Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-15
SIGNS AND PORTENTS.
Ancient 0mens Which Still Retain
Their Force in Sections.
A BIG VARIETY OF DEATH SIGNS.
The Materialism of the Times Holds Fast to
the Supernatural.
THE "THIRTEEN" AND OTHER FOLLIES

THE "THlRTEEN" AND OTHEK FVLLlES
1. While the corpse is in the house, the
looking-glass must be turned toward the
wall; otherwise, whoever looks into the
mirror will die within year. This custom
is said to be most common among Irish
Catholics, but is not confined to these.
| (Baldwinsville, N. "
2. The clock should be stopped at the time
of death. as its running will bring i'll luck.
! (Baldwinsville, N. Y
Stop the clock at the time of death. (New
Hampshire.)
The same custom is noted in Great Britain
and Germany. The object, no doubt, is not
merely symbolic, as might at first appear,
but to limit the power of death by introduc-
ing new period of time.
3. To keep the corpse in the house over
! Sunday will bring death in the family be-
fore the year is out. (South Framingham,
Mass)
4. II the grave is left open over Sunday
another death will occur before the Sunday
following. (Boxford, Mass
In Switzerland, if a gravels left open over
Sunday, it is said that within four weeks one
of the village will die.
5. If rain falls into an open grave, another
burial in the same cemetery will occur with
in three days. (West New York;
6. If rain falls on new made grave, there
will be another death in the family within
the year. (Baldwinsville, N. Y; Poland,
Ne.
A common saying in England is ''Happy
the corpse that the rain falls on" Thus, it
is said that if rain falls at the time of the
funeral it is sign that the dead man has
gone to heaven. Boston, Mass.) The
method of conception is the same as that ap-
parent. in the two superstitions above
enumerated, but the sign is interpreted in
different manner.
WHITE HORSES.
z. If hearse is drawn by two white
horses, death in the neighborhood will oc-
cur within month. Central Maine).
If white horse draws the hearse, another
death will soon follow. POLAND, Me.)
In Bohemia, also, white horses are re-
garded as warnings of death, though to have
a white horse in the stable is also said to
bring good luck. To dream of a white
horse is sign OF death, both in the latter
country and in England. In Sussex white
animals mysteriously appearing at night,
are said to be death warnings. In the lore
of the English peasantry, white horses play
an important part, and are variously con-
sidered as of good and evil portent, fact
which is plausibly accounted for on the
ground that these beliefs are inherited from
time when pagan deities were considered
to ride on white horses. Thus in Shropshire
st. Milburga so rides, as st. Walburga does
in the Tyrol. Tacitus mentions the spotless
white horses reared in sacred groves by the
Germans of his own day, from whose neigh
ing auguries we're taken
In Bohemia death is considered as a white
woman Survival of the death goddess
Morana), whose apparition is a sign of
death to the seer. This explains why, in
England and -GermanFs--seeing white
woman is of fatal augury. The original
idea doubtless is that the goddess appears to
and selects those whose society she desires.
That she should be clad in white indicates
her deity; for white, as the color of light, is
emblematic of heaven, according to the
considerations. 1t would seem that the pres
age of white horse may rest upon the
character of such animal as emblematic OF
the divine being who summons mortal to
the other world. Should this be really the
case, much philosophy and much history
would be embodied in a superstition appa-
reptlY frivolous.
OTHER INTERPRETATIONS.
1t may, however, be thought that there is
a simpler Interpretation of these omens,
namely their connection with the custom OF
robing the dead in white. Thus Artemi-
dorus, in a work on the Interpretation of
dreams, written in Rome in the second CEN
tury, considers that to sick man dream
of white garments is ominous of death, "be-
cause the dead are buried in white raiment;
but black clothes signify recovery, because
not the dead, but mourners use
such apparel. This comes very near
the notion of the Sussex peasant
above related. In the opinion of the writer,
it would be mistake to exclude the higher
conceptions already referred to from the
associations suggested by white. But the
symbolism of color is too extensive a theme
to be now considered.
1t NAV be remarked that it is not only in
the North Of Europe that the messenger of
death is represented as riding. Readers
will remember that the horse of death is men
toned in Revelation. In Greek symbol
Ism the deceased person is often represented
as riding forth on his journey, conducted BY
a genius. A modern Greek ballot changes
Charon, the ferryman, to Charos, the horse
man; the young walk before him, the old
behind, young babes are carried on his sad
die.
8. 1t is unlucky to passthrough funeral,
either between the carriages or the files of
mourners on foot. Boston, Mass.
This is general superstition. The Gus
tom, which 'has become instructive with
many persons, is. usually set down to the
score of decency and propriety.
9. If anyone comes to funeral after the
procession starts, another death will occur
in the same house. (Ohio.)
10. Whoever counts the carriages at
passing funeral will die within the year.
peabody, Mass.)
II. The corpse must not pass twice over
any part of the same road. (Baldwins-
vile, N. "
RIVERS RULED OUT.
IL. The funeral procession must not cross
a river. (Baldwinsville, N. Y.)
''I was first led to notice the superstition
about crossing river from having to at
tend funerals on the south side, when they
would otherwise have been held on the
north side This is losing ground owing to
the frequency of crossing to reach the ceme-
terry, but had an instance only last spring.
"W. NJ. B."
13. 1t is unlucky, in funeral, for those
vracapf to ropoc tho houca xv vbora daofh hao