The national forum., 1910-07-30
WARE OF EVIL. EYE.
"A Superstition That is Centuries Old
Witch, ''Kahuna" and ''Ghost Shoot
err still Vivid PeriVs to Many.


Fasting in most cases adds power to
this charm. The man who has made
or bought one of these holds it in his
hand, with the open end of the bam-
boo covered with his thumb, till he
sees his enemy when he let's out the
ragic influence and shoots his man,
When the Malay wishes to destroy
his enemy without the discomfort of
actually killing him he takes wax
from deserted comb, moulds it into
an image of his foe, decorates it with
the eyebrows or the hair Of the foe,
and then slowly scorches the wax
figure over a lamp for seven nights,
reciting: "It is not the wax I am
scorching. 1t is the liver, the heart
and the spleen Of --- that |
scorch," naming his enemy OF
course. after this there is nothing for
the victim to do but to die
A superstition whose origin Is lost
in the myths of antiquity and yet still
fiourishes in every cline is that thir-
teen is an unlucky number. While
the belief is usually associated with
thirteen at table, 1t has been extended
to the number when used to mark
rooms in hotels, staterooms on ships,
windows in banks and offices, etc.
The Turks so dislike the number that
the word is almost eXpunged from
their vocabulary. The Italians never
use it in making up the number of
their lotteries. In Paris no house
bears the number. In the Austrian
hospitals one finds no ward thirteen
or staircase thirteen, while very few
patients will consent to be operated
on on the thirteenth.
And yet thirteen has not always
been accounted unlucky. 1t was the
sacred number of the MeXicans and
the people of Yucatan,
From very early times the belief
in lucky and unlucky days has pre-
vailed, and the times of weddings and
other important events were looked
into with great care, so as to prevent
their occurring on days which were
deemed unlucky Grafton, in his
"Abridgement of his Chronicle"
(1565), enumerates the unlucky days
as follows.
January 1, 2, a, s, 10, Is, II, 20,
very unlucky. February 26, 27, 2S,
unlucky; s, 10, II, very unlucky.
March 16, IT, 20, very unlucky April
7, 8, 10, 20, unlucly; 16, 21, very
unlucky. May 8, 6, unlucky; 7, Is,
20, very unlucky. June 10, %, un-
lucky; 4, 8, very unlucky. July Is,
21, very unlucky. August J., 20, 80,
unlucky; 10, 20, very unlucky. Sep
tember 8, 4, 81, %, unlucky; 6, 7,
very unlucky. October 4, 16, "a, un-
lucky; 6, very unlucky. November 5,
6, 20, 80, unlucky; 10, 20, very un-
lucky. December Is, %, unlucky;N
6, Z, 8, very unlucky.
BY many Friday is considered an
unlucky day upon which to begin any
thing, such as starting, sea or land
journey, beginning new employment
or taking up any task, the belief be-
ing that they will come to sudden
and bad ending. However, all ma
tions do not consider it an unlucky
day. 1t is regarded by the Scandi-
navians as the luckiest day Of the
week, while in Scotland Friday is a
choice day for weddings.
The lover, when he places the visi-
BILE pledge of his affection upon the
hand of his sweetheart, would not
think for moment of placing it upon
other than the ring finger, as it is
called, or the finger on the left hand
between the long and the little fin
gers. If asked why this finger was
selected, not one in thousand could
give an intelligent explanation.
Aulus Gillius, Latin writer of the
second century A. D., gives the reason
for it. He says in dissecting corpses
it had been found that certain sen-
der sinew or nerve ran directly from
this finger to the heart, so that it
seemed quite fitting that this finger
should be the one to bear the ring
pre-eminently token of affection,
1t was not until long after that it was
discovered that there was no such in
timacy between the finger and the
heart as had been thought to exist.
A very old and very odd SUPER
stition is that it is dangerous to save
person from drowning. The belief
is prevalent in Scotland and China.
The Chinese bel We even to this day
that the spirit of one who has died
violently will return to earth If a
substitute can be found The last
man dead is supposed to keep guard
over the land of the dead; to save a
drowning man would be to deprive
him of his substitute and incur the
displeasure of mysterious enemy.
1t was at one time believed gem
orally that at the approach Of muir
derer the blood of the murdered body
gushed out The notion still sur
wives in some places. A very old fall
lacy was to the effect that il man
deeply perjured himself, especially If
by his perjury he had sacrificed the
life of friend, he not merely lost
the enjoyment of the sunshine, but
he actually lost all consciousness of
its light or warmth,
The belief that fairies will steal
unbaptized children and replace them
with their own stupid or ugly chill
dren is an old one, and is not confined
to the ignorant or to the poor and
humble in station. The writer knew
some years ago young man, born in
family of wealth and position, who
was wretched because his mother, a
brilliant woman Of society, insisted
when he was baby that he was not
her own son, and not only did she
henceforth refuse to see him, but she