Fingernails, you may be surprised to hear, are a
essential ingredient in a large number of witches'spells This is
because they are meant to contain the most important parts of a
person's character. If a witch can get hold of some of your
fingernail cuttings, then she can use them to cast a spell on
you. So if somebody with pointed black hat and a broom comes to
your door, hide your fingernails!
People with crooked nails are thought by some to be greedy, but
whatever shape they are, the size of the white half moon-shaped
part at the base of the fingernail is important. The bigger it
is, the longer you have to live.
As far as cutting your nails goes, the best days to do it are on
a Monday or a Tuesday. But be careful. Never cut babies'nails
until they are at least a year old. Otherwise they will grow up
into thieves.
Parents have always urged children to eat as much
fish as possible. This is not simply because it is good for your
diet and contains a lot of vitamins.
Fish have, for a long time now, been seen as the providers of
wisdom and knowledge. In other words, eating fish is meant to
make you a cleverer person.
In America the Tench is supposed to be able to cure illness, and
is commonly known as the 'doctor fish'.
Fishermen believe that it is bad luck to stop to count the number
of fish you have caught. If you do this, they say, you will not
be able to catch any more fish that day.
The Scots have an unusual method of getting the fish to bite. If
they have caught very few fish that day, and the situation is
getting desperate, they believe that there is only one possible
solution - to throw a fisherman into the water and then haul him
out again as if he were a catch! They hope that the fish will be
stupid enough to follow suit
There are lots of jokes about having a fly in
your soup, for example:
'Waiter, wafter, what is this fly doing in mysoup?'
'The backcrowl, I think, sir.'
Funnily enough there is probably quite a good reason why such
jokes came into being.
If a fly fell into a glass or dish of soup which was about to be
drunk, it was thought to be a sign of prosperity and happiness to
come.
So in a tavern in the Middle Ages, you might have heard a
conversation more like this:
'Waiter, waiter, there'S a fly in my soup.'
'Congratulations, sir! What a stroke of luck!'
I'm sure that you've often had your mum or dad
tell you not to play with your food. But perhaps if they knew
about a few of the following superstitions, they might change
their minds.
While you are eating fish, try to cut it up the right way -
always work from the tail towards the head. Otherwise you will
suffer a period of bad luck.
The cutting of bread must also be carried out with the utmost
care. If it is done unevenly then you are almost certainly
about to tell a lie. And if it actually crumbles in your hands,
then an argument is on its way.
By far the greatest fun can be had with a boiled egg once you
have finished eating it.you are meant to smash the egg shell into
tiny pieces. If you don't, witches may use it in a spell against
you.
Football, like many sports, is a game full of
superstitions.
You may well know some associated with your own favourite team.
There are too many different ones to mention them all. But here
are a few general ones.
It is meant to be lucky if the oldest player in the team bounces
the ball to the youngest, who must then catch it on the bounce.
You will often see the striker bounce the ball three times on the
centre spot before the game starts, for luck. Similarly the
goalkeeper usually touches both goalposts in the hope of'
stopping any goals being scored.
Probably the most common belief is the use of a child or an
animal as a club mascot.
These days clubs often change their mascot every week so that
lots of children get their chance to run on to the pitch with the
team.
It is also quite usual for the team to go out on the field in the
same order every week.
Some players wouldn't dream, for example, of being anything but
last out of the dressing-room.
Friday is a day with a mixed tradition in the
world of superstition.
Many people think it's a generally unlucky day, and feel that
their bad luck is doubled if the thirteenth of the month falls on
a Friday.
Others think it's only unwise to go courting on a Friday. This is
because it was traditionally the day on which Adam was tempted by
Eve, and they were thrown out of Paradise.
Funnily enough though, both the Germans and the Scots believe
it's a good day on which to get married.
The Americans used to always carry out hangings on a Friday. Now
it has the nickname there of 'Hangman's Day'.
On a slightly different note, if you have a dream on a Friday
night be sure to try to remember it. If you repeat the dream to a
member of your family the next morning, it will come true. Only
do this with good dreams, of course.
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