Rustic Speech and Folk-Lore

by Elizabeth Mary Wright

CHAPTER XIII
SUPERSTITIONS

Chief among the ‘unlucky’ things regarded by the superstitious as omens of approaching calamity are those to which is attached the idea of a death-portent. This warning of death appears in various ways, it may be seen in some purely accidental occurrence, or some chance act; it may be announced by a bird or some other animal; it may even lurk in the most innocent flower. The following are sure signs of death: If a small oblong cinder flies out of the fire it is called a coffin (n.Cy.) and betokens death, especially if it lies silently where it fell; but if, on the other hand, it makes a crackling noise, it can be a purse, and mean money in store, cp.:

Last night (I vow to Heaven ’tis true)

Bounce from the fire a coffin flew.

Gay, The Farmer’s Wife and the Raven.

Terrifying Apprehensions

A large hole in the crumb of a loaf is a grave (Brks.), or a coffin (s.Not.). When the tallow or wax of a candle runs down on one side it often projects and then reunites to the candle, forming a sort of loop; this is a coffin-handle (w.Som.), and is a sign of death to the person in whose direction it forms itself. The same superstition holds when the grease from the guttering candle forms a broad solid mass, popularly termed a winding-sheet. A piece of charred wick at the top of a burning candle is a death-lowe [-flame] (Cum.), or a shroud (Sc. Lin. Som.), and presages death, unless the flame be extinguished by immersing the candle in running water. When furniture creaks suddenly it betokens death, but some say it only means a serious illness. If a clock, a picture, a looking-glass, or a flitch of bacon falls, it portends death; so does a table-cloth, when it is badly folded, and has a crease in the form of a diamond in the centre. If letters cross in the post; if the church clock strikes while the text of the Sunday morning’s sermon is being given out, or while the last hymn is being sung; if a piece of land has been accidentally missed in ploughing or sowing, it is a sign of death. The sound of singing in the ears is the dead-bell (Sc.). In some districts the choking sensation in the throat known as the rising of the lights is held to forebode death, but more usually it is regarded as an insignificant physical condition, to be remedied by swallowing small shot, the weight of which will keep the lights in their proper place. To break a looking-glass; to open an umbrella in the house, especially if it is held over the head; to put the bellows on the table; to drop a comb—are all deeds which forebode somebody’s death. The belief that if three people take part in making up a bed there is sure to be a death in the house within the year, is a superstition which I found was held to in my own house, together with the very common one that it is unlucky to turn a mattress on a Friday or Sunday.

Portents of Death

Among the omens wrought by insects, perhaps the most common is the death-watch, also known as the dead-chack (Sc.), and death-tick (Oxf. Dev.). Sir Thomas Browne made a careful study of this particular source of ‘terrifying apprehensions’, cp. ‘Few ears have escaped the noise of the death-watch, that is, the little clickling sound heard often in many rooms, somewhat resembling that of a watch; and this is conceived to be of an evil omen or prediction of some person’s death: wherein notwithstanding there is nothing of rational presage or just cause of terror unto melancholy and meticulous heads. For this noise is made by a little sheath-winged grey insect, found often in wainscot benches and wood-work in the summer. We have taken many thereof, and kept them in thin boxes, wherein I have heard and seen them work and knock with a little proboscis or trunk against the side of the box, like a picus martius, or woodpecker against a tree. It worketh best in warm weather, and for the most part giveth not over under nine or eleven strokes at a time,’ Vulgar Errors, Bk. II, Chap. VII. There is great diversity of opinion as to the signification of crickets. In some parts of England the sound of the cricket in the house is esteemed lucky (Yks. Nhp. Cor.), in other parts unlucky (w.Cy.); and again, there are districts (Shr.) where it is looked upon as a death-portent. If a swarm of bees settles on the wall of a house, or on a dead tree, or wooden stake, it is a sign of an approaching death in the family; if they knit on the ground, it is a sure sign of a berrin’ [funeral]. A death in the family may also be presaged by the sudden death of a pig. I remember just twenty years ago, when an old cook, whom I knew very well, inquired after my brother who was then recovering from a severe attack of scarlet-fever, she concluded the conversation by saying: ‘I knew quite well that there would be a serious illness in your family, because you had told me that one of the pigs had died suddenly.’ The sudden departure of rats from a house is sometimes held to betoken the death of one of the inmates. A white bird flying past, or a dove flying against a window at night, or flying into a room, is a sign of death. In some places, any bird pecking at a window announces death, but the robin is the chief harbinger of death, whether he announces his message by tapping at the window, chirping on the sill, or by hopping into the room. In the winter of 1910, a tame robin used to cause considerable uneasiness in this household by coming into the house through the open windows. If a crow settles on a house, one of the inmates will die within the year. If a hare or a white rabbit crosses your path; if you hear a hen crow; if the cock crows at midnight; or if a cow lows three times in your face, it is a sign of death, as are, too, the midnight hooting of owls, and the howling of dogs. In the Miracle Play in Longfellow’s Golden Legend, when the Rabbi asks Judas Iscariot ‘Why howl the dogs at night?’ the answer is: