Black Cats and Evil Eyes Read online

  By the same author:

  A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi: Words We Pinched From Other Languages

  One For Sorrow: A Book of Old-Fashioned Lore

  First published in Great Britain in 2012 by

  Michael O’Mara Books Limited

  9 Lion Yard

  Tremadoc Road

  London SW4 7NQ

  Copyright © Michael O’Mara Books Limited 2012

  Illustrations copyright © Aubrey Smith

  All rights reserved. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN: 978-1-84317-887-3 in hardback print format

  ISBN: 978-1-84317-916-0 in EPub format

  ISBN: 978-1-84317-915-3 in Mobipocket format

  Designed and typeset by www.glensaville.com, from an original page design by Ana Bježančević

  www.mombooks.com

  CONTENTS

  Introduction

  The Superstitions

  HORSESHOES

  PICKING UP PENNIES

  WALKING UNDER LADDERS

  SPILLING SALT

  THE EVIL EYE

  MOONLIGHT

  BREAKING A MIRROR

  LOOSE OR BROKEN SHOELACES

  NEVER LEAVE A HOUSE THROUGH A DIFFERENT DOOR FROM THE ONE USED FOR ENTRANCE

  BLACK CATS

  THE NUMBER THIRTEEN

  THE GIFT OF A PURSE OR WALLET SHOULD ALWAYS INCLUDE MONEY

  PARTING ON A BRIDGE

  OWLS

  NEVER KILL A ROBIN

  NEVER KILL A SWALLOW

  IT IS BAD LUCK TO LET MILK BOIL OVER

  NEVER KILL A SPIDER

  IT IS BAD LUCK TO PASS ANYONE ON THE STAIRCASE

  NEVER TREAD ON A GRAVE

  NEVER REMOVE FLOWERS FROM A GRAVE

  IT IS BAD FORTUNE TO USE SCISSORS ON NEW YEAR’S DAY

  NEVER GIVE A KNIFE OR SCISSORS AS A GIFT

  ITCHING PALMS

  LIGHTED CANDLES AND EVIL SPIRITS

  BURNING CHEEKS MEAN SOMEONE IS TALKING ABOUT YOU

  A SUDDEN CHILL THAT CAUSES A SHIVER MEANS SOMEONE HAS STEPPED OVER YOUR GRAVE

  IF A BROKEN CLOCK SUDDENLY CHIMES, THERE WILL BE A DEATH IN THE FAMILY

  WRAPPING A NEWBORN CHILD IN ITS MOTHER’S CLOTHES UNTIL IT HAS BEEN BAPTIZED

  WHEN A DOG HOWLS, DEATH IS NEAR

  IT IS BAD LUCK TO BURN BEEF BONES

  IF A BAT GETS IN YOUR HAIR YOU ARE POSSESSED BY THE DEVIL

  SAYING ‘BLESS YOU’ WHEN SOMEONE SNEEZES

  IF YOU BITE YOUR TONGUE WHILST EATING, IT IS BECAUSE YOU HAVE RECENTLY TOLD A LIE

  A BRIDE MUST SEW A SWAN’S FEATHER INTO HER HUSBAND’S PILLOW TO ENSURE FIDELITY

  PUT A PINPRICK IN EMPTY EGGSHELLS

  HOLDING YOUR BREATH WHEN PASSING A CEMETERY

  NEVER OPEN AN UMBRELLA INDOORS

  FRIDAY 13TH IS AN UNLUCKY DAY

  NEVER USE A CROSSROADS AS A MEETING PLACE

  CROSSED KNIVES AT THE TABLE SIGNIFY A QUARREL

  TO DREAM OF A LIZARD IS A SIGN THAT YOU HAVE A SECRET ENEMY

  A CHILD’S NAILS SHOULDN’T BE CUT BEFORE ITS FIRST BIRTHDAY

  SPITTING TO WARD OFF EVIL

  NEVER CHOOSE A REDHEAD AS A BRIDESMAID AS SHE WILL STEAL THE GROOM

  KEEPING FINGERS CROSSED TO MAKE WISHES COME TRUE

  COVERING MIRRORS AFTER A DEATH IN THE HOME

  A BED CHANGED ON FRIDAY WILL BRING BAD DREAMS

  PUTTING SALT ON THE DOORSTEP OF A NEW HOUSE TO WARD OFF EVIL

  PLACING SHOES UPON A TABLE WILL BRING BAD LUCK

  NEVER TAKE A BROOM WITH YOU WHEN YOU MOVE HOUSE

  NEVER LEAVE A ROCKING CHAIR ROCKING WHEN EMPTY

  A LOAF OF BREAD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN AFTER SLICING IS PERILOUS

