A Little Bird Told Me...




A Little Bird Told Me

Old Wives Tales & Superstitions



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If a sick person itches, he will get well.
If your nose itches, that means someone is thinking about you.
If your right ear itches, someone is talking bad about you.
If your left ear is itching, a loved one is thinking of you.
If the bottom of your foot itches, you will walk on strange land.
If your left hand itches, you're going to come into money.
If your right hand itches, you're going to be poor or shake hands with a fool.
If something else itches, you need to scratch it!

If a butterfly lands on you while you are plowing, you will get a new shirt.
If the first butterfly you see in the spring is white, you will have good luck.
If the first butterfly you see in the spring is yellow, you will come down with a fever.
When it came to women, grandpa said his seven sons were like butterflies...they flew among the flowers and lit on cow piles.

Someone living near you has died if a cow holds it's head up and smells the air.
It is an evil omen if a cow moos after midnight.
When a plow kills a Daddy Long Legs, the cows will go dry.
If you kill a Daddy Long Legs, you will lose a friend.
Have you ever done this? It works...at least it did when I was a kid.
Pick up a Daddy Long Legs and ask it "Where are the cows?" It will then point in the direction of the cows!

A hen with tail feathers like a rooster is bad luck.
A hen roosting in the morning is predicting a death of someone living on the place.
If a hen is set on a full moon, the hatch will be roosters, and a daughter will bear a son.
A chicken coming into the house is an omen that someone is coming for a visit.
Seeing a white chicken on your way to a funeral brings bad luck.
If a rooster crows near the door company will be there soon.
A crowing hen is considered to be unlucky, or foretelling of troubled times.
Grandma would say, "Whistling girls and crowing hens always come to some bad end."
I hated hearing that because I always wanted to whistle like grandpa...she would scold me if she heard me whistling...so I tried not to whistle when she was in ear shot.

If you see a spider running down a web, you will have company that brings a gift.
If you run into a spider web you'll meet a new friend or hear from an old one.
If a black spider crawls on you, a black headed person will send you a letter.
If a spider crawls on your bed, a stranger is coming to the house.
Catch a spider and keep it inside a ripe black walnut shell, and you will be well all winter.
Grandma would do anything she could to keep from killing a spider...because a spider spun a web over baby Jesus to hide him from Herod.

If you sneeze at the table, one more person will be there for the next meal.
If you sneeze before breakfast, you will receive a letter that day.
If you sneeze before getting out of bed, you will have bad luck all day.
If you sneeze before dinner, you will have company before supper.
Say "God bless you" when you sneeze, to keep the devil from getting your soul.
Grandma always said "God bless you" when someone sneezed...if it was a child, she added "Now go blow your nose."

If all the food on the table is eaten, the weather will be fair for three days.
If all of the biscuits were eaten before the day ended, the following day would be clear.
If you drop a fork, a man will come to visit.
If you drop a spoon, a woman will come to visit.
If you drop a knife, cut an apple in half, or a friendship will be lost.
If you drop your dishrag, someone is coming hungry.
If you drop a dish towel on the floor, someone who keeps a bad house will visit.
When grandma dropped her dish towel, she'd say " Ah flitter, you know "who" is coming."

If you make a face in the mirror when lightning strikes, your face will stay that way.
If you break a mirror, you will have seven years bad luck.
It is bad luck to let a baby look in a mirror until it is a year old.
I heard this all of my growing up time...and even though I try not to be superstitious, I took no chance, did not let either of my babies look into a mirror.

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