Sunday, March 04, 2007

Superstition

Superstition

This week Sunday Scribblings’ prompt: superstition. “Do you have any? Do you scoff at them? Do you brazenly stroll under ladders and laugh at black cats? Do you know any really weird ones? Have you ever thought of what it would have been like to live in the Middle Ages, when superstitions were such a part of daily life, and could actually get you killed?”

I created my own superstition as a child. There was a Victorian type house, complete with the creepy wrought iron fence down the street from my house. A very old lady and her St. Bernard lived there. The neighbor children all believed she was a witch. My superstition was looking out my bedroom window every night. The houses that did not have any lights on were the house she had cast spells on.

Things I do because they were modeled for me as a child:

Slice the end of a cucumber. Take the sliced end and rub it in circular motions on the end of the cucumber to “get the poison” out. From my grandmother.

Remark to company “After three days, company smells like fish.” From my grandmother. I recently discovered she was quoting Ben Franklin.

Wish on falling stars along with the first star I see each evening.

If I give a purse as a gift, I put a penny in it. Same if I give a knife as a gift, I get a penny to not 'cut-up" the relationship.



Things I do today because I learned about them:

Pray to Saint Anthony when I lose something. I am not Catholic but I like doing this.

Have a variety of gemstones for a variety of things. I had a lot of muscle pain last summer. Every time I wore my necklace with green aventurine and unakite, I experienced less pain.

For more on superstitiions, click here.

6 comments:

Laini Taylor said...

That cucumber one is just CRAZY. Get the poison out? Wow! And the knife one, I have heard of it. I love superstitions -- the human mind in all its intricacies!

Anonymous said...

Oh, interesting. I always forget about praying to St. Anthony, even though my grandmother was always urging us to do so, when we'd lost something.

Found you on the Sunday Scribblings blog.

paris parfait said...

Great post! I'd never heard that about the cucumber or the penny in the purse. As for aventurine, I have a large collection, simply because of their beautiful colour and shape - I never knew they were supposed to help with pain! :)

Tammy Brierly said...

My family did the cucumber thing to take the bitterness away and I still do :) I think the penny in a purse is sweet and my grandma did it too. I need to look up aventurine. Cool post!

sundaycynce said...

Several of yours were quite unfamiliar to me, and very interesting. I'll have to remember about St. Anthony, I hate to bother God about such small things as my having lost something, but I trust prayer and lost things can drive you crazy. Think I will skip the cucumber thing.

gautami tripathy said...

Ah..the cucumber one! My mom still does it. If I don't she insists I do!!