Old Wives Tales

[GypsyScy]

Not sure if some of these are localised to other countries / areas but some I've heard

 

New shoes on the table brings bad luck....

 

Dont pick a knife up yourself if you dropped it...

 

Seeing one magpie can bring bad luck unless you salute it and say "good day mr magpie"

 

Lavender under a newborns cot keeps evil fairies away....

 

If a child is born at midnight it has the gift of sight and is able to see beyond the grave. This child is known as the chime child. The seventh son of the seventh son is also supposed to have this power. Also if two people with the same surname marry each other one or other of their offspring has a cure...allegedly!

 

I know that in Irish folklore, if a robin comes into your house, it means that a young lady in the family will become pregnant shortly after!And if an owl flies into your house, you have to kill it, as if it is allowed fly away, it will take all the luck of the house with it. Bit harsh, I think!

[Ghostrider]

Any footwear placed on a table on there soles, means someone in the household is going to die.

 

If a funeral cortege had a following wind from the deceased place of residence the corpse takes all the luck with them, but a head wind ensures the luck stays where it is. (Presumably created to humour the coffin carriers back in the day when everyone walked, that fighting in to a head wind was "worthwhile". )

 

As a side story, one individual who shall remain nameless although long deceased himself, on one of his first outings as a coffin carrier, where it had to be carried over 3 miles in to a head wind and sleet, was heard to mutter en route. "Cud dey no a startit ta waandir im aest ower whin dey wir awaar he wis gyaan..."

 

On a certain day in spring (the person who told me had forgotten which one), if at noon the tide was ebbing, it meant it was going to be a good "sea" year ie. plenty of fish and good catches, but if it was flowing, it meant it was going to be a good "land" year ie. plentiful crops.

[beachcaster]

If you swallow chewing gum it will stick to your insides and if you swallow enough of it, it will kill you.

 

I remember my old granny telling me that, might be why there is so much of it plastered all over the street flagstones/pavements.

[Ghostrider]

One more. If there was a whale caa in progress, any women that were pregnant had to keep out of sight of it, and preferably stay indoors. If they didn't it would cause the whales to turn and escape back to sea.

 

Oh yeah, and that all raw potatoes are poisonous.

[MJ]

Oh yeah, and that all raw potatoes are poisonous.

 

but they are, just not lethal.

[Ghostrider]

^^ a Dutch University disagrees with you.

 

http://www.food-info.net/uk/qa/qa-fp97.htm

 

Personally I'll go with them being poisonous, the thought of eating a raw spud is repulsive.

[MJ]

depends on your definition of toxin or posion. It takes a lot of raw pototo to build up enough of the toxins to give you more than a mild stumach upset.

Reminds me of the european paper than says your not allowed to feed livestock manglewurzel

[GypsyScy]

We always thought if you ate the seeds of any fruit, you would have a tree grow in your stomach.

Proved somewhat true recently: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1657389/fir_tree_grows_in_mans_lung.html

[Njugle]

^ Somewhat indeed. The second page pretty much brands the story a hoax. Scary thought though! (and one I believed as a kid too)

 

Trying to recall some: One that springs to mind in the morbid side of things was that if a crow turned around three times on the roof of a house, someone would die there.

[Ghostrider]

depends on your definition of toxin or posion. It takes a lot of raw pototo to build up enough of the toxins to give you more than a mild stumach upset.

Reminds me of the european paper than says your not allowed to feed livestock manglewurzel

 

A bit like alcohol then (but without the feel good factor), in a moderation it does no noticable harm, it only gets you when ingested excessively.

 

The Shetland version though was that as little as one or two bites of a raw potato would make you very ill, so an extreme stretching of the truth at best. Its suspected that it came in to being during times of famine. When what little food there was had to be strictly rationed, as a means of discouraging kids from sneaking in to the barn and swiping any from the winter store when hunger was getting to them, and its just lived on.

[owre-weel]

As a bairn I always remember an elderly neighbour who on a full moon would turn a silver coin in his hand and give it to us, telling us that if we turned it over in our hand it would bring us prosperity! It was usually a half crown so he wis right we were 2'6d richer.(12.5p in new money)

 

And I also remember mam telling me - If you are given a present of a knife, give a coin in return to avoid 'cutting' the friendship

[Njugle]

^^Re: Tatties. Is it not more about avoiding the chance of eating a green bit by mistake?

[GypsyScy]

I never heard of the 'borrowing days' (no sure if the spelling is right) before I lived here. Is it just a Shetland thing?

 

Other ones are never stir a cup of tea with a knife or you'll be strinng up trouble.

 

I remember my granny running me out of the house when I came in with a load of hawthorn when i was little, she reckoned I was inviting fairies in

[owre-weel]

just minded this wan

 

When making funny faces, we were told that if the wind changed your face would stay like that.

[Ghostrider]

Trying to recall some: One that springs to mind in the morbid side of things was that if a crow turned around three times on the roof of a house, someone would die there.

 

A variation on that one is that if crows and ravens in unusual number and for unusually long periods, suddenly began sitting on the roof ridge etc of a house, or on whatever immediately surrounding it for no obvious reason, someone within is going to die shortly.

 

Umm.....not so sure if it qualifies as old wives tales though, I've witnessed it happening, and the soon to be deceaseds weren't even in the houses, they were in hospital. About 30 years ago two neighbouring houses had one person from each in hospital, one in Lerwick, the other in Aberdeen, both long stay patients. A few days before one of them died crows and ravens started conregating around both houses, and continued until the second died, a couple of days after the first.

 

I was living in one of the houses at the time, and its kinda hard to miss that suddenly every time you go out there's several crows etc sitting on your lums and nearby fence posts, when normally its something you'd never see.