  IT IS BAD LUCK TO MEET A FUNERAL PROCESSION HEAD ON

  COVERING THE MOUTH WHEN YAWNING

  KNOCK ON WOOD / TOUCH WOOD

  TYING A KNOT IN A HANDKERCHIEF

  LIGHTNING WILL NEVER STRIKE A HOUSE WITH A BURNING FIRE

  NEVER LIGHT THREE CIGARETTES WITH ONE MATCH

  WEAR A TOAD AROUND THE NECK TO WARD OFF THE PLAGUE

  NEVER BRING LILIES INDOORS

  IT IS UNLUCKY TO DENY A PREGNANT WOMAN HER CRAVINGS

  NEVER CUT AN ELDER TREE

  ALWAYS STIR CHRISTMAS CAKE CLOCKWISE

  TOUCHING A CORPSE FOR GOOD LUCK

  IF A TOAD OR FROG ENTERS THE HOUSE IT WILL BRING BAD LUCK

  PEOPLE WHO LIVE NEAR THE COAST CAN’T DIE UNTIL THE TIDE IS EBBING

  ACCIDENTS HAPPEN IN THREES

  CUTTING A LONE HAWTHORN BUSH WILL BRING DEATH

  WATER DRUNK FROM A HUMAN SKULL CURES EPILEPSY

  NEVER SPEAK WHILE A CLOCK IS CHIMING

  YULE LOGS PREVENT LIGHTNING FROM STRIKING

  IT IS GOOD LUCK IF A BABY CRIES AT ITS CHRISTENING

  KEEPING CATS AWAY FROM BABIES TO PREVENT THEM FROM SUCKING THE BREATH FROM A CHILD

  NEVER SPEAK ILL OF THE DEAD

  CARRYING A RABBIT’S FOOT TO WARD OFF EVIL

  THE FIRST PERSON YOU SEE ON NEW YEAR’S DAY MUST BE A DARK-HAIRED MAN

  NEW CLOTHES SHOULD NOT BE WORN TO A FUNERAL

  A SAILOR WEARING AN EARRING CANNOT DROWN

  TO HAVE WOMEN ON BOARD SHIP MAKES THE SEA ANGRY

  CUTTING YOUR HAIR OR NAILS AT SEA IS BAD LUCK

  RAVENS

  MAGPIES: ONE FOR SORROW, TWO FOR JOY

  EVIL SPIRITS CAN’T HARM A PERSON STANDING INSIDE A CIRCLE

  IT IS UNLUCKY TO KILL AN ALBATROSS OR A GULL AS THEY CONTAIN THE SOULS OF SAILORS LOST AT SEA

  THE CAUL OF A NEWBORN CHILD PROVIDES PROTECTION AGAINST DROWNING

  A COCK CROWING AT THE WRONG TIME IS BAD LUCK

  CARRYING A TOADSTONE TO PROTECT AGAINST EVIL AND CURE ILLNESS

  ST JOHN’S WORT GUARDS AGAINST THE DEVIL

  IF A PICTURE FALLS OFF THE WALL, THE PERSON DEPICTED WILL SOON DIE

  Acknowledgements

  Bibliography

  Index

  For Mum and Dad

  INTRODUCTION

  One of the most powerful things about superstitions is the way they have become engrained in the public consciousness. Passed on by word of mouth from one generation to the next and cemented in our minds by repetition and corroboration, irrational beliefs can hold startling authority. So much so that even if we don’t actually believe in them in our rational minds, we follow them because gut instinct tells us we should, or, as was more often the case in the past, because we’re too scared of the consequences if we don’t.

  Superstition is generally defined as an irrational belief that magic, luck or supernatural forces have the power to influence your life, or that actions that aren’t logically linked to an outcome may have an effect on it. Such beliefs tend to be held most ardently when people find themselves at the mercy of chance. The human survival instinct tells us to seek a solution if our lives are threatened and our bodies naturally equip us with the ability to fight or flee. For our ancestors living in an age without proper sanitation, a guaranteed supply of basic food and clean water or modern medicine, so many of the menaces they faced were utterly beyond their control. They couldn’t fend off the waves on a sinking ship, outrun the plague or fight the frost that would ruin the harvest, so they searched for other ways to save themselves: sailors cutting off their hair as an offering
to the gods so that the sea would spare them; medieval Londoners applying dead pigeons to buboes in the desperate hope of curing bubonic plague; a farmer leaving fertile land uncultivated to protect a swallow’s nest in case disturbing it caused his family to starve.

