Our monthly staff are paid on the fifteenth and if that falls at a weekend we are paid on the Friday. therefore every Friday the thirteenth is a payday which doesn't feel very unlucky.
When I got married, the vicar recited many superstitions to us. The one I recall was that on no account should a bridesmaid enter the church before the bride, but there were several.
I was more surprised that it was an ordained clergyman coming up with such stuff, as opposed to Aunt Maud. It seemed to me to sit ill with belief in Jesus Christ.
When I got married, the vicar recited many superstitions to us. The one I recall was that on no account should a bridesmaid enter the church before the bride, but there were several.
I was more surprised that it was an ordained clergyman coming up with such stuff, as opposed to Aunt Maud. It seemed to me to sit ill with belief in Jesus Christ.
I don't see how, but that depends on the belief in question.
The Irish side of the family provides this one. Always leave a house by the door through which you entered - if not sudden death will follow. Never have 13 at a dinner table. This goes back to the Last Supper and is very common - if you dine at The Savoy in London they have a beautiful wooden black cat to sit in the extra chair to avoid it happening.
No goblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit;
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit.
Jesus trumps the opposition.
That assumes that malevolent spiritual entities, or even specifically demons, are the reason for the practice, which need not be the case. (Not that goblins or lots of other things, malevolent or benign, are the same class of being.)
The Irish side of the family provides this one. Always leave a house by the door through which you entered - if not sudden death will follow. Never have 13 at a dinner table. This goes back to the Last Supper and is very common - if you dine at The Savoy in London they have a beautiful wooden black cat to sit in the extra chair to avoid it happening.
The Irish side of the family provides this one. Always leave a house by the door through which you entered - if not sudden death will follow. Never have 13 at a dinner table. This goes back to the Last Supper and is very common - if you dine at The Savoy in London they have a beautiful wooden black cat to sit in the extra chair to avoid it happening.
I mentioned in another discussion that we had to leave the hospital (in Fife) with our newborn daughter by a different door from the one we came in, on the insistence of a nurse. An intriguingly inconsistent superstition.
Oh, I have one, more or less. I try to stir and do other things clockwise, though sometimes (with stirring liquid/food specifically) I’ll switch back and forth. I feel like avoiding doing it widdershins, as it were.
Other stuff I’m not sure I’d call superstition per se, since I actually believe in/am open to all kinds of peculiar things, by many people’s standards, and I believe in being nice/polite/friendly to them. The peculiar things, I mean. And the people too, of course.
My grandmother was brought up to observe the Sabbath strictly. She abandoned most of it, but bits remained, more like superstitions than Sabbath observation. For example, she avoided the use of the future tense on Sundays.
It occurs to me that when I was a child, people routinely added the words, "God willing" to future plans. Granny will be 80 next month, God willing, or we're going on holiday to Spain this summer, God willing , for example.
I can't remember the last time I heard that used in casual conversation.
With my grandmother it was always if we're spared.
My mother had some vague Sabbatarian prohibitions- as in, I shouldn't be knitting on a Sunday, as that was work. Would reading be OK? She supposed so. But, since I was a student at the time, reading books was work, whereas knitting was relaxation.
My grandmother was brought up to observe the Sabbath strictly. She abandoned most of it, but bits remained, more like superstitions than Sabbath observation. For example, she avoided the use of the future tense on Sundays.
It occurs to me that when I was a child, people routinely added the words, "God willing" to future plans. Granny will be 80 next month, God willing, or we're going on holiday to Spain this summer, God willing , for example.
I can't remember the last time I heard that used in casual conversation.
In my case very often ( and among my RC family- though less since the previous 2 generations are all dead) with the proviso “and the devil not objecting”.
Traditionally churchyards used to be circular so there were no corners for the devil to conceal himself. (If you're near the Wye Valley there's a fine example at Hewelsfield.)
One I know is that if you receive a knife as a gift you must always pay the giver something for it (a penny) or it cuts the friendship.
I never thought anything about this until my mother gave my sister the gift of a beautiful Henckels boning knife and they agreed that they were above such superstitions. Within the year, they had a quarrel so bad that their relationship never recovered. Four decades later my sister found out how badly damaged the relationship really was when my mother's will was read.
To this day, if I give a knife as a gift I precede it with "Give me a nickel. Don't ask just give me a nickel."
Traditionally churchyards used to be circular so there were no corners for the devil to conceal himself. (If you're near the Wye Valley there's a fine example at Hewelsfield.)
The same rationale is given for the Round Church in Islay.
