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Volume I, No. 4, Summer 1974 |
So They Say
It has been said that the Ozark people are some of the most superstitious people in the United States. Their superstitions may have had some truth to them, though not based on scientific fact. They were generally accepted rules to guide their actions in difficult and fearful situations. There are hundreds of superstitions that have been handed down through the generations as naturally as rules for social behavior or personal cleanliness.
Children were of prime importance to their parents and the region as a whole. It was important to bring the child up as a healthy, intelligent person, and as lucky as possible. Many superstitions pertain to raising children.
To keep a baby from being Sick, bathe it in dirty dishwater.
Tea made from hot water and corn silk will cure bed wetting in children.
Don't step over a child; it will stop the child from growing.
It is lucky for a child to be born when the moon is full.
A baby should be carried upstairs before downstairs so that it will rise in the world.
Never toss a baby up in the air. If you do, it will cause him to be feebleminded.
At times many of us will knock on wood or gasp if a mirror is broken. But, during the very superstitious times, the people seemed to think almost everything meant either bad or good luck.
Peacock feathers brought into the house are bad luck. It is very bad luck to do any work about the house on the Sabbath.
Bad luck always follows if you place a hat or a shoe or a rifle on a bed.
It is very bad luck to bring cedar or mistletoe into the home, except during the Christmas season.
It is good luck to see a white cat on the road.
Putting clothes on, accidently wrong-sideout is good luck.
If two or more people go fishing together, they must all cross the fences at the same time if they are to have good luck at catching fish.
The woman who happens to get her first glimpse of the new moon unobstructed by foilage considers herself lucky.
Just as most of us, the generations before us were frightened by death. Maybe a few people had experiences of dreaming of someone who happened to die the next day, starting a superstition.
To dream that a certain man, attired in his finest clothes, is in a company where the others are not so attired means that the man is going to die.
If a married man dreams that he is being married, and sees himself attired in his wedding garments, it means that he is going to die.
Stepping over a grown person is a sign of death.
If you point at a funeral line, you are next to die.
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Copyright © 1981 BITTERSWEET, INC.
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