The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-02-19
Sneexing..some Curious Superstitions.

| The belief IN evil spirits auords the Des'
explanation for set OF customs no less curl
Gus than disagreeablc and ridiculous. we
allude to the worldwide supersttions con
nectcd with splitting and sneezing. Many
Englishmen spit IL they meet white
horse, a squirting man or single maybe, or
if inadvertently they step upon ladder, or
wash their hands il, the same basin with a
friend. In Lancashire boys spit over their
fingers before beginning to fight; travellers
on leaving home spit on stone and throw 1t
away; market people spit on the first money
they receive in the day. Swedish people spit
thrice if they cross water after dark, and even
the aesthetic Athcnian used to spit II he met
a mailman. So the savage New Zealand
priest spits on two sticks, which, according
as one of them falls uppermost, are to fore.
shadow the result OF coming battle. Indeed,
this unpleasant habit seems universal
charm for bringing good luck or averting
bad; but tor what conceivable reason than
that the mouth was once regarded as the por.
tai by which evil spirits got into man. and
by which alone they could be forced to make
their exit. The Messalian used to make
splitting and nosc.blowing part of their re.
ligion, for they hoped thereby to tree them.
selves from the demons with which they fan.
cied the air to be full. This single case con.
tains, probably, the key to all the others.
But why should sncezing be so generally
regarded us bad omen, and one to be avert
ed If possible by fluctuations and blessings?
One explanation IS, that as it was the sign
of returning convalescence during the plague
at Athens, congratulations were offered when
the crisis was past; another, that during n
great plague which ragged in Germany in the
sixth century, and began its fatal course with
a fit of sneezing, ii was usual to exclaim ::
May God help you now" rs soon as the sad
death signal was heard. But the custom is
Of far wider extent and older lineage than
such explanations imply; and the only posi-
BILE hypothesis Is one that adapts itself to all
races and all times In New Zealand a moth.
or repeats charm when her child sneezes,
lest any evil result in consequence, and Eng
lish nurses do just the same. In the Neither
lands sneezc gives witch power over a
person, unless some one invoke blessing
from heaven, and in these facts probably lies
the real explanation. For, taking into &C.
count that every bodily arrangement is re-
gardeI by sayagcs as possession by evil
spirits, and that sneezing is always the pre-
cursor OF those temporary bodily derange.
meats, often very severe, which We know as
"colds,' may 1t not be that IN those early
times, when to precede is the same as to-
cause, a sneezing fit was set down as the
sign or cause OF such an approaching posses
sion, and charms employed TO cOunteract its
efieCtsg
Ifacold was ever held to be a bewtchmcnt
we can understand the use of charms and
blessings at the earliest stage of the Fremont.
tory symptoms. As an involuntary act, a.
snuezc would, like all other natural pheno.
mena, be a portcnt significant of, and entail
ing q series of consequences; and in course,
of time, rs men improved in observation and
distinctions, 1t would grow to be even ausp
civus under certain circumstances. Thus in
our own country IL is good sign on some
days of the week, but BAD one on others
and in Scotland an infant is under fairy spells
until ii sneezes, Il belief apparently connected
with the absurd idea of incapacty OF idiots
TO sneeze.
In Greece, also, the distinctions drawn
about il raised sneeZing to an art; for while
II was unlucky in the afternoon, or when
food was being cleared away, or ifit occurred
three times, or more than four, or on the left
hand side; if il occurred among persons of
or two or four times, or in the
or on the righthand side, 1t was ac-
counted "a lucky omen. We read that Them
istocles, by judicious sneeze on the right
hand side, persuaded his soldies 10 fight and
Nenophon, by similar act in the middle of
4 speech, was elected General And on an. |
other occ aston sneeze from y linesman just
before battle was considered So ominous
hat public prayers were deemed Necessary in
;onsequence.-CornhU Magazine