LORE ABOUT NATURAL PHENOMENA. I. To see the new moon for the first time over the right shoulder is lucky. To see it through obstructions of any kind foretells misfortune during the coming month. 2. It is bad luck to see the new moon through a window, but good luck to see it with money in your pocket. (Br.) 3. If you see the new moon full in the face, you face your own luck for that month. (R.) Many familiar moon beliefs are found: 4. Pork must be killed at the full moon, otherwise the meat will shrivel up in cooking. 5. Seeds must be planted with the new moon, otherwise they will not grow. 6. Fence-posts should be put in at the full of the moon, else they will rot. 7. Cut the ends of the hair at the new moon, and it will grow better.1 It will grow as the moon increases. 8. A family should never move except in the light or the increase of the moon: to observe this will bring prosperity and increase of possessions (M). It is possible that such ideas may, at least in part, have been influenced by certain passages found in the Bible (see Gen. i, 14, 16). 9. The moon is commonly regarded as a weather indicator. 10. One should not sow everything during the increase of the moon. It might be done with wheat and oats and pease, but it won't do for root-crops, because you want them to grow downwards, and this effect is best produced by sowing when the "farmer's friend" is on the wane. (LC.) II. Potatoes should be planted in the full moon of June. (Br.) 12. It is unlucky to sow grain during the full or wane of the moon, as the grain will shrink. (R.) 13. It is unlucky to cut trees during the full or the wane of the (R.) moon. 14. A verse often repeated by the writer's mother (W) was, · Evening red and morning gray 15. Dogs or cats eating grass, and cuckoos or peacocks calling, are all signs of rain. 16. Rain is also indicated by swallows skimming low over the water. 1 Believed also in Ottawa. (EB.) 17. A saying thought by Mrs. G. N. Waugh to be Indian was, "Three white frosts, then rain." 18. Some say that hens walking out in the rain is a sign of an all-day rain. 19. Kill a snake and hang it on the fence, and it will bring rain. 20. A halo around the moon is the sign of a storm. The number of stars inside the ring indicates the number of days before it will rain. 21. "A green Christmas makes a fat graveyard." This is a very common Old-Country proverb, also in common use here. 22. A series of signs indicating a mild winter are: (a) a scarcity of nuts for the squirrels, and of berries for the birds; (b) snakes and toads being about late in the season; (c) the thinness of corn-husks; (d) the natural drying and falling of the leaves; (e) the falling of the first snow on unfrozen ground; also (f) continued white frost. (W.) 23. Farmers, especially the older people, make use of the familiar method of observing the hog's milt. If this is larger at one end than at the other, the winter will be accordingly severe. 24. A thunder-storm early in March is considered by some to presage an early spring. 25. A rather complex method of telling the weather was given by Capt. Midford. According to this, the last Thursday and Friday of a moon decide the weather for the next moon. From midnight on Wednesday to Thursday noon decides the first quarter; from Thursday noon to 12 P.M., the second quarter; and so on. The average weather of the twelve-hour periods must be taken. 26. For a cat to eat grass is a sign of rain. (G.) 27. Whatever number of white frosts occur in February, just so many occur in May. (G.) 28. The last three days of any season rule the next three months. (Gi.) 29. Whichever way the wind blows on Good Friday will be the direction during the spring. (Gi.) 30. If Easter Sunday comes early, then spring will be early. (Gi.) 31. If it rains on Easter Sunday, it will rain on the six following Sundays. (Gi.) 32. To step on a toad is a sign of rain. (B.) 33. If a cat sleeps with its back to the fire, it is a sure sign of a storm. (LC.) 34. Friday is the fairest or foulest day of the week. (Br.) 35. When a goose walks east and flies west, rainy weather is near. (Br.) 36. If a cock crows in the rain, it will stop raining. (Br.) 37. If a cock crows as he goes to bed, (Br.) 38. If a crane flies southeast, a rainstorm is near; if northwest, fine weather. (Br.) 39. A late fall of snow in the spring is said to have come "to eat up the other snow." 40. A fall of snow on ploughed land is said to be as good as a coat of manure. "is 41. When the snow falls in large, light masses, the "old woman said to be "picking her geese." (The same idea is expressed in one of Grimm's tales, called "Mother Holle.") 42. Thunder is said to sour milk.1 43. Lightning will never strike a birch-tree. (Br.) 44. The tree that has been struck by lightning is accursed. (Br.) 45. A pot of gold will be found at the end of a rainbow. (Brant County.) 46. The halo, accompanied by "sun-dog," especially when crosslike in appearance, is often regarded as supernatural, and generally with a religious significance. 