As far as the east is from the west,Come out fire and go in frost.In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,Come out fire and go in frost.
As far as the east is from the west,Come out fire and go in frost.In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,Come out fire and go in frost.
Blow three times, and rub sunwise three times. To be taught to not more than three persons of the opposite sex.
Eastern Tennessee.
DEATH OMENS.
1158. To raise an umbrella in a house is a sign of an approaching death.
Pennsylvania; somewhat general in the United States.
1159. To open an umbrella in the house is a sign of ill luck. An action of this sort seriously disturbed a friend of the informant, an American girl of good family. “I would never dare to do that,” she said.
Niagara Falls, Ont.
1160. If a hoe be carried through a house, some one will die before the year is out.
Mansfield, O.
1161. Carrying through the house a hoe, spade, or axe indicates a death in the family.
Virginia.
1162. Carry an axe or any iron implement through the house, and some one will soon die.
Southwestern Michigan.
1163. Death is foretold by the ringing of a bell that cannot otherwise be accounted for.
Southern Ohio.
1164. When bread, in baking, cracks across the top, it means death.
New Jersey and Ohio.
1165. Cracks on the top of a loaf of bread indicate the death of a friend.
Several localities.
1166. When bright red specks resembling spattered blood appear on linen, it is held to be a token of misfortune, probably of death.
Northern Ohio.
1167. If the candle burns blue, it is token of a death.
1168. To see a coffin in the candle is a token of death.
Boston, Mass.
1169. To see a “winding-sheet” in the candle has the same significance.
Virginia.
1170. Three lamps or candles burned close together mean death.
Virginia.
1171. If a sudden and unaccountable light is seen in a carpenter’s shop, it indicates that the carpenter will soon have to make a coffin.
Cape Breton.
1172. If a coffin creaks in a carpenter’s shop, another order soon follows.
Newark, N. J., and Virginia.
1173. If the coffin does not settle down smoothly into place in the grave, but has to be raised and lowered again, another in the family will die inside a year.
Stevens Point, Wis.
1174. Change a sick person from one room to another, and he will die.
New Jersey.
1175. If a clock, long motionless, suddenly begins to tick or strike, it is a sign of approaching death or misfortune.
Newark, N. J., Virginia, and North Carolina.
1176. If a corpse remains soft and supple after death, another death in the family will follow.
Trinity Bay, N. F., and Prince Edward Island.
1177. A cow mooing after midnight means death.
1178. To dance on the ground indicates disaster, or death within a year.
Boxford, Mass.
1179. The hearing, in the wall, of the “death-watch,” or “death-tick,” betokens a death in the house.
General in the United States.
1180. A dish-cloth hung on a door-knob is a sign of death in a family.
Deerfield, Mass.
1181. To knock on a door and receive no answer is a sign of death.
Virginia and Englewood, Ill.
1182. The last name a dying person calls is that of the next to follow.
New Hampshire.
1183. Sometimes the dying call for an absent one, as if in trouble. This is a sign that that person will have some great trouble in after life.
New York.
1184. Death takes place at ebb tide.
New England Coast.
1185. The person on whom the eyes of a dying person last rest will be the first to die.
Boston, Mass.
1186. It is a sign of death to see a flower blossoming out of season, as, for example, a rose in the fall. This has proved a true omen in several cases, according to the experience of a lady who believes in these signs. In consequence of this belief, when she has such a a flower, she will pick it off the stem and throw it away, without mentioning the incident to any one.
Niagara Falls, Ont.
1187. It is a sign of death to see a tree blossoming in the fall.
Orange Co., Va.
1188. If a garment is cut out on Friday, the person for whom it is made will not live unless it is finished on the same day.
Southern Indiana.
1189. If you begin a quilt on Friday, you will never live to finish it.
Maine.
An act of this sort gave great distress to a domestic servant, who, until after the completion of the quilt, daily expected disaster. This woman came from French Canada.
