Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-28
MnkMAIDS DANCE WITH PILE OF PLATE ON MAY DAY


obtaining in few places in America and
practices would seem to have no place.
Yet some of the most amusing supersti-
tons of any time have crept into the
rural sports of this day, and wherever
they have gained a foothold they have
held potent sway.
There was an old belief in Barvas, on
the Isle of Lewis, that on May day a
woman must not be the first to cross the
Barvas river. for IL she was salmon
would not enter it for a year. To safe
guard themselves from so great a dis
aster a man was yearly appointed to
cross the river at sunrise. and no woman
dared show her head until the order was
fulfilled
The poet Gay. in his Shepherds
Week." tells of another superstition:
Last May-day fair I searched to ind a snail
That might my secret lovers name reveal:
Upon a eooseberry bush snail ! found.
And e on the "e hear the %kSSite embers spread
In the soft ashes marked a curious l..
Oh. may this wondrous omen lucky prove.
For l. Is found in Luberkin and Love.
Look into an unused well with piece
advise. Do not turn away if the first
glance fails to produce the person you
love- Continue looking, and you will
surely be rewarded by q sight of him.
loss a Dali Oh yarn INTO d UdIu VI du
old cellar is another order for the day.
and then begin to wind. repeating the
words:
wind, I wind. my true love to find.
The color of his hair. the clothes he'll wesf y
The day he is married to me.
If you wind long enough your true
love- will come to you and help you with
your work. But do not forget that you
must wind quite long enough. else IL your
patience fails the charm will also fall
The people of Northumberland had
way Of finding out who would be the first
to be married among them. They made
a connection of warm milk, sweet cake
and wine. dropped a wedding ring into it.
and then by fishing 1t out in certain
way with a ladle they could decide the
momentous question.
-.
In Perth there was cave on the race
of Kinnoul Hill, very hard and dan
gerous place to reach, wherA May day
multitudes gathered to participate In
superstitious games.
Witches it is said, will never modest
you If you hang in your entry white
thorn which has been gathered the hrst
of Nav. The Germans hung the spray
over their door. believing that the night
before May day the witches and devils
gathered on a certain high mountain in
their land and there danced and Toasted
until the rays of dawn came to dispense
them.
The Irish fastened a green branch to
the house, not to offset the evils resulting
from the proximity of the witches. how
ever, but to insure an abundance of milk
during the summer. The Swedes believe
today that witches on May day will harm
the cows If they have a chance. But no
wide-awake Swede permits this trouble,
for he will fumigate the cowhouse with
birthstone and keep the cattle confined in
1t throughout the day. In the evening he
will carefully inspect them all. and IL one
should be found injured, of course, he
knows who is to blame for il. Happily,
however, he can end all further trouble.
He will strike two fiints over the animal,
making light, and then no witch will
dare modest.
In Hawick, England, where young peo-
pie still go Annoying, they like to battle
their faces in the morning dew SO that
they may have rosy cheeks for the next
twelve months.
Since the earliest times there have been
few maidens who would so utterly disre-
gard the mandate of superstition as to
marry on May day Have not those who
have done so lived the rest OF their lives
regretting it?