San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-11-27
The Austrian empress is believed to have
the smallest yGcist IN Europe.
SUPERSTITION IN ROUMANlA.
Observances Which Are Required to In
sure Personal Safety-Old Belief.

Observances Which Are Required to In
sure Personal Safety-Old Belief.
Countless are the superstitions which gov
ern the daily life of the Roumanian, and the
observanoes which are required to insure his
safety in the midst of the mysterious dan
gers which surround him Neither on We'd
nesday nor Friday should he take bread or
use needle or scissors, nor should bargain
be concluded ON those days. On Tuesday no
spinning should be done, and there is even
danger In washing the hands or combing the
hair. MAY the spirit of Tuesday evening
carry you OFF, is equivalent to saying MAY
the devil take your Neither should any
one make the mistake of supposiag that ON
the comparatively lucky days of Monday,
Thursday and Saturday he may safely do as
he pleases. One may attend TO the house
hold wash on Thursday and spin ON Satur-
day, but terrible consequences would ensue
should this order be reversed 1t Is true
that Thursday is a lucky day for marriages,
but it is most inauspicious for field labor.
The exact hour of noon is always dan.
gerous moment, and so is midnight; it Is
safer to be in tile house at these times. The
night before Easter Sunday witches and de-
mons are about, and flames betray the site OF
hidden treasures None but the most reck-
less peasant, however, would dare approIri-
ate the treasures thus revealed, for on that
night they cannot be taken without sin. A
whirlwind shows that the devil is dancing
with a witch, and whoever comes near the
circle may be swept OF TO hell. One should
neither point at the rainbow nor at an up
preaching storm, and ''if house struck by
lightning begins TO burn, it is not allowed to
put out the flames, because God has Lit the
fire, and it were preSumptuous for man TO
dare NEEDLE with his work" Whoever turns
three somersaults the first time he hears the
thunder will be free from pains in the back
for the following year. 1t is lucky to meet a
gypsy the first thing in the morning, ana IL
is also lucky to meet a woman with Jugtul
of water, while an empty jug or pail is un-
lucky; therefore the Roumanian maiden
meeting you on the way back from the we'll
will display her trimming pitcher as she
passes, with a pleased consciousness of bring
ing good luck, while the girl whose pitcher is
empty will stink past shamefacedly, as
though she had crime to conceal
1t was an old Roumanian belief that in the
building of large edillce it was absolutely
essential that living human being should
lie built into the walls to give them stability.
There can be no doubt that this barbarous
custom was often observed, and the remnant
of it is seen in tine practice which still pre-
walls of walling into any large building the
shadow OF a living man The shadow of
some person, who must be unconscious OF the
spell to he cast upon him, is measured with a
cord or strips of reed, and the measure is in
TERED within the wall. The victim is sure to
pine and die within forty days. A careless
passer near some building in process Of cree
ton may even now hear a warning cry from
the bystandcrs: "Dewarc lest they take thy
shadow" 1t is not long since there were pro-
fesslonal shadow traders, whose business it
Yves to supply architects with the necessary
victims The Land Beyond the Forest"