1190. If a doctor is called on Friday, the patient will surely die.
Cambridge, Mass.
1191. If a hearse is drawn by two white horses, death in the neighborhood will occur within a month.
Central Maine.
1192. If anyone comes to a funeral after the procession starts, another death will occur in the same house.
Ohio.
1193. At a funeral the first person who turns away from the grave will have the next death in his family.
Trinity Bay, N. F.
1194. If one goes to a funeral with the intention of following to the grave but does not do so, a death soon follows in his family.
Virginia.
1195. If it rains during a burial, another member of the family will soon follow.
Poland, Me., Baldwinsville, N. Y., Ohio, and Alabama.
1196. If rain falls into an open grave, another burial in the same cemetery will occur within three days.
Western New York.
1197. If you meet a funeral train, it is a sign of death.
Prince Edward Island.
1198. Do not let any one wear your hat to a funeral when you’ve not worn it before yourself.
Massachusetts.
1199. Whoever counts the carriages at a passing funeral will die within the year.
Peabody, Mass., and Hennepin, Ill.
Or, some one will die.
1200. If shot remain in the gun after firing, some one of your family will die.
Labrador.
1201. If you build on to your house, you will die within the year.
Labrador.
1202. Lie down on a table and you will die before the year is out.
Mattawamkeag, Me.
1203. To hold a lamp over a sleeping person causes death.
Massachusetts.
1204. To break a looking-glass is a sign of death in the family before the year closes.
General in the United States.
1205. To break a looking-glass is a sign of death, or of bad luckorseven years. This is quite a general belief. Domestic servants, and particularly superstitious persons, are often thrown into a panic by accidents of this sort.
General in the United States and Canada.
1206. If three persons look into a mirror at the same time, one will die within the year.
Peabody, Mass., and New Hampshire.
1207. If one try on mourning when not wearing it, he will have occasion to wear it soon.
Pennsylvania.
1208. To put on a bonnet or hat of one in mourning is a sign that you will wear one before the year is out.
Peabody and Boston, Mass., and Niagara Falls, Ont.
1209. To drive a nail on Sunday is a sign that some one in the family will die within the year.
Pigeon Cove, Mass.
1210. Hearing an imaginary rap and opening an outside door lets death in.
Ferrisburgh, Vt.
1211. The hearing of three raps is a sign that some member of the family is dead.
Boston, Mass., and Orange Co., Va.
1212. If members of a family, after long separation, meet for reunion, some one of the members will die within the year.
Cambridge, Mass.
1213. Ringing in the ears is a sign of death.
General.
1214. Ringing in the ears means death before the week ends. Of this ringing the term “death-bell” is used. It may be said by a country woman: “Oh! I have heard a death-bell!” or, “What a death-bell in my ear! You will hear of a death before the week is out.” In case of a sudden death, such a person might say: “I am not surprised; I heard a death-bell on such a day.”
Northern Ohio.
1215. The term “death-bell” is also a popular one in
Prince Edward Island.
1216. In some localities the direction of the apparent ringing indicates the direction from which the news of death will come.
1217. If an empty rocking-chair is seen to sway back and forth when apparently unoccupied, it is supposed that the chair is held by the spirit of some deceased member of the family, who has come back to choose the next to go, and call that person quickly.
Michigan.
1218. A spot resembling iron-rust on the finger means death.
Maine.
1219. Beginning on Saturday a garment that cannot be finished means death.
Ohio.
1220. Deaths do not come singly; but if one of a family dies, a second death in the same family will occur within a year.
Cambridge, Mass.
1221. Whoever works on a sick person’s dress, he or she will die within the year.
Massachusetts.
1222. If some one is sick and a storm comes, it is a sign he will die during its continuance.
Virginia.
1223. When a woman who has been sewing puts her thimble on the table as she sits down to eat, it is a sign that she will be left a widow if she marries.
Central Maine.
1224. If one sings at a table while the family are eating, it means the death of a friend.
Webster City, Iowa.