47. Natural phenomena are probably responsible for a certain class of superstition. An old lady told of a ball of fire entering a house and resting on the corner of a large chest in a certain room. Shortly after this, one of the family died. The writer's father stated that his mother had seen a ball of fire as she was walking along the road one night. It stopped whenever she did, and went ahead when she resumed her walking. It was not stated, in the latter case, whether or not a death occurred as a result. 48. St. Elmo's lights were said by Dr. Boyle to have been seen on one occasion playing about the masts of a vessel which was subsequently lost, on Lake Ontario. 49. Dew is supposed to fall from somewhere, in the same way as rain. 50. Night air is thought by some to be injurious. 51. A glass or earthenware vessel is said to "sweat" when moisture is deposited on it, the belief being that the water exudes through the vessel as perspiration does through the pores of the body. The sweating is said by some to indicate rain. DAYS AND SEASONS. 52. If Christmas decorations are left up too long, bad luck will result. They should be taken down before the month is out. (NCW.) 53. A lady of Irish parentage, residing in Ottawa, states that the decorations should be removed before Epiphany. 54. Never begin work or start upon a journey on Friday. 55. Aside from the religious point of view, it is believed by some to be unlucky to perform any work whatever on Sunday. (M.) 1 Believed also in the vicinity of Ottawa. (EB.) PLANT-LORE. 56. To find a four-leaved clover is a good omen, while some consider the finding of a five-leaved clover the reverse. Some say you will never find a four-leaved clover while you are looking for it. 57. Regarding clover-leaves, Find a two, put it in your shoe; Find a three, let it be; Find a four, put it over the door; Find a five, let it thrive. (Br.) 58. Never say "thanks" for a pin or for a plant, as the plant will not grow. To counterbalance this, if you steal a slip, it is sure to grow. (G.) 59. If one thanks the giver of plants or cuttings, the plants will die. (Br.) 60. In the spring, if You pluck the first blow (blossom), Kill the first snake, You'll do anything you undertake. (G.) 61. Good luck will attend him who breaks the first fern-frond seen in the spring. (Br.) 62. It is unlucky to pluck'a branch on which are growing both blossoms and matured fruit. (Br.) 63. To insure its bearing again, one should thank the tree from which fruit is gathered. (Br.) ANIMAL-LORE. 64. It is commonly believed that the small nematode worm (genus Gordius) found in ponds and mud-holes is produced from horse-hairs which have fallen into the water.1 65. Spiders are said to inflict severe bites, which are indicated by red spots.2 66. Children frequently catch a daddy-long-legs (Phalangium cinereum) and hold it by the hind and middle legs, at the same time saying, "Daddy-long-legs! tell me where my cows are." The pointing motion made by the insect with its front legs is supposed to indicate where the cows are located. 1 Believed also in Ottawa. (EB.) 2 A belief current also in Ottawa. (EB.) 67. Always put a spider out of doors, and say, "Bring me riches." (G.) 68. A cobweb hanging from the ceiling will bring a new beau to the young woman who detaches it. (EO.) 69. It is unlucky to kill a spider. 70. It is unlucky to find a spider in your room in the morning. (R.) 71. When a cicada is found with the W-shaped veining of the wings particularly well marked, war is thereby indicated. 72. A lady-bird beetle is placed on the hand or arm, while the child says, "Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home! Your house is on fire, and your children's alone." The lady-bird will then fly away. 73. The dragon-fly, or "devil's darning-needle," will sew your mouth up, or, according to others, will fly in one ear and out the other. (N. McCutcheon, Manitoulin Island.) 74. A hive of bees will not stay in the possession of a quarrelsome family. (O.) 75. It is unlucky, on finding a cricket in your room at night, to kill it. (R.) 76. It is lucky to have a cricket in your house or room. (R.) 77. It is lucky to find a spider in your room at night. (R.) 78. The ticking of a "death-watch" beetle (Anobium striatum) indicates death. 79. If a moth lights on the mother of a newly-born infant, the death of the latter is sure to follow. (O.) 80. It is lucky to find a lady-bird (beetle) on one's clothing. 81. The calcareous body often found in the head of the crayfish is very lucky. (Br.) 82. The large numbers of small toads or of fish-worms which sometimes appear after a shower are popularly supposed to have come down with the rain. In one instance a "lizard" was said to have descended in this way. The "lizard" was probably a newt, which is quite likely to appear during a rain. 83. Besides their ability to produce warts by contact, toads are credited with being able to remain alive while embedded in the solid rock for immense periods of time, or deep down in the earth. 84. To kill a toad will cause the cow to go dry. (CM.) 85. It is quite commonly believed, possibly among the less educated classes, that persons drinking from a spring or stream of water may swallow a snake or "lizard," which will continue to grow and reproduce inside of them, eventually causing their death. A man at St. George, Ont., nearly died from swallowing a snake in this way, but took hot sheep's blood as a remedy. |