Black Cats & April Fools - Origins of Old Wives Tales and Superstitions in Our Daily Lives. Harry Oliver
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Arts and Entertainment
2 Outdoor Dangers
3 Actions and Gestures
4 Around the Home
5 Clothes and Apparel
6 Animals
7 The Body
8 Love and Marriage
9 Food and Drink
10 Sport and Pastimes
11 The Weather and Natural Occurrences
12 Birth
13 Death
14 Numbers, lucky and unlucky
15 Gifts
16 Celebrations and Festivals
17 Days of the Week
18 Predicting the Future
19 Old Wives’ Tales and Pseudo-science
20 Flowers and Trees
21 International Talismans
22 Around the World
Copyright
For Mum, Dad and Claire
I am thoroughly indebted to my wonderful friends Eleanor Chiari and Gill Partington for their hugely helpful research and advice. Without your assistance things would have been much more difficult!
Mike Mosedale has once again provided superb and amusing illustrations. Thanks Mike, and many thanks also to Graeme Andrew, of Envy Design, who laid out the cover and contents in true style.
Adam Parfitt’s editing skills are second to none, and I cannot thank him enough for having taken the time to work on this text.
When I think of old wives’ tales and superstitions I think of childhood, which is naturally when I first encountered them, usually as warnings from adults. Whether from parents, grandparents, other people’s parents, or even teachers, the authority of whomever told me that walking under a ladder was courting disaster, or that it was unlucky to tread on cracks in the pavement, or that if I broke a mirror it would bring seven years of misfortune, was enough to make me accept this unquestioningly. The need to challenge such ‘truths’ was peculiarly absent in me: I did not doubt that eating carrots would improve my eyesight, even make me see in the dark – I merely assumed that my lack of night vision was down to a deficiency in my consumption of the vegetable! And as for the things I was told would bring me luck – coins in a fountain, seeing a black cat, owning a horseshoe, or finding a four-leaf clover for instance – well what child is going to doubt the logic of something that is going to improve their lot? Not me, anyway. But growing up and developing into a teenager with a defiant streak, combined with the boredom of teenage frustration, meant that the odd transgression such as purposely striding beneath a builder’s ladder just to see what would happen was irresistible.
And not much did happen, so far as I am aware anyway. But how could I be aware that I didn’t deprive myself of a bit of extra luck?! The interesting thing is that all but the most coldly rational of us hold on to superstitions of one sort or another, be they obscure, idiosyncratic notions that many will not have heard of, or more commonly-accepted pieces of received wisdom that we put into practice without even thinking about it. After all, in a society where religion plays an increasingly small part in our lives, ‘Bless You’ still crops up whenever a sneeze forces its way out of an individual.
The origins of old wives’ tales and supersitions are sometimes reasonably obvious, but all too often, they are not! Many are grounded in ancient beliefs, and of course in Christian dogma, but then again a good number have arisen in more recent times. In researching this book, I naturally aimed to provide explanations of the common beliefs we are all aware of, but also wanted to give ample space to the lesser-known, yet still fascinating, ones that may be long gone, or only known of in certain quarters. Many, whose origins remained obscure to me, are listed because they are interesting in themselves, and offer food for thought, and I would be most glad if anyone could fill in any gaps where my research proved fruitless. Do send your thoughts to [email protected].
I have tried to create a book for everyone to enjoy, for the superstitious and the cynic alike. On reading it, if you find yourself transformed into a paranoid recluse, wary of leaving the house for fear of the consequences of what may happen to you, then I am sorry. But, ‘touch wood’, this won’t happen, and you will enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing. I’ll ‘keep my fingers crossed’ that this is the outcome for most of you! Enjoy!
CHAPTER ONE: ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Break a Leg!
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Break a leg!
It is considered unlucky to wish an actor ‘good luck’ before a performance; instead, it is customary to tell him or her to ‘break a leg’. The origins and precise meaning of this expression are unclear, and over the years many different experts on superstitions have developed theories as to how it came about. One explanation suggests that, since ‘leg’ is a euphemism for ‘rope’ (a taboo word in the theatre as it is on board ships), to tell somebody to ‘break a leg’ would be equivalent to telling him or her to break the rope holding up the curtain. A particularly good performance, then, would call for the curtain to be opened many times in a row for the actor to re-emerge in front of the applauding audience, putting it at a risk of breaking.
Another explanation for the expression links it back to Ancient Greece, where audiences stamped their feet instead of clapping their hands at the end of a good performance. To tell an actor to ‘break a leg’ would thus not be referring to the actor’s leg but to that of his or her viewers who would have to stamp their feet so much watching their performance. This explanation seems unconvincing, however, since the expression seems to exist only in English and not in other Greek-inflected languages.
Eating and drinking food made with lemon or milk before a performance
To eat or drink food made with lemon or milk is considered very unlucky before a performance. The explanation for this superstition is quite simple: eating both substances affects saliva production, which hinders an actor’s voice and makes a performance weaker.
Macbeth is the unluckiest of plays
Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth is considered the unluckiest of all plays to put on stage, forecasting disaster for the company performing it and bringing misfortune to those performing in it. The records show that it is the play during which the largest number of accidents, fires and deaths have occurred, and many famous actors who performed the play are said to have had terrible misadventures following its staging. It is considered very unlucky to say the word ‘Macbeth’ anywhere in the theatre, but especially in the dressing rooms. The play is supposed to be referred to instead as ‘that Scottish play’, and there are various rituals that actors have