Deborah LeBlanc

Over the last few weeks or so I’ve been trying to recollect and journal some of the old superstitions I’ve heard over the years. Ones from this area, sayings my grandparents, parents, and their friends mentioned often. Especially the ones that managed to lodge in my brain and take root as if they were actual truths. Ones I shared with my own children.  I’m planning to lace some of these superstitions into a future book. For whatever reason, I’m getting the notion that these nuggets may help flesh out ‘place’ in my writing. That they will give the reader a more three-dimensional view of the community that surrounds the main character, then, with any luck, turn the community into a character of sorts. That’s what I’m hoping for anyway.  Anyway, here are a few I remembered . . .  

  1. A long nose is a sign of intelligence.
  2. If your nose itches you will kiss a fool.
  3. If a person’s eyebrows meet, he is of a mean disposition.
  4. If your left palm itches, it’s a sign of money. To be sure to receive that money, rub the itchy palm over a pocket.
  5. To cure a child of asthma, stand him up by a post and lay a knife on his head, then run the knife into the post. When the child grows above this knife, he will no longer have asthma.
  6. To cure hiccoughs rub the palm of your left hand with the thumb of your right.
  7. To cure night sweats put a pan of water under your bed.
  8. Put a chew of tobacco on a bee-sting to relieve the pain.
  9. When a crawfish hole is open it will rain soon. If it is closed, there will be no rain.
  10. If the sun is shining while it’s raining, the devil is beating his wife.
  11. Before you go swimming, dip your hand into the water and make the sign of the cross. It will keep you from drowning.
  12.  If you touch a bird’s nest, the bird will not return to it.
  13. If you handle frogs, you’ll get warts.
  14. Don’t hand over a saltshaker during a meal. Slide it across the table.
  15. If the picture of a living person falls from a wall, it’s a sign that someone will soon visit you.

  Are superstitious diddies like the ones above common where you live? If so, what are the most common?    

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 5:30 am.
Categories: Writers.

7 Comments, Comment or Ping

  1. Robert Jones

    These are some bad-luck superstitions that come to mind:
    Changing the name of a boat.
    Placing a hat on a bed.
    A black cat crossing one’s path.
    Wishing a performer good luck (hence cometh “break a leg”)
    Spilling salt and not throwing any over one’s left shoulder.
    Breaking a mirror will bring seven years of bad luck.
    Stepping on a sidewalk crack.
    Opening an umbrella inside.
    Walking under a ladder.
    RCJ

    Jun 18th, 2008

  2. Dave Wilson

    Bikers used to believe that riding a green motorcycle was bad luck.

    Shooting the Albatross comes to mind.

    Some cool ones there, Deb.

    Jun 18th, 2008

  3. Deborah LeBlanc

    Thanks, Dave. :)I ride a Harley, but have never heard the green bike superstition. Of course now curiosity’s going to have me on the look out…just how many green motorcycles are out there? lol

    The hat on a bed is a new one on me, Robert. Can’t help but wonder how some of these superstitions got started. Like the hat and bed…maybe it was a guy sneaking a little private time with a married woman, and he forgot his hat on her bed. I can see where a collision between his hat and her husband could be a very unlucky thing. :)

    Jun 18th, 2008

  4. Robert Jones

    Your hat scenario sounds logical.
    There used to be a superstition that green racing cars and those with a number 6 were bad luck; but British racing cars are typically British racing green, and they seem to get along quite well.
    Killing an albatros has been a seafaring superstition for a loooong time.
    RCJ

    Jun 18th, 2008

  5. Kathleen

    Regarding number 3, you can almost ALWAYS tell the villain in movies because he will have ungroomed eyebrows. Seriously. Check it out. The bad guy always has bushy ones compared to the good guys who are usually properly groomed with their eyebrows (even if they are otherwise scruffy).

    Jun 18th, 2008

  6. Joey

    I was doing some ‘research’ into the ‘green motorcycle’ superstition and came across this site. The superstition about the hat on the bed is actually based on the notion that if a person had lice, it could be transferred to the bed via the hat.

    Jun 30th, 2008

  7. deborah

    Pretty cool info, Joey. Thanks for sharing it. Lice, huh? UGH!

    Jul 2nd, 2008

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