  This book delves into the stories behind some of the superstitions that are still well known today, as well as exploring some of the most fascinating beliefs that have become less familiar in the modern age. Their origins are wide ranging, derived from either classical thought, religious ritual or rural wisdom. The focus is on those inspired by the hardships faced by everyday people in a time when life was ‘nasty, brutish and short’, so they mostly fall into the categories of death omens (now signs of bad luck), charms against evil or witchcraft, and rituals surrounding births, deaths and other dangerous times.

  Like much folklore, superstitious beliefs were usually passed on by word of mouth, so written records can be hard to come by. In many cases several centuries passed between their first appearance in print and subsequent references, which presents a challenge to folklorists attempting to trace their evolution. However, there is enough on record to help the interested amateur gain some understanding of where many of our most mysterious beliefs stem from.

  To understand the superstitions collected in this book in context, we must imagine ourselves in a world vastly different from our own. Those beliefs that date back to antiquity evolved in an era steeped in the mythology of a pantheon of gods with human flaws vying with each other for power, and where Fate might triumph over even the most formidable deity. Humans saw themselves as pawns in the games of the gods and powerless in the face of their own predetermined destinies. Ritual governed their lives not so much because they were superstitious, but because that was the custom of their day.

  The many beliefs that took hold during the Middle Ages, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, did so against a backdrop of extremism unrecognizable even in this post 9/11 age. The often hysterical fear of witchcraft that swept through Europe (and later America) plays a central role in the histories of many of the superstitions examined here. One particularly resonant medieval manuscript offers an illuminating insight into the beliefs of those times. The Gospelles of Dystaues, or Distaff Gospels, written in 1470 and translated into English in 1507, documented for the first time the wisdom of French peasant women. The book illuminates, for example, our distrust of giving a knife as a gift, our belief that a pregnant woman should be given what she craves and our fear that a howling dog is an omen of death. The women’s testimonies were documented before the persecution of wise women as witches began in earnest, so they detailed the charms and remedies they used with a freedom that is heart-breaking in light of the torture and murder of the witch hunts that followed.

  The problem these ‘old wives’ faced was that their beliefs fell outside the accepted religious framework of their time. For all its rituals and belief in the supernatural, the medieval Church would not tolerate this ‘other’ kind of wisdom, and this was in keeping with religious authorities throughout history. Even the Ancients made a distinction between religious ritual and superstitious practice. The first-century Roman poet Ovid describes many of the mores of his day and uses the word ‘superstition’ in much the same, faintly pejorative, way we do today to refer to those practices that were viewed as excessively credulous, whimsical or irrational.

  This is one of the most fascinating things about looking back over the superstitions that have their origins in folklore. On the whole, they started out not as superstitions but as practices that were in keeping with the religious code or social norms of the time. They have come to be seen as superstitious only as our understanding of the world has deepened. If you carried a rabbit’s foot to ward off digestive trouble in Roman times, for example, you did so because it was what your physician recommended. If you carried one in the 1600s, like the diarist Samuel Pepys, you might have done so because although you knew it was mere ‘fancy’, it had worked for a respected friend and seemed also to have the desired effect on you. If you carry one today it’s probably attached to some sort of ‘good luck’ key ring in the shape of a four-leaf clover with a horseshoe dangling from it, and you hold on to it either because your grandmother gave it to you on her deathbed or because you are extremely superstitious.

  Following the same pattern of development, it’s easy to see how the religious observances of the ancient Romans became the superstitions of the early Middle Ages, and how the Devil-defeating practices of the medieval peasant became the derided old wives’ tales of the rationalist eighteenth century. What is really remarkable is that the seismic cultural shifts that have taken place over the centuries haven’t eradicated superstition entirely. In fact, if you take superstition to include beliefs in the supernatural beyond the religious norm of the time, we are much more superstitious now than we were two hundred years ago, when the combination of scientific achievement and authorized religion kept the vast majority of people’s beliefs within the mainstream. People have since begun to turn back to ancient healing methods like acupuncture, reiki and reflexology, and to the plant cures first used in Classical times. Twenty-first-century spiritualism and neo-paganism in all its forms are on the rise, and – in the West, at least – conventional religion plays the smallest role it ever has in human history.

