An ancient proverb, cited by Ray, says, "Who marries between the sickle and the scythe, will never thrive."
In the rural districts of France a marriage contracted in May or August is unlucky. In the "Almanach des Laboureurs," it stated that a woman marrying in these months will put her husband under a yoke. The superstition of the month of May being unlucky for marriages still prevailed in Italy in 1750.
Pin Superstitions.
It used to be considered lucky for bridesmaids to throw away pins on a wedding-day. In Brittany the young girls who visit the bridal chamber secure the pins used in fastening the bride's dress for a lucky marriage.
Randolph, in his "Letters," writing of the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to Lord Darnley, says that when the queen, after her marriage, went to her chamber to change her clothes, she suffered "them that stood by her, every man that could approach, to take a pin." The Bretons throw pins into certain wells for good luck. The following saying is connected with pins—
"See a pin and pick it up,
All the day you'll have good luck.
See a pin and let it lie,
All the day you'll need to cry."
Superstitions about Children.
A superstition used to exist that a child which did not cry when sprinkled in baptism would not live long. The same would be the case if the children were prematurely wise. Shakespeare puts this superstition into the mouth of Richard III.
Bulwer mentions the tradition concerning children born open-handed, that they will prove of a bountiful disposition and frank-handed. A character in one of Dekker's plays says: "I am the most wretched fellow; surely some left-handed priest christened me, I am so unlucky." The following charms for infancy are taken from Herrick—
Bring the holy crust of bread,
Lay it underneath the head;
'Tis a certain charm to keep
Hags away while children sleep.