women, who wish to have a peep into
futurity, are accustomed to cover over with ashes the smouldering
embers of their fires on the last night of the year. If a death is to
happen in the house before twelve months expire, the foot marks of the
doomed individual will be imprinted in the ashes; but if no such event
is to happen, the ashes will remain with a smooth surface, and the
embers kindled below. It is thought lucky to receive a present on New
Year's day or Christmas; but it is unlucky to borrow or lend on these
days. The destiny of the members of a family is greatly affected for a
whole year, if not for life, by the "first-foot" on New Year's and
Christmas mornings. An unlucky "first-foot" brings misfortune with him
or her, but a lucky "first-foot" introduces prosperity.
If one look through a ladder, he should spit three times to prevent
evil consequences; and it is unlucky to hand anything through a
ladder. Sneezing to the left hand is unlucky, but prosperous when to
the right. Plutarch relates that, by the sneezing of a soldier towards
his right hand, the soothsayer predicted the victory of the Greeks and
the complete overthrow of the Persians in battle. Candles and lights
burn dim when spirits are present. The stalk of the tea plant floating
on the surface of a cup of tea, foretells the coming of a stranger. If
the stalk be short, look for a female visitor; but if long, then a man
may be expected. Air bubbles on tea denote kisses and money. It is
thought lucky to step out with the left foot first; and no one who has
attended to the recommendation of his grandmother, thinks of putting
his right shoe on first in the morning. These precautions--stepping
out with the left foot first, and putting the left shoe on before the
right--keep one from stumbling.
With reference to prognosticating the state of the weather, our
fathers, we may premise, carefully observed the winds, the clouds, the
sky, and the seasons. If the wind blew from the west on New Year's
night, it was considered lucky, and supposed to foretell a season of
abundance.
In the north of Scotland, the people wished to see the first three
days of winter dark and cloudy. A northern bard says:
"The south wind, heat and plenty,
The west wind, fish and milk,
The north wind, cold and stormy,
The east wind, fruit on trees."
People in Scotland also prognosticated the weather of the coming
season, according to whether Candlemas was clear or foul. Every one
can repeat the old rhyme, and some put faith in it:
"If Candlemas is fair and clear,
Ther'll be twa winters in the year."
When this day passed without a shower of rain or a fall of snow,
people imagined there would be severe weather before spring was past;
and they expected heavy snow storms before the following Christmas. A
showery and tempestuous Candlemas, on the other hand, raised the
people's spirits, for by such omens they were to expect a favourable
summer and an abundant harvest.
Though they may be well known to most readers, we subjoin a few
poetical proverbs on the weather:
"The evening red, and the morning grey,
Are certain signs of a fair day."
"If red the sun begins his race,
Expect that rain will fall apace."
"In the waning of the moon,
A cloudy morn--fair afternoon."
"If woolly fleeces spread the heavenly way,
No rain, be sure, disturbs the summer's day."
"When clouds appear like rocks and towers,
The earth's refreshed by frequent showers."
From rainbows, shepherds and sailors predicted the state of the
weather.
"A rainbow in the morning is the shepherd's warning;
A rainbow at night is the sailor's delight."
When peacocks cry, be sure rain will early fall; and when the night
owl screeches from the ruined tower, look for a storm; so also, if the
cat is seen washing its face with its fore paws, expect a gale. When
ocean birds flock on shore, a tempest is brewing on the sea.
Seamen and fishermen's wives can secure a favourable gale for their
husbands by going to a chapel after mass, and blowing the dust on the
door in the direction the vessels have gone.
When a person is dying, no one in the house, of whatever age, should
be permitted to sleep. When one expires, the clock should be
immediately stopped, and the dial plate covered with a towel, and
mirrors and pictures should be concealed, or their faces turned to the
wall. All the cats belonging to the house ought to be caught and
confined till after the funeral. That a necessity prevails for putting
the feline animals out of the way, will be understood by the existing
generation, when they understand that if a cat cross a corpse, and
afterwards pass over a living person in a recumbent posture, that
individual will be deprived of sight. When a dead body is dressed and
laid out, the relatives would do well to put a Bible below the head,
and one plate with salt, and another plate with a piece of green turf,
on the breast. The corpse of every one guilty of _felo-de-se_ should
be buried either in a remote spot not customarily used as a place of
burial, or near to a cross road; but if the relatives of any such
unhappy person insist on having the remains interred in the ordinary
place of sepulchre, they are expected to carry the corpse over the
burying-ground wall, and inter it after sunset. It is believed that if
a person die unseen, they who first discover the body will meet his
death in a similar manner. This superstitious belief often prevents
seamen and fishermen picking up and taking ashore dead bodies
discovered at sea. Seamen have not yet risen above these superstitious
delusions. A few years ago a Russian ship was lying in Leith Docks,
when one of the crew fell overboard and was drowned. As long as there
was a chance of rescuing the man, his companions did everything they
could to save him; but as soon as they discovered that their comrade
was dead, they rushed into the forecastle of their vessel, and refused
to search for the body, believing that they who first beheld the
corpse after being brought to the surface, would, sooner or later,
meet a watery grave.
No person who understands the ancient customs of Scotland will think
of commencing to make a new garment at the end of the year, if it
cannot be finished before the new year comes in; nor will any one
commence to make an article of clothing on Saturday, unless it can be
ready for wearing on the Sunday. Friday is also an unlucky day for
commencing any important undertaking. Some people refuse to be bled or
physicked on a Friday. In certain parts of the country, Friday is the
usual day for young men and women being united in wedlock, but at
other places it is supposed bad luck would cleave to them during the
whole of their lives if they were married on that day. It is believed
by old crones that children born on Friday are doomed to misfortune.
