The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-11-29
PEOPLE AND THEIR HAIR.
Some Rather Curious Superstitions
Concerning the Human Hair.


Sir John Lubbock, an excellent au-
thority, writes that in many parts of
the world mysterious connection is
supposed to exist between the cut locks
of hair and the person to whom it be-
longed
In ancient Greece, and even to this
day, in some parts of India, in danger
Gus sickness the hair is sometimes cut
off and offered TO a deity. In Plu-
tarch's lives, in his account of Lysan-
der the following may be found: 1T
is not true, indeed (as some would have
it,, that. while the Argives cut their
hair in sorrow for the loss of a great
battle. the Lacedemonians began to let
theirs grow in the JOY Of success. Nor
did they first give in to this custom,
when the Bacchidae fed from Corinth
to Lacedemonia, and made disa-
greeable appearance with their shOrn
locks" But in a note the editor re
marks. This was the opinion of Herod-
otus, but perfectly groundless." And,
again. In vol. l. page 81, in the life OF
Theseus, the author writes: LAS 1t was
then the custom for such as had arrived
at mans estate, to go to Delphi 70 offer
the first fruits Of the hair to Apollo,
Theseus went thither. and the place
him, is said TO be yet called Thesea. He
shaved, however. only the fore part of
his head, as Homer tells us the ADanteS
did; and this kind of tonsure, on his ac-
count was called Theseis. The Abantes
first cut their hair in this manner, not
in imitation OF the Arabians, as some
imagine, nor yet of the Mysians, but
because they were warlile people, who
loved close fighting, and were more eX-
pert In 1t than any other nation.
That they might not therefore give adj
vantage to their enemies by their hair,
they took care to cut it off and we are
informed that Alexander Of Macedon,
having made the same observation, or
dered his Macedonian troops to cut off
their boards, these being ready han
die in battle"
Gray in his "Polynesian Mythology"
gives an instance of this superstition
in the following language; 'Whakatau
landed on the coast, and before eating
anything offered the prescribed sacri-
flee of the hair and a part of the skin OF
one of his victims to the gods, and when
the religious rites were finished he eat
food"
The cutting Of hair in New Zealand
is attended with a great deal OF cere-
mony, the natives repeating incanta-
tions. When the hair is cut a portion is
thrown into the fire, and a prayer is
uttered to exercise the effects Of thunder
and lightning. which are supposed to be
caused by the operation. Shorthand says
in his Traditions of New Zealand" In
one place in New Zealand the most
sacred of the year was that appoint
ed for hair cutting, and the hair cut
from the head was deposited on some
sacred spot of ground.
Henderson. in his Folklore of the
Northern Countries, relates several OF
these superstitions concerning the hu-
man hair The sudden loss of hair be-
he Of children
health or loss of property. By some Of
the lower classes in Ireland 1t is thought
that the human hair should never be
burned, but should be buried, because
at the resurrection the former owner
will come to seek it. It should not
be thrown away, for if some bird should
find and carry ii off the owners head
would ache all the time that the bird
was weaving the hair into its nest
Henderson relates the following of an
indiscreet maiden, who was to feel the
consequences of making her toilet too
near an open window. Il knew how it
would be-" exclaimed a Sussex servant
one day to her mistress, when l saw
that bird fly off with a bit of my hair
i'm its beak that flew out of the win
dow this morning while 1 was dressing
1 knew I should have a clapping head
ache. and so / have.
Still another superstition current in
Sunderland is narrated by Mcpherson
concerning remedy for WhoOplng
cough. The top Of the head is shaved,
and the hair hung upon a bush or tree
in the firm belief that the bird, in
carrying the hair TO it's nest, will carry
the cough away with it. Still another
remedy for the same afiliction used in
Northhamtonshire and Devonshire is to
put a hair of the patients head between
two slices of buttered bread and give
it to a dog. The animal will get the
cough and the patient lose it. These
are only a. few of the many superstitions
concerning human hair and its connec-
ton with the person to whom it belongs
once prevailing in different parts of the
world. BEN ARD1S,
indianapolis. Nov %.