Not a superstition, but an old wives' tale Mrs. Gramps grew up with. That if the cows were lying down, it was going to rain. Something about the moisture in the air causing the cows to feel heavier and, therefore, will lie down. She believed that even into our marriage until one time, when we went to the Oregon coast where it was raining and whole herds of cattle were standing. To this day, whenever we go by a herd lying down, we still have this discussion, though it is in jest.
I always thought that about cows too @Gramps49, but I thought they were sitting down so they had a nice dry patch to sit on and their legs wouldn't be so wet. I grew up in inner-city London so know very little about farm animals and their behaviour!
I always thought that about cows too @Gramps49, but I thought they were sitting down so they had a nice dry patch to sit on and their legs wouldn't be so wet. I grew up in inner-city London so know very little about farm animals and their behaviour!
That is very similar to Mrs. Gramps. She grew up in metropolitan New York City. Not the city, but the suburbs on the New Jersey side.
I always thought that about cows too @Gramps49, but I thought they were sitting down so they had a nice dry patch to sit on and their legs wouldn't be so wet. I grew up in inner-city London so know very little about farm animals and their behaviour!
That's what my mother said, she was a country girl. I always used to reply, but if the grass is already wet, they will get wetter sitting down.
That's what my mother said, she was a country girl. I always used to reply, but if the grass is already wet, they will get wetter sitting down.
As one who grew up with cattle, and whose parents bred cattle, the sitting down is what happens after they have eaten their fill. They are digesting their meal, which means several hours of chewing and regurgitating. Best done while at rest. Nothing to do with the weather. This happens every day.
My father always said never lay a knife so that the blade is facing up, or the devil dances on the edge. Aside from superstition, it's just sensible of course.
Oh, and my grandmother telling me that eating bread crusts would make my hair curly.
My grandmother had loads of these. To this day, my mother can't bring herself to do laundry on Good Friday. She can feel her mother disapproving from the great hereafter.
Comments
I was more surprised that it was an ordained clergyman coming up with such stuff, as opposed to Aunt Maud. It seemed to me to sit ill with belief in Jesus Christ.
I don't see how, but that depends on the belief in question.
No goblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit;
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit.
Jesus trumps the opposition.
Always leave a house by the door through which you entered - if not sudden death will follow.
Never have 13 at a dinner table. This goes back to the Last Supper and is very common - if you dine at The Savoy in London they have a beautiful wooden black cat to sit in the extra chair to avoid it happening.
That assumes that malevolent spiritual entities, or even specifically demons, are the reason for the practice, which need not be the case. (Not that goblins or lots of other things, malevolent or benign, are the same class of being.)
Always! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
He's called Kasper.
I mentioned in another discussion that we had to leave the hospital (in Fife) with our newborn daughter by a different door from the one we came in, on the insistence of a nurse. An intriguingly inconsistent superstition.
Other stuff I’m not sure I’d call superstition per se, since I actually believe in/am open to all kinds of peculiar things, by many people’s standards, and I believe in being nice/polite/friendly to them. The peculiar things, I mean. And the people too, of course.
It occurs to me that when I was a child, people routinely added the words, "God willing" to future plans. Granny will be 80 next month, God willing, or we're going on holiday to Spain this summer, God willing , for example.
I can't remember the last time I heard that used in casual conversation.
My mother had some vague Sabbatarian prohibitions- as in, I shouldn't be knitting on a Sunday, as that was work. Would reading be OK? She supposed so. But, since I was a student at the time, reading books was work, whereas knitting was relaxation.
In my case very often ( and among my RC family- though less since the previous 2 generations are all dead) with the proviso “and the devil not objecting”.
I never thought anything about this until my mother gave my sister the gift of a beautiful Henckels boning knife and they agreed that they were above such superstitions. Within the year, they had a quarrel so bad that their relationship never recovered. Four decades later my sister found out how badly damaged the relationship really was when my mother's will was read.
To this day, if I give a knife as a gift I precede it with "Give me a nickel. Don't ask just give me a nickel."
AFF
The same rationale is given for the Round Church in Islay.
DV and WP (Deo volente and Weather Permitting)
That is very similar to Mrs. Gramps. She grew up in metropolitan New York City. Not the city, but the suburbs on the New Jersey side.
That's what my mother said, she was a country girl. I always used to reply, but if the grass is already wet, they will get wetter sitting down.
As one who grew up with cattle, and whose parents bred cattle, the sitting down is what happens after they have eaten their fill. They are digesting their meal, which means several hours of chewing and regurgitating. Best done while at rest. Nothing to do with the weather. This happens every day.
AFF
Oh, and my grandmother telling me that eating bread crusts would make my hair curly.
So did mine - I think it was just a ploy to make sure I ate the whole slice - waste not, want not.