Or bad luck (Virginia); disappointment (New Jersey).
1225. If three drops of blood fall from your nose, one of your family is dead.
Labrador.
1226. If you sneeze on Sunday morning before breakfast, you will hear of the death of some person you know before the next Saturday night.
Northern Vermont.
1227. If you sneeze at table with the mouth full, an acquaintance will die soon.
Virginia and Alabama.
1228. When sowing grain, if a strip of land is missed there will be a death inside of a year.
Ohio and Maryland.
1229. When you shiver, it means that some one is walking over the place where your grave is to be.
General in the United States.
1230. If sparks are left (unintentionally) in the ashes over night, it is a sign of death.
Cumberland, Md.
1231. If sparks of fire fly out of an opened stove door, it is a sign of death.
Trinity Bay, N. F.
1232. If any one in the town lies dead over Sunday, there will be another death before the end of the week.
Bedford, Mass.
1233. Three horses of the same color indicate death, but this sign is not very noticeable in a thickly settled community.
Baldwinsville, N. Y.
1234. Three chairs placed accidentally in a row mean death.
Ohio.
1235. If there is a death there will be three deaths in the family within a short time.
New York.
1236. To break the spell of thirteen at table, all should rise together, otherwise the first up (or, as some say, the last down) dies inside a twelvemonth.
New England.
1237. If thirteen sit at table, the one who rises first will not live through the year.
Somerville, Mass., Newark, N. Y., and Mifflintown, Pa.
1238. If thirteen sit at table, the last one who sits down will not die that year.
Brookline, Mass.
1239. If window-shades fall down without being molested, it is a sign of death.
Cape Breton.
MORTUARY CUSTOMS.
1240. If “salt water pigeons’” feathers are in a bed, the sick person on it will not die easily.
Newfoundland.
1241. In old colonial burying-grounds—in Plymouth, Concord, Cambridge, and Rutland, Mass.—the graves are so placed that the headstones face west, that is, the body lies with the feet toward the east.
Perhaps general in New England.
1242. Among Irish Catholics it is usual to place the body with the feet toward the door. The body of a young girl is usually draped in the robes of the society to which in her church she belonged. Over the corpse is constructed a white canopy, from one end of which images of white doves are often hung. At the feet is a stand or table, on which flowers are laid, and where, at night, candles are kept burning.
Boston, Mass.
1243. Country people turn the mirror to face the wall while one lies dead in the house.
Northern Ohio.
1244. While the corpse is in the house, the looking-glass must be turned toward the wall; otherwise, whoever looks into the mirror will die within the year. This custom is said to be most common among Irish Catholics, but it is not confined to them.
Baldwinsville, N. Y.
1245. Bad luck (instead of death) is also said to follow violation of this rule.
Washington, D. C.
1246. If, when any one dies, you put the coffin in any other room than the one the corpse is in, some other member of the family will die within a year.
Western Massachusetts.
1247. “I have noticed at funerals of the aged, that when elderly people passed by the casket they would touch the forehead of the dead person. I was confident that there was some superstition connected with the act, because the same look was apparent on everyface; but on being asked why this was done, they pretended it was bidding an old comrade good-bye. At last one told me that it was that they might not dream of the dead or see them.”
Westport, Mass.
1248. It is usual, after the conclusion of the funeral service, for the persons present at the ceremony to pass in front of the dead, and look on the face. Not to perform this token of respect is felt as a lack of propriety. It is not uncommon for the undertaker, or some person in charge of the proceedings, to say in a loud voice: “An opportunity is now offered to those who desire to look on the face of the corpse,” or words to that effect.
General in the United States.
1249. Only male relatives take part in the funeral procession.
Philadelphia, Pa.
1250. In regard to the ceremonies at the grave, usage differs widely. In New England it is usual for near relatives to attend; and, in the case of important persons, for a procession to march to the cemetery. Among Catholics a great number of friends attend the hearse of persons in humble life.
