Current Superstitions
Edited By Fanny D. Bergen
Chapter XII
Cures
AMULETS.
795. Green glass beads worn about the neck will prevent or cure erysipelas.
Chestertown, Md.
796. Gold beads were formerly a protection against the “King’s Evil” (scrofula), and nearly every maiden and matron wore ample strings of beautiful large beads.
Adams, Mass.
797. Gold beads worn about the neck will cure sore throat.
Windham, Me.
798. Gold beads worn about the throat were thought to cure or or prevent goître.
Northern Ohio.
799. A string of gold beads is still held to be a preventive of quinsy, sore throats, and so on.
New Hampshire.
800. A string of gold beads worn on the neck will cure or prevent quinsy.
Prince Edward Island.
801. Red beads about the neck cure nose-bleed.
Cazenovia, N. Y.
802. For nose-bleed wear a red bean on a white string round the neck.
Bedford, Mass.
803. A black silk cord about the neck cures croup.
Cazenovia, N. Y.
804. A key worn hanging about the neck by a string prevents nose-bleed.
Central Maine.
805. Wearing brown paper on the chest will cure sea-sickness.
Newton, Mass., and Chestertown, Md.
806. Tie a piece of black ribbon around a child’s neck, and it will prevent croup.
Waltham, Mass.
807. Brass earrings or rings are thought by negroes to keep away rheumatism.
Alabama.[95]
808. To cure rheumatism, wear a brass ring on the finger.
Boston, Mass.
809. Wearing brass rings will prevent cramp.
Alabama.
810. A brass ring worn on the finger will cure rheumatism.
Chestertown, Md. (negro).
811. Sailors wear gold earrings for weak eyes or to strengthen the sight.
Brookline, Mass.
812. A common custom among negroes is to wear a leather strap about the wrist as a cure for rheumatism, sprains, etc., and to give strength.
Chestertown, Md. (negro).
813. As a cure for nose-bleed, tie a string about the little finger.
Cape Breton.
814. A leather string commonly worn around the neck is supposed to prevent whooping-cough.
Chestertown, Md.
815. A red string tied about the waist cures nausea or sea-sickness.
Massachusetts.
CHARM.
816. To keep fire always burning on the hearth will prevent cholera among chickens.
Alabama.
817. If a fish-hook pierces the hand, stick it three times into wood, in the name of the Trinity, to prevent festering or other evil consequences.
Newfoundland.
818. If you scratch yourself with a rusty nail, stick the nail immediately into hard wood, and it will prevent lockjaw.
Salem, Mass.
819. A man who “stuck a nail in his foot” was told by a neighbor to pull it out, grease it, and hang it up in the “chimbly,” otherwise he might have lockjaw.
New Brunswick.
820. To cure nose-bleeding, write the person’s name on the forehead.
Newfoundland.
821. For rheumatism, carry a horseshoe nail in the pocket.
Central New York.
822. To get rid of rheumatism: “You go in de lot an’ go up to fence. Den put you breas’ on it and say, ‘I lef you here, I lef you here,’ tree times, den you go ‘way and don’t you never come back dere no more.”
French Canadian.[96]
823. To cure fits, the first time the child or person has one, tear off the shirt of the patient and burn it up, and no more fits will return.
Chestertown, Md. (negro).
824. If you don’t want the cramp in your foot, turn your shoes bottom up at night.
Nashua, N. H.
825. To keep off nightmare, put your shoes at night with the toes pointing away from the bed.
Central New York.
826. To ward off nightmare, sleep with shears under the pillow.
Central New York.
827. Nightmare is caused by the nightmare man, a kind of evil spirit, struggling with one. It is prevented by placing a sharp knife under the pillow, and stuffing the keyhole with cotton.
Windham, Me.
828. Sores can be cured by those who possess magical powers going through certain incantations, which are to be followed by applications of oatmeal and vinegar.
Newfoundland.
829. For a sty on the eye, take a small piece of paper, rub it on the sty, go across the road three times, and say each time,—
Sty, sty, go off my eye,
Go on the first one that passes by.
This is a sure cure in two or three days.
Talladega, Ala.
830. To cure a sty repeat at a cross-roads,—
Sty, sty, leave my eye,
And take the next one that passes by.
Massachusetts, Indiana, and California.
831. Toothache may be cured by conjurers, who apply the finger to the aching tooth, while muttering a charm, or tie a number of knots in a fishing line.
Newfoundland.
832. Toothache may be cured by a written charm, sealed up and worn around the neck of the afflicted person. The following is a copy of the charm:—
I’ve seen it written a feller was sittenNewfoundland.
On a marvel stone, and our Lord came by,
And He said to him, “What’s the matter with thee, my man?”
And he said, “Got the toothache, Marster,”
And he said, “Follow me and thee shall have no more toothache.”
833. For toothache take an eyelash, an eyebrow, trimmings of the finger-nails, and toe-nails of the patient, bore a hole in a beech-tree, and put them in. The sufferer must not see the tree, and it must not be cut down or burned.
Cape Breton.
