We've eaten our black-eyed peas (cooked with hog jowl the way my grandmother did) for luck, as well as the collards that are meant to put money in our pockets in the coming year . . .
The Christmas tree was out of the house before the new year to avoid bad luck -- again per my grandmother's tradition.
I don't consider myself superstitious -- but I like these harmless traditions -- ties with the past. I knock on wood to avert trouble and if I spill the salt, I toss a pinch over my left shoulder . . . I walked barefoot in the first snow of the season and I'll get wet in the first rain of May -- both to ensure good health.
Do you have any traditions/superstitions that you follow for good luck? Whether you actually believe them or not?
7 comments:
Never, ever kill a spider or it will rain the next day. (courtesy of my Irish mother.) We relocate them with much diligence. but it usually rains anyway. xo
Had my black-eyed peas, cabbage... and ham, just to be on the safe side.
None here to speak of. Without much thinking about it, though, I guess I've put a spin on the find a penny, pick it up, and you will have good luck superstition. I remember how, as a child, exciting it was to find money on the ground. When I check out at the grocery store and receive change, I will often drop it on the ground where some child will find it. And now that I am typing this, the thought occurs to me that some child could get run over because of me... From now on I'll be sure the money is only dropped on the side walks!
I adhere to the belief in golf that on the next hole if you tee off before a birdie shooter you will have a bad score. The only problem with that is I can have many bad holes with out breaking that rule, with nobody to blame but me.
I believe in the power of 4-leaf clovers. If I haven't found my first one of the summer I start to get nervous and worry about my chances of having any good luck that year. When I do find one I'll give it to someone who seems to need some luck, or press it in the pages of a book. All my old books and diaries are littered with the dried leaves of clover. And I feel like I'm a pretty lucky person.
I cannot abide the smell of collards so we substituted turnip greens along with the pork and black-eyed peas. Like you, I step barefoot in the first snow.
Growing up in Asheville, my grandmother had many such superstitions. I love folklore and have often thought of compiling a book of regional lore and old time recipes.
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