  Perhaps in this post-scientific-revolution era we are more accepting of the idea that not everything is within our understanding, which makes learning about the superstitions held by previous generations so appealing. We know about self-determination and that luck is just a string of probability equations, but we can’t help but feel that there’s something more to it. We know what happens to our bodies when they’re buried and how age and diseases cause us to die, and yet many of us still have faith in some kind of afterlife or rebirth of the soul. No matter how certainly we know that the spirits of the damned aren’t lurking under ladders hoping that we might sneeze at just the right moment for them to take possession of our bodies, something makes us change our path and look around for someone to say ‘Bless you.’

  CHLOE RHODES

  HORSESHOES

  Horseshoes can be found hanging above the doors of homes across the world and are thought to ward off evil. One source of this belief in the Western world is described in The True Legend of St Dunstan and the Devil, written in 1871 by Edward G. Flight, which tells the story of a first-century blacksmith monk who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury and one of England’s best-loved saints. Legend has it that during his days in the foundry, Dunstan was asked by a man to make some horseshoes for his own feet. As Dunstan prepared the man’s feet for shoeing, he noticed that they were cloven hoofed and realized with horror that his customer was the Devil. Exhibiting a fearlessness befitting a future saint, he drove the nails into the soft centre of the hoof, causing the Devil so much agony that from that day on he didn’t dare to go near a horseshoe.

  The protective power of the horseshoe, however, pre-dates not only St Dunstan but Christianity itself. Hindu texts use the Sanskrit word ‘Yoni’ to describe the sacred temple or womb, representative of the Goddess Shakti, which was believed to be the origin of all life and is depicted in ancient stone carvings, paintings, and architecture as a downward-pointing horseshoe. It was also an important pagan symbol, representing the crescent moon and the ancient moon goddesses Artemis and Diana. In Arabic countries the horseshoe is incorporated into amulets that protect against the Evil Eye (see here), while in British, Celtic and Germanic folklore a horseshoe nailed above the door was used to defend homes from witchcraft.

  In the West, as the more secular idea of bringing ‘good luck’ has taken precedence over the need to ward off evil, the positioning of the horseshoe has become significant. In the UK and the US they’re most often hung with the open end up, to stop the good luck from falling out, though folklore traditionalists warn that this encourages trouble-making pixies to use them as seats, so open end up but tilted slightly is optimal. In t
he rest of the world the open end is usually down, mirroring the shape of the sacred womb. Whichever way a horseshoe is hung, more luck can be gleaned by keeping it in place with seven screws.

  PICKING UP PENNIES

  This tradition comes from a nursery rhyme that we commonly recite as ‘See a penny, pick it up; all day long you’ll have good luck.’

  In fact the original rhyme featured pins, not pennies: ‘See a pin and pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck. See a pin and let it lie, you’ll feel want before you die.’ This may in turn be derived from the old English proverb ‘He that will not stoop for a pin will never be worth a pound’, which was first recorded in print in Samuel Pepys’s Diary in 1668.

  It is one of many ancient sayings to promote the notion that it’s worth taking trouble over small things. People who used the rhyme in the 1600s would also have been fearful of leaving a pin on the ground because of their associations with witchcraft.

  Pins were thought to have been used to bind a spell in place or to fix a desire – for good or ill, to an object that represented the person on whom the spell was being cast. If you didn’t pick up the pin, a witch might find it instead and use it in a spell against you.

  Pins were also used in hexes, which could be performed to reverse the effects of damaging spells, often held responsible for the misunderstood medical ailments that afflicted citizens of the seventeenth century. Urinary infections, for example, were frequently ‘treated’ by placing pins representative of the patient’s pain into a glass ‘witch bottle’ along with a sample of their urine. The mixture would be boiled to transfer the pain from the victim of the spell back to the witch. The bottle would then be buried or bricked up into the walls of the person’s home to defend them against future curses.

  The superstition had more mundane foundations too as pins were an essential tool for needlework, which was a necessity rather than a hobby in the seventeenth-century home.

  The switch from pin to penny seems to have occurred in early nineteenth-century America and may have simply been a linguistic slip, although the appearance of the words ‘In God We Trust’ on American pennies is believed in some quarters to have transformed a castaway coin into a token of luck from the Good Lord for those who believe in him.