The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-11-05
SPILLING THE SALT.
THE ORIGIN OF AN OLD AND VERY
COMMON SUPERSTITION.

Some Of the Ancient Signs and
Omens That still Hold Sway Over
Mankind Breaking q Looking
Glass and the Crossing of Knives.
There Il a wherefore" for all things,
even for those "signs, omens, supersti-
tions," which some men call frivolous
and foolish. Some men object to walking
under a ladder. Well, is there not the
danger Of the ladder falling on you or Of
the man at work on 1t dropping his paint
pot OF his soapsuds on you? It Ia re-
garded a. q sign Of bad luck to cross
knives at table. This superstition came
about in this wise. The original knife was
nothing else but q dagger which men
wore In their belts, ready for carving the
mutton or their acquaintance The cross
ing of blades meant a fight, and it II no
wonder that women found crossed knives
a sign suggestive Of misfortune.
Splitting the salt once meant the worst
of bad luck, and today there are many
people who throw a pinch over their left
shoulder ''to break the charm" II they
happen to tip over the saltcsllar. Salt
was until recently an expensive article
and a dear necessity. So important was
It that the finding of salt wells in Chesh-
ire, England, first brought the merchants
Of Europe into savage Britain and led to
the civilization of the island. The very
phrase worth his salt" means worth his
salary, and the word salary itself means
"salt money"
Because it was so important ancient
usage placed the saltbox in the middle OF
the table so that it might be within reach
of all. The "gentles" sat above the salt
and the samples" below it. In the rega-
liza in the Tower Of London the saltcellar
Is one Of the most gorgeous pieces, being
built like castle Of silver and heavily
gilded. Such being the Importance Of the
saltbox the upsetting Of it was some
thing more than an accident. 1t was an
event. and, being bad luck In itself, soon
came to be regarded as q. sign Of bad
luck.
Some trace the beginning of the super
stition to the picture Of 1.-THE Last Sup
per-" by Leonardo da Vinci, in which
painting the saltcellar is represented as
overturned But the superstition Is older
than the picture, and it was undoubtedly
because of the superstition that Leonardo
30 depicted the salt in his celebrated
painting.
To break looking glass is regarded In
some households as sure sign OF death
in the family. The superstition regarding
the looking glass came about in this way.
Before there were any poorhouses there
were plenty of old women, poor and
friendlcss and long past the age when
they could make their living by manual
labor. But they knew the world and the
credulity and the passions of mankind.
They also .zcew the herbs of the field and
the garden whiGh were possessed OF me-
dicinal virtues, ana 50 between their
knowledge of medicine and their knowl-
edge of the human heart they managed to
make living by selling simple remedies
for the body and dealing out advice,
prophecies and spells for the mind.
"If you have a proud foe to make
tracks, IL you melt rich uncle in wax"
or il you had the stomach ache, all you
had to do was to call in one of these
"wise women" as they were termed.
Sometimes the 'wise woman" got too
wise and was drowned or burned as
witch. Hers was a perilous business, but
the only one by which the poor old haS
could make a living. If you wanted to
get rid Of an enemy In those days, you
called In the local practitioner Of witch
craft and told her your symptoms. Then
she made little image Of wax or rag
doll, which was named from the person
whom you desired to "get off the earth"
Set the image by the FIRE, and as 1t melt
ed away 30 would your enemy or your
rich uncle pine away and die. Stick pins
in the rag doll, and the Objectionable one
would suffer the pains of spins and nee
dies" Smash the doll to pieces, and the
hated or superfuous one would meet
with violent and sudden death.
Another school of witchcraft held that
a surer way to smash an enemy was to
break a looking glass into which the
hated one had just gazed. 1t must be done
before his image had vanished from the
surface Of the glass and with proper IN
carnations, but was held to be more enec-
tual than wax dolls and rag babies. Hence
the superstition regarding the breaking OF
a looking glass.
Why does horseshoe bring good luck2
One explanation Of the use of this prosaic
piece of ironmongery as talisman IL
that the Russian peasants used to paint
outside their doors a picture of the Bless
ed Virgin. The halo around the head
they gilded. The rains and SHOWS wash
ed OH the pdIuI Out thS b.
ing remained in the shape Of horseshoe,
and the peasants regarded 1t with the
same reverence as they had the whole
picture. From Russia the travellers
brought stories of the peasants having
horseshoes at their doors as protection
against evil fortune, and so the supersti-
ton of the horseshoe spread over the
world.
The other explanation, and probably
the true one, is that the symbol is Of a
far more ancient origin. The Greeks and
the Romans who pinned their faith to the
goddess Diana used to wear as a symbol
of their loyalty to the divine huntress her
symbol of the crescent moon. AS the
ages rolled the crescent became horse
shoe. One is at liberty to accept either Of
these explanations or to reject both OF
them, but whatever the origin Of the be-
lief in the horseshoe as q portent of good
luck, whether it be the symbol Of the
heather goddess Diana or Of the Chris
tian Virgin, there are hundreds of thou
sands of people throughout the world
who would never take the horseshoe
from the door,"
Among the Italians horseshoe is sup
posed to be a protection against the evil
eve. and when they feel in need Of such
an amulet and have not a horseshoe
handy they point Gut with the little finger
and the first finger, tucking away the sec
opd and third fingers under the thumb
and thus making a passable sort OF
horseshoe Of the hand. They always do
this in the rural districts Of Italy when
they meet an Englishmen, man with
snapshot camera o. anything else doubt.
full.
A Good Filler.
TnwnA-RIoWitz is certainly q better