Friday night's dreams are sure to come true. It is well known, seamen
dislike going to sea on Friday. Mr. Fenimore Cooper relates a very
extraordinary anecdote in reference to Friday. He says:
"A wealthy merchant of Connecticut devised a notable scheme to give a
fatal blow to the superstition of Friday being an unlucky day. He
caused the keel of a very large ship to be laid on a Friday; he named
her the 'Friday'; he launched her on a Friday; he gave the command of
her to a captain whose name was Friday; and she commenced her first
voyage on a Friday, bound for China with a costly cargo; and in all
respects she was one of the noblest and best-appointed ships that ever
left the port. The result was, neither ship nor crew was ever heard of
afterwards. Thus his well-meant plan," adds Mr. Cooper, "so far from
showing the folly of superstition, only confirmed seamen in their
absurd belief."
Another instance may be given of a splendid ship sailing on a Friday
being lost, as was supposed by the superstitious, through the
imprudence of sending her to sea on the sixth day of the week. We
refer to the West India steamer "Amazon," whose sad fate is a matter
of history. Other examples might be given of ships beginning their
voyages on Friday being lost; and, to the present time, sailors will
tell you that more misfortunes happen to vessels leaving port on
Friday than to ships departing on any other day of the week. Sailors
consider Sunday a favourable day for commencing a voyage. They are
averse to proceed to sea if a lawyer or clergyman is on board. They
think the presence of one of these gentlemen raises a tempest that
puts their craft in peril. This superstition is probably founded on
the biblical story of Jonah in his flight to Tarshish, when such a
mighty tempest was raised as to endanger the lives of those who manned
the vessel that conveyed him from Joppa. Sailors are of opinion that
it is lucky to have women or children on board a ship. Time was when
they objected to sail with a native of Finland as one of the crew,
thinking that the Finns were leagued with Satan, and that if they were
offended, they took their revenge by raising adverse winds and causing
accidents to happen. Old sailors objected to have dogs on board, but
cats were held sacred; and if all tales be true, Puss often secured
favourable winds, and prevented shipwreck. When rats are seen
deserting a ship ready for sea, it is regarded as an evil omen. In
calm weather, sailors whistle to raise the wind; but in a gale they
neither whistle themselves, nor permit others to do so. It is unlucky
to wear the clothes of a fellow-sailor who dies at sea before the
termination of the voyage. It is thought unlucky to break up an old
boat--a fact which accounts for so many useless boats being seen at
fishing villages. If a man be drowned in or from a boat, sailors and
fishermen are reluctant to put to sea again with her. It is an evil
sign to see sharks following a ship. Inadvertently turning a hatch
upside down, is considered an unfavourable sign. A four-footed beast
should not be named at sea. A child's caul hung in the cabin, prevents
the ship from sinking. A legend of Vanderdecken, the Flying Dutchman,
is believed by seamen. It runs thus:--
Three hundred years ago a large Dutch Indiaman, commanded by Mynheer
Vanderdecken, attempted to round the Cape of Good Hope against a head
wind. His vessel was frequently driven back, but he doggedly
persevered, in spite of many signs and warnings of failure, and
declared that he would double the Cape, though he sailed till the day
of judgment. For this impious saying, and disregard of signs and
warnings, the ship and wicked captain, with his crew, were doomed to
sail continually in the latitude of the Cape, without doubling it.
Sailors have asserted that, in the midnight gale, the ship may be
seen, with her antique build and rig, and the figure of Vanderdecken,
on the poop, giving orders to his ghostly crew, contending with the
wind and waves, which they can never overcome.
One day in the Middle Ages, as a troop of Condottieri crossed the
Roman country, a young peasant, named Attendole, stood under an oak to
admire them. Some of the soldiers invited him to join their company.
The peasant was inclined to follow them, but being undecided he said,
"I will throw the axe I hold in my hand against this oak, and if it
enter far enough into the bark to remain fixed, I will be a soldier."
So saying, he threw the axe with so much violence that it entered the
tree deep and stuck fast. From that moment all hesitation was over:
tearing himself from his friends, he joined the troop. Because it was
with all his force he decided what his vocation was to be, his
comrades called him Sforza. He fought in more than one hundred
battles, and, after having served in Rome and at Milan, he at an
advanced age perished while endeavouring to save one of his own pages
from drowning. He left a son, who, like his father, gained renown. He
rose so high in Italy as to be considered a suitable match for Bianca
Visconti, the heiress of Milan. Their son Galeazza, Duke of Milan,
used to look on the fair city and say, "See what I owe to my
grandfather's axe!"
Warnings of approaching death are given in various ways. There are
ancient families to whom the ghosts of their ancestors appear before
the death of the chiefs or heads of the families. In one instance we
have heard that the ghost of an old murdered lady keeps wandering
through the castle halls shortly before any of the family dies; and in
another instance it is said that a mysterious light blazes from the
lofty battlements before the noble proprietor is laid low in death.
The falling of his portrait or statue is a sure presage of a great
man's death. Archbishop Laud, going into his study (which no one could
enter without him being present, as he invariably locked the door and
kept the key), found his portrait one day lying on its face on the
floor. He was extremely perplexed, for to him it was as his death
knell, and he commenced setting his house in order. The sad summons
was not long of coming, and death took him for its own.
AMULETS AND CHARMS.