The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-05-06
sane Snnersfitions.

!. Summit County Beacon please copy.
some SuperstitiOns.
SUPERsIITIoNs love darkness and like the
Trolls of the old NorsemaD, if light fall up
on them they die Instantly. They used to
be very numerous and powerful, but many of
them lie in undistinguished graves others
exist only in memory Others are objects of
mirth and fun; while some few still retain
their power to make people afraid. These
last mentioned are more potent than we are
willing to admit. They exert their secret in
huence ver the very persons who ridicule
them. They have taken refuge in some in
nermost chamber of the soul which the light
cannot penetrate, and they will not be dis
lodged; their victims cry AvAUNT, but they
cannot be made to hear. As the sun is shin
ing we may safely take look at some of
these children of ignorance. Some of the old
chroniclers of curious things shall tell us
about them. sr
The howling of dogs is hideous sound,
and we cannot wonder it was suggestive of
great gFicfs. 1t is only less disagreeable than
a woman's scream. 1t is placed by Shakes
peare among the portents, and has always
been regarded as the presage of death and
dire evils. 1t is related that there was fear
/ full bowling of dogs the night before Maxi
minus died. The dogs of Rome, by this
| the dictatorshipof Ponpey, and before the
massacre of the Misseunians, the dogs howled
as they had never, been heard to do before.
fand before the battle of Hastings the dogs ran
about through the forests and fields, uttering
the most prolonged and plaintive cries.
If dog howled in a neighborhood where
7 any one lay sick, it was considered the prog
E5nostic of death. This superstition was
grounded on the belief that these animals
scent DEATH before it smiles person, and that
iwraiths are visible to them.
The owl occupied place of honor and inn
| portance in the religions of Greece and Rome.
/ Every movement and note. of this hideous
and dismal creature were invested with sgiiif-
canee The screeeh of the owl was regarded
fatal presage- z
IL VIII. N screech owl eross upon the Gimme tops,
1 h's eertsin then you ofa rosse saali hear =
i Chaucer mentions this. aoarse and horrible
i sound among the oinens os calamities
:. The jelous swan, agesst hss fe,hseat singe:h,
The .'ule exc tha; of deih ID boae bingeth-''
4 And Edmund Spenser has the following
distich on the venerable superstition
& rhe ruerul strieh sill wal ing on the beee.
The whistler shriI. tfat whose be doth Gle -
The raven was also supposed to feel the
shadow of coming calamity. The croak of
this bird portended death. It is stated that !,
one of those gloomy birds premonished Ciee-
Iro of his approaching death.
- Grows were also accounted prophetical birds.
4 When flying in hocks, they were watched by
s the Roman with trembling, for if they passed
on the right hand, they BODIED good; if on
the left, evil. The fight of a crow oven a
house three times in succession, with croak
each time, was sure to be followed by death
i in the family. An old writer was SO pro-
; feundly convinced of the prophetical powers
of this lover of corn, that he expresses the
belief that God sheweth his prevy coun-
1 sayle to crowes-'
! Several of the superstitions of the olden
time have been preserved by salt Thespill-
ling of this indispensable substance has turned
81 many a ruddy cheek pale, and instantly 81
fenced the most gleesome laughter. If by
an unlucky accident any one oyerturns the
salt cellar, the eye of an evil doom is thought
to be fixed upon him. And the person to-
ward whom the salt falls is also supposed to
be about to suffer some misehanee; but this
may be axerted by having wine poured on the
lap or by fliugEg some of the split salt over
the left shoulder into the fire.
The occult science of omens pronounced
the putting of shoe or stocking on the wrong
foot most unlucky occurrence. Throwing
an old shoe after the bridegroom and bride
posed to secure for the couple the most de-
sirabie blessings.
The custom of dreaming on wedding-cake
dates back to a very remote period slice
q of this charmed cake placed beneath the pill
i low was supposed to bring before the inner
= eyes of the fair sleeper the person who was
destined to be her loved lord.
1t used to be customary in some countries
of Europe for the bride, after sh.' entered her
Il,
the crowd gathered about thed door. - The per-
son who succeeded in getting it was sure to be
married before many moons These oeca-
= sions were productive of much noisy jollity,
and this simple sorcery was never omitted.
Superstition has always set apart certain
days as good and others as evil. FEidayfis is
the most ill-omened day in tie calendar, and
s. there are many who still believe that the fifth
day in the week exerts a baneful influence
= upon fresh resolves and new enterprises. The
e Firms never begin anything of importance on
Monday or Friday Lord rBurghiy, In let
III ter to his son, admonishes him against three
Mondays. His lordship specifies these evil
Mondays and assigns sufficient reason for
regarding them as unlucky :-H The first
Monday7in April, which day Cdine scas born
and his brother Able slatsae: the second Mon
day in August, which day Sodonie and Gon
nsorals soes destroyed and the last Monday III
December, which day, Judas 1oas born, that
betrayed Saviour Christ''
Sneezing has been considered good omen
from time immemorial Prometheus is said
to have been the first to bless the sneezer.-
The person who uttered this joyous sound,
and received the benediction of the fire-tbi
was the man he had fashioned of clay. Th !;
Rabbis tells us that not very long after the,
creation, the Lord ordained every human be-
ing should sneeze but once, and that the foul
should leave the body at the moment of ster
nutation but that the decree was revoked
through the suppleations of the patriarch
Jacob. When the King Of Mesopotarna
sneezes the ausl1Iciouc event is celebrated
throughout his realm with banquet dance and
song and every demonstration of joy. -
! " Wife, wife. what has become of the
grapes p .I suppose. my. dear, the hens
have picked them off, was her modest re-
s,t ply. Hens hens--some two legged hens
guess,' said the husband with some impet-
uosity !; to which she calmly replied Ny
dear. did you ever see any other kind ?'' e