834. Treat biliousness by boring three holes in a tree and walking three times around it, saying, “Go away, bilious.”
Eastern Shore of Maryland.
835. The most powerful charm is a piece of printed paper called “the letter of Jesus Christ.” This, in addition to the well-known letter of Lentulus to the Senate, contains many absurd superstitions, such as the promise of safe delivery in child-bed, and freedom from bodily hurt to those who may possess a copy of it.
Newfoundland.
WATER.
836. Rub the hands with the first snow that falls and you’ll not have sore hands all winter.
Winn, Me.
837. On Ash Wednesday before sunrise dip a pail of water in a running brook (up stream), bottle it, and keep as a cure for anything.
Maine.
838. Catch the last snow of the season (e. g., in April), melt and put into a bottle. It will cure sore eyes.
Chestertown, Md.
839. Water made from snow that falls in the month of May will cure sore eyes.
Prince Edward Island.
840. Rain-water caught the first of June will cure freckles. It will not putrefy.
Massachusetts.
841. An Indian doctor used for inflammation of the eyes rain-water caught on the third, fourth, and fifth of June. It is said that this will not putrefy.
New Hampshire.
842. The first water that falls in June is supposed to cure all skin diseases; and I am informed “it is dretful good for the insides, too.”
Westford, Mass.
843. Water in which a blacksmith has cooled his iron is a cure for freckles.
Malden, Mass.[98]
MISCELLANEOUS.
844. It is believed that “piercing the ear” will cure weak eyes or strengthen the eyes. It is often done to children for this purpose.
Northern Ohio.
845. To cure hiccoughs repeat in one breath the words,—
There was an old woman who lived all alone,
And she was made of skin and bone.
One day to church she went to pray,
And on the ground a man there lay,
And from his head unto his feet
The worms crawled in, the worms crawled out.
Boston, Mass.
846. A variant,—
There was an old woman who lived all alone,Portland, Me., Brookline and Deerfield, Mass.
And she was made of skin and bone.
One day to church she went to pray,
And on the ground there lay a man.
And from his head unto his feet
The worms crawled in, the worms crawled out.
The woman to the parson said:
“Shall I be so when I am dead?”
The parson he said “yes.”
847. For hiccoughs the nurse used to say in a droning, deep, ghostly tone,—
There was an old man an’ an old woman,Brookline, Mass.
And they lived in a bottle and eat Bones.
848. Other somewhat general remedies for hiccoughs are to munch a spoonful of sugar, to scare the one troubled with hiccoughs by some startling announcement or accusation, as, “See, you’ve torn your dress!” or, “How did you break my vase?” etc. Another custom is to steadily point a finger at the hiccougher, or to make him hold up his arm and shake it.
849. To cure hiccoughs, slowly take nine sips of water.
Prince Edward Island and Northern Ohio.
850. Another cure for hiccoughs is as follows: Put the thumb up against the lower lip, with the fingers under the chin, and say, “hiccup, hiccup, over my thumb,” nine times.
Northern Ohio.[99]
851. A cure for hiccoughs: Try for a long time to make the edges of the thumb-nails meet at the end.
Chestertown, Md.
852. Think of the one you love best, to cure hiccoughs.
Prince Edward Island.
853. For chapped lips kiss the middle rail of a five-railed fence.
Bernardston, Mass.
854. To relieve coughing or strangling, put a pair of scissors down inside the back of your dress.
Prince Edward Island.
855. Chew brown paper as a cure for nose-bleed.
Eastern Massachusetts.
856. For nose-bleed, put a key down the back.
857. For nose-bleed, hold up the right arm.
858. For nose-bleed, place a wad of paper between the upper lip and the gum.
859. You can keep from crying as you peel onions if you keep the mouth closed.
Northern Ohio.
860. Hold, by the points, two needles between your teeth, as you peel onions, and you will not cry.
Prince Edward Island.
861. Hold a needle between your teeth with the point out, while peeling onions, and you’ll not cry, i. e., will not feel the smart.
862. You will not cry in peeling onions if you hold a bit of bread in the mouth.
Prince Edward Island, Cambridge, Mass. (Irish).
Or, put the bread on the point of the knife.
Maine.
863. You will not cry in peeling onions if you let the faucet be open so the water will run.
Cambridge, Mass.
864. To bring up the palate when it drops and tickles the root of the tongue, take a wisp of hair on the crown of the head and tie it up very tight.
Chestertown, Md.
865. Rubbing a sty with a gold ring will cure it.
Prince Edward Island.
866. Cure a sty by rubbing it with a wedding ring.
General.[100]
867. A sty in the eye is cured by rubbing a gold ring on the eye three mornings with a sign of the cross.
Labrador.
868. A pebble in the mouth will ease thirst.
Brookline, Mass.
869. A sore throat may be cured by binding about the neck on going to bed one of the stockings which the patient has been wearing (no other one will do).
Somewhat general in the United States.
870. To cure the sore throat, take three handfuls of ashes with your left hand, put into your left stocking, and bind it around your throat.
Mattawamkeag, Me.
871. To burn the “little nerve” in the ear will cure the toothache forever.
Northern Ohio.