A PREVENTATIVE BY BURNING CLOTHING
Allusion has already been made, on an Islay authority, to the efficacy of burning a piece of the clothing to avert injury from any one bringing bad news (page [15]). A Tiree reciter gives the same information a little more fully, and says it protects against witchcraft or the Evil Eye. “If any woman comes into a house who is suspected, those of the house should try to get a small piece of some article of her clothing, without letting her know that they have got it, and throw it on the fire; that will prevent her from taking anything away with her or leave any mischief when she goes away. If they cannot manage to get a bit of her own clothing, a good plan is, when she is leaving, to burn a rag of some kind of cloth in the fire and throw it after her as she goes.”
1 Corinthians, iii. 15. “If any man’s work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”