1251. It is an old Connecticut custom that the yard gate should never be shut after being opened to let through a body being carried from its former home to the graveyard.
1252. The funeral procession must not cross a river.
Baldwinsville, N. Y.
1253. “I was first led to notice the superstition about crossing a river, from having to attend funerals on the south side, when they would otherwise have been held on the north side. This is losing ground, owing to the frequency of crossing to reach the cemetery, but I had an instance only last spring.”
Baldwinsville, N. Y.
1254. The corpse must not pass twice over any part of the same road.
Baldwinsville, N. Y.
1255. It is unlucky in a funeral, for those present to repass the house where death has occurred.
Baldwinsville, N. Y.
1256. At a funeral, entering church before the mourners means death to some of the entering party.
Boston, Mass.
1257. It is a bad sign to drive past a funeral procession.
Maine.
1258. It is unlucky to pass through a funeral procession, either between the carriages or the files of mourners on foot.
This is a general superstition. The custom, which has become instinctive with many persons, is usually set down to the score of decency and propriety.
General in the United States.
1259. To meet a funeral is bad luck. To avert it, turn round and take three steps backward before going on.
St. John, N. B.
1260. It is bad luck to meet a corpse. One may follow it, but never meet it. A colored person will turn square about on seeing a funeral procession approaching.
Talladega, Ala., and Virginia.
1261. To keep the corpse in the house over Sunday will bring death in the family before the year is out.
South Framingham, Mass.
1262. If the grave is left open over Sunday, another death will occur before the Sunday following.
Boxford, Mass.
1263. If a grave is covered on Friday, another in the same family will follow inside of a year.
Chatham, N. B.
1264. If a grave is left open over night without the corpse, another death in the family will soon follow.
Virginia.
1265. It is bad to disturb an old grave, as by putting up a tombstone; you will thus herald a death.
Chestertown, Md.
1266. Many will not go through a graveyard on the way to call on friends, for fear of bringing death into the house.
Massachusetts.
1267. The clothes of the dead wear out quickly.
Westport, Mass.
1268. “The clothes of the dead never wear long” when used by the living.
New York.
1269. If you put clothes of a live person on a corpse, when the clothes decay the owner will die.
St. Joseph, Mo.
1270. It is quite customary, both in the United States and in Canada, to give the whole house a thorough cleaning after a death has occurred, even when the deceased has undergone no prolonged illness and has died of no contagious disease. A day or two after the funeral one sometimes sees, particularly in country homes, feather beds, mattresses, etc., etc., put out to air. Sometimes even rooms are whitewashed in the purification process.
MISCELLANEOUS.
ACTIONS.
1271. If a child in eating an apple merely girdles it and leaves the apple good at stem and below, it indicates that he will be a poor man; the saying is, “a poor man’s core.”
1272. It is unlucky to turn back after starting to go anywhere. To avert misfortune after turning back, make the sign of the cross in the dust with the heel, and spit in the cross.
Arkansas (negro), and Kentucky.
1273. It is unlucky to turn back after having once started out.
Quebec.
1274. To get out of bed on the wrong side puts one out all day. “He got out of bed with the wrong foot foremost” is said of a person who has a fit of crossness.
Northern Ohio.
1275. To drop your books on the way to school signifies that you will make mistakes in your lessons.
Chestertown, Md.
1276. Drop a book and you will miss your lesson, unless it is immediately picked up and kissed.
Alabama.
1277. Whoever eats the last piece of bread will be an old maid.
Pennsylvania.
1278. If you break something, you will break two other things.
Maine, Massachusetts, and Northern Ohio.
1279. To twirl a chair on one leg means that you are going to fight with somebody.
Peabody, Mass.
1280. Whirling an empty chair indicates that a whipping is in store for the transgressor.
1281. If you twirl a chair around on one leg, it is a sign that you are about to break dishes.
Chestertown, Md.
