Let's stop hijacking the other thread.Ronia Sun wrote:Hmm. That's cool about the blue bead. I do recall reading that the reason blue has been the traditional color for boys since the Middle Ages is 'cause it supposedly warded off demons. (Betcha they got it from the Greeks, originally )
Of course, they chose pink for girls....because it was complimentary to blue. >.<
Interesting thought on the regional superstitions. I'm actually from Wyoming (not native, but my parents are), which is the Western US.
Thank heavens for Google. My memory is like a sieve today. Here's a few American superstitions, general and regional, for your entertainment: (most of them, seems like, are to do with crops. Well, I suppose we are/were an agrarian society by and large)
Plant flowers in the increase of the moon. -- Pensylvania
If cut when it is waxing, the hay weighs and spends well. -- New England
(I actually recall hearing a variation on this here in cattle and hay country in Wyoming. Some old cowboys who hang out where I work were discussing the best time to plant and cut hay, and though I can't remember exactly what was said, it was something to do with local bugs. Not helpful, I know, but I wrote it down somewhere so I wouldn't *have* to remember it )
If a farmer lays a rail fence by the light of the moon, it will be
stronger and last longer than if it was laid in the daytime. -- Western New York and parts of Massachusetts.
You must never kill cattle or pigs, or even wild game, by the dark
of the moon; it is most unlucky, and the meat will come to no good. --Clover Bend, Arkansas
First a daughter, then a son, The world is well begun. First a son, then a daughter, Trouble follows after. -- Maine and Massachusetts.
If two persons, while walking, divide so as to pass an obstruction one on one side and one on the other, they will quarrel. To avert this, the pair must say "Bread and Butter." -- General United States (I've actually seen my parents do this, now that I think about it.)
Stepping on a crack is unlucky. Childhood rhyme: "Step on a crack, break your mother's back." -- General United States
An old New Hampshire superstition is that if you rock a cradle when it is empty, you will have many children, but if you rock an empty rocking chair, then you invite sickness. In New York and Ohio, however, rocking an empty cradle will, apparently, give your baby colic.
One article of an unborn infant's wardrobe must be left unmade or
unbought or the child is liable not to live. -- Salem, Massachussetts
Swallow a chicken's heart whole, and the first man you kiss
afterwards will be your future husband. -- Maine (Yeah, 'cause any man who would kiss you after you swallowed a freakin' chicken heart definitely loves you.)
To raise an umbrella in a house is a sign of an approaching death. --Pennsylvania; somewhat general in the United States. (ie, it's considered unlucky to open an umbrella indoors. Possibly because doing so will cause you to break something your mother is very fond of, and she will subsequently murder you.)
Cracks on the top of a loaf of bread indicate the death of a friend. --General United States
Interestingly, I haven't found much specific to the western United States. I think this may be due to the fact that this part of the States was, relatively speaking, settled much later than New England, the Appalaichans, and the South, and so superstitions were brought out West with the folks who settled here.
However, ask anyone in the general Western U.S. if they've ever heard of the Flying Dutchman mine, and I doubt you'll find many who say they haven't. And the mine is supposedly in the Superstition Mountains, so there you are.
People, could you be so kind as to include you area's supersticions?