Current Superstitions
Edited By Fanny D. Bergen
Chapter I.
Babyhood
1. The bairn that is born on fair Sunday
Is bonny and loving, and blithe and gay.
Monday’s bairn is fair in the face,
Tuesday’s bairn is full of grace,
Wednesday’s bairn is loving and giving,
Thursday’s bairn works hard for a living,
Friday’s bairn is a child of woe,
Saturday’s bairn has far to go.
Massachusetts.
2. Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is sour and sad,
Thursday’s child is merry and glad,
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child must work for a living;
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is blithe and bonny, good and gay.
Baldwinsville, N. Y.
(Some put it, Sunday’s child shall never know want.)
3. He who is born on New Year’s morn
Will have his own way as sure as you’re born.
4. He who is born on an Easter morn
Shall never know want, or care, or harm.
5. A child born on a saint’s day must bear the saint’s name. It is unlucky to take away the day from it.
Catholic superstition.
6. Thursday has one lucky hour, just before sunrise, for birth.
BAPTISM.
7. If a child cries during baptism, it is the devil going out of it.
Niagara Falls, Ont.
8. It is lucky for the child to cry at baptism, but unlucky for the godmother to wear mourning.
9. If twins are brought to baptism at the same time, christen the boy first, or else he will have no beard, and the girl will be beggared.
PHYSIOGNOMY.
10. An open hand in a baby is a sign of a generous disposition, but a habit of closing the fingers indicates avarice, or, as we say, closefistedness.
Cambridge, Mass.
11. If a child “favors its father,” it is good luck for it. It will get on well in the world.
Salem, Mass.
12. A baby that has two crowns will live in two continents or kingdoms.
Massachusetts.
13. A double crown on the head means that the owner will “break bread in two kingdoms.”
Northern Ohio.
14. “Two crowns will never be satisfied.” This is a sign of a very changeable disposition.
Chestertown, Md.
15. A baby born with a veil over its face has good luck. General.
16. A child born with a veil over its face will never be drowned. Many sailors are known to wear the caul, with which they were born, about the person as a charm against death by drowning.
Sailor’s superstition.
INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD.
17. Take the baby first into the sunlight on Sunday. Put it into short clothes and make all changes on that day.
18. To make a child rise in the world, carry it upstairs (or to the attic) first.
Mifflintown, Pa.
19. The baby must go upstairs before it goes downstairs, or it will never rise in the world.
Massachusetts.
20. To be a bright baby, it must go up before it is carried down, and it must be bumped to the attic roof for luck.
New England.
21. A young baby was taken up a short step-ladder by its nurse[23] before being for the first time carried downstairs lest it should die before it was a year old.
Holyoke, Mass.
22. A child will have a nature and disposition similar to that of the person who first takes him out of doors.
Georgia.
23. The first time a baby is taken out of its room, it must be taken up, or it will not go to heaven. If the door of the room steps down, then the person carrying the baby must step up on a chair or book with the baby in her arms.
North Carolina.
24. Let the baby have or touch the thing he starts after on taking the first step, and he will always get what he wishes. If it be the moon, then let him touch something light, on which its light shines.
25. When taking the child into your arms for the first time, make a good wish for him; if you give him his full name and he opens his eyes and looks at you (answers to his name), it is good luck.
26. To be a bright baby, it must fall out of the crib before it is eleven months old.
Brookline, Mass.
27. If a baby does not fall out of bed, it will be a fool.
Eastern Massachusetts.
28. A child’s tumbling out of bed is a sign he will never be a fool.
Maine.
29. To drink water out of a bucket which is being carried on a child’s head stops its growth.
Virginia.
30. To step over a young child stops its growing.
Virginia.
31. About 1860 the Alabama negresses believed that if any one stepped on their pickaninnies it would dwarf them.
32. Pass a baby through a window and it will never grow.
South Carolina.
33. Do not go for the first time into the room where the infant is without removing the veil and gloves.
34. If the “cradle cap” of a baby be combed with a (fine?) tooth comb, the child will be blind.
Labrador.
35. A baby should not look into a glass before it is a year old; if it does it will die.
Deer Isle, Me.
36. Hold a baby to a looking-glass, he will die before he completes his first year.
Massachusetts.
37. If you let a child look into a looking-glass before it is a year old, it will cut its teeth hard.
Baltimore, Md. (negro), and Virginia.
38. It is bad luck not to weigh the baby before it is dressed. When it is first dressed put the clothes on over the feet instead of the head for good luck.
39. The common nurse has an objection to weighing a new-born baby.
40. Always give a baby salt before it tastes aught else. The child will not choke, and in general it is a good thing to do.
Mansfield, O.
FIRST ACTIONS.
41. If a child cries at birth and lifts up one hand, he is born to command.
42. If the baby smiles in its sleep, it is talking with angels.
43. If a baby yawns, the sign of the cross should be made over it that the evil spirit may not enter.
Niagara Falls, Ont.
44. While tying on a baby’s cap repeat,—
Look up there and see a fly,
Look down there and see it die.
Its chin will follow the direction indicated, and the tying is hastened.
Brookline, Mass.
VARIOUS.
45. First a daughter, then a son,
The world is well begun.
First a son, then a daughter,
Trouble follows after.
Maine and Massachusetts.
46. First a son, then a daughter,
You’ve begun just as you oughter.
Brookline, Mass.
47. Rock a cradle empty,
Babies will be plenty.
Peabody, Mass.
48. Rock the cradle empty,
Have children a plenty,
Rock the chair empty,
Have sickness a plenty.
Nashua, N. H.
49. To rock the cradle when the baby is not in it will kill it.
New York.
50. If the empty cradle be rocked, the baby will have the colic.
New York and Ohio.
51. The first time a baby is taken visiting, if it is laid on a married couple’s bed there will be a baby for that couple.
Salem, Mass.
52. The mother who gives away all the clothes of her dead baby will eventually be comforted by the coming of another child.
53. However many children a woman may have, the last will be of the same gender as the first, and they will look alike.
Maine and Massachusetts.
54. One article of an unborn infant’s wardrobe must be left unmade or unbought or the child is liable not to live.
Salem, Mass.
55. A baby’s nails must not be cut with scissors before it is a year old; it will make it steal.
North Carolina.
56. To cut a baby’s finger-nails deforms it; if the baby is a month old, to do this will cause the child to have fits.
Georgia.
57. To allow a child to look into a mirror before it is a month old will cause it trouble in teething.
Georgia.
58. Tickling a baby causes stuttering.
Georgia.
59. If an infant be measured, it will die before its growing time is over.
Georgia.
Index | Next: Childhood. Asseveration. Challenge. Fortune. Friendship. Mythology. Punishment. Sport. Various.