Current Superstitions

Current Superstitions, by
Various

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Current Superstitions, by Various
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Current Superstitions Collected from the Oral Tradition of
English Speaking Folk
Author: Various
Commentator: William Wells Newell
Editor: Fanny D. Bergen
Release Date: August 5, 2006 [EBook #18992]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURRENT
SUPERSTITIONS ***

Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Julia Miller, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
made using scans of public domain works from the University of

Michigan Digital Libraries.)

Transcriber's Note: A number of typographical errors and
inconsistencies found in the original book have been maintained in this
version. A complete list is found at the end of the text.

CURRENT SUPERSTITIONS
COLLECTED FROM THE ORAL TRADITION OF ENGLISH
SPEAKING FOLK
EDITED BY FANNY D. BERGEN
WITH NOTES, AND AN INTRODUCTION BY WILLIAM WELLS
NEWELL
BOSTON AND NEW YORK Published for The American Folk Lore
Society by HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY LONDON:
DAVID NUTT, 270, 271 STRAND LEIPZIG: OTTO
HARRASSOWITZ, QUERSTRASSE, 14 1896

Four hundred and fifty copies printed, of which this is No. ----
Copyright, 1896, BY THE AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.
All rights reserved.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A. Electrotyped and
Printed by H.O. Houghton and Company.

PREFACE.
In the "Popular Science Monthly" for July, 1886, there was printed a

somewhat miscellaneous assortment of customs and superstitions under
the title: Animal and Plant Lore of Children. This article was in the
main composed of reminiscences of my own childhood spent in
Northern Ohio, though two or three friends of New England rearing
contributed personal recollections. Seldom is a line cast which brings
ashore such an abundant catch as did my initial folk-lore paper. A
footnote had, by the advice of a friend, been appended asking readers to
send similar lore to the writer. About seventy answers were received,
from all sorts of localities, ranging from Halifax to New Orleans. These
numerous letters convinced me that there was even then, before the
foundation of the national Society, a somewhat general interest in
folk-lore,--not a scientific interest, but a fondness for the subject-matter
itself. Many who do not care for folk-lore as a subject of research are
pleased to have recalled to them the fancies, beliefs, and customs of
childhood and early youth. A single proverb, superstition, riddle, or
tradition may, by association of ideas, act like a magic mirror in
bringing back hundreds of long-forgotten people, pastimes, and
occupations. And whatever makes one young, if only for an hour, will
ever fascinate. The greater number of those who kindly responded to
the request for additional notes to my animal and plant lore were
naturally those of somewhat literary or scientific tastes and pursuits.
Many letters were from teachers, many others from physicians, a few
from professional scientists, the rest from men and women of various
callings, who had been pleased by suggestions that aroused memories
of the credulous and unreflecting period in their own lives. The
abundant material thus brought in, which consisted of folk-lore items of
the most varied kind, was read gratefully and with pleasant surprise.
The items were assorted and catalogued after some provisional fashion
of my own. Succeeding papers issued in the "Popular Science Monthly"
brought in further accessions. I gradually formed the habit of asking, as
opportunity offered, any one and every one for folk-lore. Nurses
abound in such knowledge. Domestic help, whether housekeepers,
seamstresses, or servants, whether American or foreign, all by patient
questioning were induced to give of their full store.
The folk-lorist who chances to have a pet superstition or two of his own

that he never fails to observe, has an open-sesame to beliefs of this sort
held by any one with whom he comes in contact. The fact that I have (I
blush to confess it) a preference for putting on my right shoe before the
left has, I dare say, been the providential means of bringing to me
hundreds of bits of folk-lore. Many times has the exposure of this
weakness instantly opened up an opportunity for asking questions
about kindred customs and superstitions. I once asked an Irish peasant
girl from County Roscommon if she could tell me any stories about
fairies. "Do ye give in to fairies then, ma'am?" she joyously asked,
adding, "A good many folks don't give in to them" (believe in them, i.e.,
the fairies). Apparently she was heartily glad to meet some one who
spoke her own language. From that hour she was ever ready