Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-09-18
IRISH SUGGESTIONS.

The pishthroyes are all charms Of an evil
nature
Candle ends used at wakes are highly priced
for scalds and burns
A cat is never taken from one house to an
other when removing
A round tower or castle ruin unfrequentsd
by iackdaws is certainly haunted.
Many truly believe the banshec TO be the
spirit OF some former member of the family.
II hare be met on a May morning the
milk is likely to be charmed from the cows
1t is very unucky to meet in the early
morning a barking dog or a barefooted
woman.
II an osprey be shot along any coast all the
herring and mackerel will Immediately dis
appear
When the starting does not follow the graz
ing cattle some witch charm has been put
upon them
When a corpse retains animal heat over
long another member of the family is TO die
within the year
Garments and other articles which have
come in contact with the dead are very eff
cacious in disease.
If the stacks are not circed each night by
the noiseless barn owl. blight will fall upon
next seasons crops.
The magpie as with the ancient Greeks, IL
the repository of the soul of evil minded
and gossping woman.
The tongue of one who has licked lizard
ever after has the power to extract the sting
from scalds and burns.
The dead are believed to have the bitterest
experiences if buried at any distance from
their homes while living
The sedge warbler, known more popularity
as the Irish nightingale" is the object Of a
most tender superstition.
The coac,-a-bower or death coach seems
to stand in something the same relation to
the peasantry as the banshee.
The last one buried in church yard is be-
lieved to do all manner Of mental service for
those having been previously buried.
Every twelfth night the dead walk. They
sit, too, upon every tile Of the house, waiting
to he freed from purgatory by prayer.
The linnet pours forth the most melancholy
song of all Irish birds, and l have seen honest
hearted peasants affected by it to tears
When the nest of the thrush or mavis Is
built unusually high in the thorn bush, this
hetokens great calamity to- neighborhood.
Great numbers of jays or massachusetts,
feeding upon the berries of the hawthorn,
betoken the approach of very cold winter.
Every donkey in Ireland is supposed to fall
on its knees at midnight of Christmas eve,
and bray three times in honor Of its ancient
noble Use.
Over in Connamara to this day a funeral
procession on its way to church will halt at
some distance away and cast together huge
pile of stones
One Of the oldest of all Irish surerstitions
is the belief that if YOU chase and catch
butterfly you hnprison the wandering soul Of
your grandmother
Any child born on Whit Sunday or the
day after is doomed to an unnatural death.
and it is invariably named after some partic-
ular saint to ward Off the curse.
Any three idle strokes OF stick in the
ashes or a spade or other farm tool in the soil
making a figure resembling coffin is certain
to portend death in ones family.
The waxwing, the beautiful Incendara
avis OF Pliny, whose breeding haunts have
never vet been discovered by man, are the
torches Of the bean sidhe or bansheez-
When abroa at night one never turns at
the sound OF foptstaPa behind For these are
often those of the dead hungering for human
companionship. and their glance is fatal
The fishermen Of the west coast make good
Use Of the cat. They secure favoring winds
by burying it in the sands Of the seashore.
with its head opposite the desired direction.
When ''prahesn cark" or hen crow ID
found in the solitudss or mountain glens
away from human habitations. it assuredly
possesses the wandering soul Of an iInpenitent
sinner
Persons who enter into q compact with Sa-
tan can raise wind and storms by calling him
up, and these disturbances cannot be stilied
save by the death of a black cock, black dog
or an unchristened child
When water ousels appear in the spring
time in unusual numbers in any unfrequenf-
ed locality that is sign OF abundance Of
fresh water fish, but also a token Of the apr
preach Of malignant disease
The most potent charm known to thoss
given over body and soul to superstition is the
hand Of an unbaptized babe, taken from the
grave in the name of the evil one The
hand Of a murderer 50 taken 10 also very
rc~arfnl