1282. You mustn’t pay the doctor entirely, or there will be sickness in the family.
Lonsdale, R. I.
1283. You must leave by the door through which you enter, or there will be trouble with the family, or ill luck to yourself.
Pennsylvania.
1284. If you leave by any other door than the one through which you have entered, it is said that you will not come again.
Cumberland, Me.
1285. In bathing, the eyes should always be rubbed towards the nose, as that makes them large, and rubbing out the opposite way makes them small.
Cambridge, Mass.
1286. In climbing a fence,—
Get over, meet with clover,Get through, meet with a shoe;Get under, meet with a blunder.Sunderland, Mass.
Get over, meet with clover,Get through, meet with a shoe;Get under, meet with a blunder.Sunderland, Mass.
1287. If you step on a grave, you will never grow any more.
Chestertown, Md. (negro).
1288. Step over a living thing, and that thing, whether a human being or not, will not grow any more.
Province of Quebec, Can.
1289. To step over one leg of a child will cause it to grow longer than the other.
Baltimore, Md.
1290. To comb the hair after dark is a sign of sickness.
Comb your hair after dark,Comb sorrow to your heart.Connecticut.
Comb your hair after dark,Comb sorrow to your heart.Connecticut.
1291. If you comb your hair after dark, it will make you forgetful.
Northern Ohio.
1292. If the right hand itches, you are going to get money; if the left, you will shake hands with a friend. If the nose itches, a friend is coming.
Talladega, Ala.
1293. Two persons wiping hands on the same towel and twisting it occasions a quarrel.
Pennsylvania.
1294. Wash and wipe together,Live in peace together.Northern Ohio.
1294. Wash and wipe together,Live in peace together.Northern Ohio.
1295. If two persons wash their hands at the same time, it is a sign that they will be friends forever.
Alabama.
1296. If two persons wipe their hands at the same time, they will be foes forever.
Alabama.
1297. When two persons put one hand of each flat together, palm to palm, they will quarrel.
Province of Quebec, Can.
1298. If two persons clasp hands so as to lock the fingers, bringing the palm of one person against the palm of the other person’s hand, it will break friendship.
Newton, Mass.
1299. If you hug your knee (hold your knee in clasped hands), you will hug up trouble.
Salem and Medford, Mass.
1300. When your joints crack, it is a sign that you have not outlived your best days.
New York, N. Y.
1301. If you kiss through a veil, there’ll be a coolness.
Portland, Me.
1302. Crossed knives are a sign of a quarrel.
Cumberland, Mass.
1303. Stir with a knife,Stir up strife.
1303. Stir with a knife,Stir up strife.
1304. Never look after a friend who is leaving you till he is quite out of sight, or you will never see him or her again; but turn your eyes away while he is still visible, that he or she may return.
General in the United States.
1305. Never say “good-by” more than once.
Alabama.
1306. One who habitually bites the nails is ill-natured.
Ohio.
1307. If you bite your finger-nails you will always be poor.
Massachusetts.
1308. If you sleep with your head towards the north, it will prevent sickness.
General in the United States.
1309. If you can cut a pie fair and true, you’ll have a likely husband. If you make the slices uneven, he’ll be crooked.
1310. If you make a bed handsomely, you’ll have a handsome husband.
1311. If you cut pie straight, you will go to housekeeping.If you cut pie crooked, you will have no house to keep.New Hampshire.
1311. If you cut pie straight, you will go to housekeeping.If you cut pie crooked, you will have no house to keep.New Hampshire.
1312. If you make a rhyme involuntarily, you will have a present.
New Brunswick.
1313. The free use of salt is a sign of having a temper.
Lynn, Mass.
1314. To say anything backward is a sign you will get a present.
Peabody, Mass.
1315. If you sing before you eat,You’ll cry before you sleep.Ohio and Iowa.
1315. If you sing before you eat,You’ll cry before you sleep.Ohio and Iowa.
1316. If you sing before breakfast, you will cry before supper.
Cambridge, Mass.
