To snuff out a candle accidentally entails the fate of not getting married in the same year.
It is in the highest degree unlucky to give your neighbour a light at Christmas time, or New Year's Day; and those who have neglected to lay in a stock of matches at that season often have to repent the oversight by being unable to light their fires in the morning, and in most cases amongst the poor neither prayers nor entreaties will induce them to part with their fire.
At Mathon, some people believe that if land is left unsown in a field, there will be a death in the family within the year; and when the accident is discovered they do not sow it again (see Mr. Watson's sketch of that parish).
Omens, or tokens of death, adhere to the popular belief to a more general extent than any other relic of superstition, perhaps one third of the population attaching more or less credit to them. It would be impossible to enumerate all these idle fancies, but among them are prominently the howling of a dog, a winding sheet in the candle, and the issuing of light from a candle after it is blown out.
A piece of curled tallow (winding sheet) on a candle has been scarcely ever known to fail as prophetic of death in the family or among friends.
When a single crow flies over you it is the sign of a funeral; two are a certain prognostication of a wedding.
A bit of coal popped from the fire must resemble either a purse or a coffin, and consequently good luck or death.
To have a long succession of black cards (spades or clubs) dealt to a person while at play is prophetic of death to himself or some member of the family.
When a corpse is limp, it is a sign that another death will happen in the house.