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Folklife Friday: Superstitions


Labor Day weekend starts today.




For some, it is the last chance for a summer trip, to walk on green trails, to enjoy that last day of playing on the beach. Before you get started, I feel obliged to warn you of the perils of travel, according to some old superstitions that I have heard all my life.

*You must always exit the same door you enter when visiting someone. To do otherwise is to insure bad luck.

*It is bad luck to return to your house once you leave for the trip. If you forget your phone or watch or luggage and must go back, it is required that you count backwards all the way.

*If you see a black button or a spoon on the road, leave them alone!

*If you see a cross-eyed woman at a crossroad, you must make a cross in your hand and spit on it.




Newton's third law of motion states: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Obviously, for every bad luck saying that is a lucky one.

*If you find a horseshoe, you must hang it on a tree so all your bad luck will run out of it.

*A white cat crossing the road will mean safe travels.

*Seeing a white horse beside the road means something good is about to happen. Your luck will double if there is a redheaded girl on the horse.

*A white button (someone was obsessed with buttons!) or a rock with a hole in the center were signs of good luck.

Disclaimer: these superstitions were listed for education and amusement only; I'm not responsible if they are not totally true.




My holiday weekend activities include cleaning dead plants out of the garden, off the deck, and out of the house.

Labor Day weekend means the summer season is officially over. Apparently, the thermometer here didn't get that memo! Autumnal thoughts don't come easy when its 98 degrees outside.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Comments

  1. lil red henSeptember 2, 2011 at 2:16 PM

    Yes, it just stays hot and dry!! We had just enough rain to make things think they could turn green again. Since I don't plan to be traveling, I'll let the superstitions pass me by, and tend to chickens for four more days!

    ReplyDelete

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