1317. If you laugh before breakfast, you will cry before supper.
Prince Edward Island and Somerville, Mass.
1318. Little birds that sing in the morningThe old cat will catch before night.
1318. Little birds that sing in the morningThe old cat will catch before night.
Accustomed to be said to children when they were especially hilarious in the early morning.
Northern Ohio.
1319. If a child sing before breakfast, it will get a whipping before night.
New Hampshire.
1320. To sing after you go to bed is a sign that tears will come before breakfast.
Maine.
1321. If the sole of either foot itches, you will walk on strange ground.
Boston, Mass.
1322. When about to begin a new enterprise, one must not step over straws in starting out.
1323. If you stumble with the right foot, it means a glad surprise.
Pennsylvania (negro).
1324. In going anywhere, if you strike the right foot you will be welcome wherever you may be going, and if the same happens to the left foot, you will be on strange ground.
Bellville, O.
1325. To sit on a table is a sign of coming disappointment.
Maine and Massachusetts.
1326. In drinking tea, if you take a stem in the mouth it means an enemy; you must bite it and throw it over the right shoulder.
Central Maine.
1327. If you stub your toe going into a house, you are not wanted there.
Guilford, Conn.
1328. If, in going visiting, you stub the right toe, you are welcome; if the left, you are unwelcome.
Massachusetts and Ohio.
1329. If you stub your toe going anywhere, it means a disappointment.
Bathurst, N. B.
1330. Stub your toe,Lose your beau.Salem, Mass.
1330. Stub your toe,Lose your beau.Salem, Mass.
1331. To bite the tongue while talking means that you have told a lie.
1332. If you bite your tongue suddenly while eating, it is a sign some one is coming hungry.
Cambridge, Mass.
1333. In going along the street or path, where there is a tree, go inside rather than outside the tree, for you will be disappointed if you take the latter course.
Eastern Massachusetts.
1334. In drinking water, if you glance over the glass, you are a flirt.
Pennsylvania.
1335. Whistling girls and crowing hensAlways come to some bad ends.General in the United States.
1335. Whistling girls and crowing hensAlways come to some bad ends.General in the United States.
1336. Whistling girls and sheepAre the very worst cattle a farmer can keep.
1336. Whistling girls and sheepAre the very worst cattle a farmer can keep.
1337. A whistling girl and a laughing sheep,Are the very best property a man can keep.Northern Ohio.
1337. A whistling girl and a laughing sheep,Are the very best property a man can keep.Northern Ohio.
1338. Girls that whistle and hens that crowMake their way wherever they go.
1338. Girls that whistle and hens that crowMake their way wherever they go.
1339. Whistle before you eat,Cry before you sleep.Baldwinsville, N. Y.
1339. Whistle before you eat,Cry before you sleep.Baldwinsville, N. Y.
BODILY AFFECTIONS.
1340. If the right cheek burns, some one is speaking well of you; if the left, they are speaking ill of you; if both, they speak well and ill at once. Moisten the finger in the mouth and touch it to the cheek, naming those whom you suspect; the one at whose name it grows cool was speaking of you.
New Brunswick.
1341. If your right ear burns, some one is talking well of you; if your left, he is talking ill.
General in the United States.
1342. If you bite the corner of your apron, you will make back-biters bite their tongues.
Pennsylvania.
1343. Pinch your ear, and the person talking of you will bite his own tongue.
1344. If the right ear burns, it is a sign that some one is thinking well of you; if the left ear burns, it is a sign that some one is thinking unkindly of you; but if both ears burn, friend and foe are fighting about you.
Pennsylvania.
1345. If your ears burn, people are talking well of you; if your ears are cold, the contrary.
New Hampshire.
1346. If your right ear burns, a lady is speaking of you; if the left, a man.
Maine and Pennsylvania.
1347. If your left ear itches, some one is saying unpleasant things about you; but if your right ear, pleasant things. Some say,—