Old Wives Tales, some I was raised with Options

[cotton08]

Amber beads, worn as a necklace, can protect against illness or cure colds

When making the bed, don't interrupt your work, or you will spend a restless night in it

To protect yourself from witches, wear a blue bead

Do not lean a broom against a bed. The evil spirits in the broom will cast a spell on the bed

To prevent an unwelcome guest from returning, sweep out the room they stayed in immediately after they leave

Evil spirits can't harm you when you stand inside a circle

A cricket in the house brings good luck

It's bad luck to leave a house through a different door than the one used to come into it

Pictures of an elephant bring luck, but only if they face a door

It is bad luck to cut your fingernails on Friday or Sunday.
Fingernail cuttings should be saved, burned, or buried so no one can make a voodoo doll of you.

If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck . Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names

It is bad luck to kill a ladybug

Lettuce is believed to have magical and healing properties, including the power to arouse love and counteract the effects of wine

Mandrake is a mysterious plant believed to have powers of preventing sterility in men and animals, causing barren women to bear children, and compelling love. It is thought to have aphrodisiac and fertilizing properties. Clairvoyants use mandrake to increase their visions to enable them to see strange and wonderful things

It is unlucky to see your face in a mirror by candlelight

A wish will come true if you make it while burning onions

Bad luck will follow the spilling of salt unless a pinch is thrown over the left shoulder into the face of the devil waiting there

If you drop scissors, it means your lover is being unfaithful to you

The seventh son of a seventh son has magic powers, according to Irish folklore, but is a vampire in Romanian legend

Do not place shoes upon a table, for this will bring bad luck for the day, cause trouble with your mate and you might even lose your job as a result

If you bite your tongue while eating, it is because you have recently told a lie

You must hold your breath while going past a cemetery or you will breathe in the spirit of someone who has recently died

It's bad luck to count the cars in a funeral cortege

If 3 people are photographed together, the one in the middle will die first

Everything the bride says as she opens her gifts will be repeated on her wedding night. Someone should be assigned to write down these comments during the shower

Whatcha think?


This post has been edited by cotton08: Mar 4 2009, 10:11 AM

[cotton08]

Did anyone read these? What do you think? Ever heard of these or other ones?

Let's have some fun like we used to!

[Aanica]

Did anyone read these? What do you think? Ever heard of these or other ones?
Let's have some fun like we used to!

I know of a really fun old wives tale!
let me see if I can remember how it goes

[mrsspookypants]

To prevent an unwelcome guest from returning, sweep out the room they stayed in immediately after they leave

I like this one....but sometimes no matter how hard you sweep, they still come back.

[cotton08]

There's another one that says to put a broom upside down behind a door and sprinkle salt to quickly prompt unwanted guests to leave. Maybe that one is stronger, but I'm not sure. Worth a try I guess!

[axlfoley]

The one of 3 people being photographed and the person in the middle dying totally creeps me out! I'm curious as to the origins of this.

[Willow]

Gain a child, lose a tooth.

*and its true!*

As nice as children are, the bad news is they are actually bad for your chompers! In a New York University College of Dentistry analysis of 2,635 women aged 18 to 64 who had borne at least one child, the researchers found that pregnancy raises the risk of developing the gum disease gingivitis, with women who had repeated outbreaks of gingivitis increasing their risk of developing periodontal disease. Although researchers have yet to determine the cause behind the link, they hypothesize that mothers may be snacking on the junk food they give their children!


Heartburn during pregnancy means a hairy baby

Of all the old wives’ tales out there, most pertain to pregnancy. Whether it be about how you carry the baby (high for a girl, low for a boy) or that wearing a Hawaiian lei can choke the baby (it can’t, nor can raising your hands above your head!) one that is freakishly true is that mothers who experience heartburn during pregnancy tend to have hairier babies. In an analysis of 64 pregnant women (granted, not a very large study) conducted by Johns Hopkins University researchers, women that experienced the most heartburn while pregnant gave birth to babies with average or above average newborn hair coverage. Exactly how it works is not clear, but researchers speculate that it is less a case of one causing the other and more that they share a common cause.

[cotton08]

Yes, Willow! My friend that's pregnant has pregnancy gingivitis and she is SUFFERING with it! It's awful, I feel terrible for her.

My mom said that she had it so badly with my big brother that her front teeth actually seperated! Ewwwww!

And I had terrible heartburn with my girl and she was born with a full head of hair.
(which all fell out and then she was a bald headed baby)

[cotton08]

The one of 3 people being photographed and the person in the middle dying totally creeps me out! I'm curious as to the origins of this.

Axl, that one gave me the creeps, too. I think most old wives tales come from something happening ONCE, so they said it will happen again.

I mean, going back and reading them, you'll see, it's just a bunch of superstition. Fun, though!

[shankpin]

ive noticed that always..ALWAYS before pay day the palm of my hand starts to itch.

I think there's something to it. no doubt.

*edit to add:
what photograph are we talking about with the person in the middle dying?



This post has been edited by shankpin: Mar 11 2009, 10:49 PM

[cotton08]

shankpin - there's no photograph, it's one of the old wives tales. I'm sure every one alive has been in the center of a photograph, huh?

I've always heard that if your right palm itches, money's coming in, left one, money's going out. Once my right palm wouldn't quit itching all day, so my friends told me to buy a lottery ticket, so I did and I won $45.

They said "not a scratch off! - we meant a Power Ball!!!" - LOL, maybe I coulda won BIG!

[greg_dragonlvr]

Don't know how many wives may have said this, but it dates back to at least to the time of Eastern Roman Empire:
See many strange things in battle. But you never see a cat on a battlefield.

So maybe we should parachute felines in first before we invade someplace else....

[mooboo]

My mothers was:if your right palm itches ,you get money. If the left one itches ,you have
a fight.
She also said ,whatever you do on news years eve,is what you do all year long.Then all that news years
nonsense about eating pickled herring. I hate the stuff.
So crying and fighting on new years evee are no nos.

Deaths always comes in 3s.

Never open an umbrella indoors. bad luck.

Killing a spider is bad luck.

Sleeping with piece of wedding cake under your pillow will give you dreams of the person you will
marry.

If youre born with the caul ,(sp ? the placenta lining ) on yer head,you have the gift of second sight.

If you pray to saint anthony,and he doesnt answer your prayer,turn a picture of him upside down,and he
will grant your prayer.

In Japan,you never bring a shrine into a house,it will risk the wrath of the shrine inhabitants.
In Japan and China,you can stop a ghost from bothering you by placing written prayer mantras on the ghosts
forehead.

Let me think on this,as i have a lot of them.
Japan also has ton of yokai myths.
The spider woman comes to mind immediately.

Miss

[Yosei]

A cricket in the house is good luck, especially if it's singing.

[chestnut]

Another one I've heard from several people is if you leave your purse on the floor, you'll lose money.