When this salt ceremony is forgotten or neglected, some people, especially women, are very much perturbed.
I have discovered that this curious old belief about salt is very common at present in the towns of Aberystwyth, Carmarthen, and Tenby, and other parts of West Wales.
To spill salt denotes quarrels. To serve another person with salt, is to serve him with sorrow.
When a white spot appeals on the nail of one of our fingers it means a present.
Never stir the fire in anybody’s house unless you are a friend of seven years’ standing.
To break a looking-glass signifies ill-luck for seven years.
To put the bellows on a table is considered unlucky. There is also the same superstition about boots all over Wales.
Never mend your clothes while you are wearing them.
If you see a pin pick it up to insure good luck.
There is a saying in Welsh “Gwell plygu at bin, na phlygu at ddim,” (It is better to bend down for a pin, than to bend down for nothing.) It seems that a needle, however, is not considered so lucky; for I once overheard a woman who had quarrelled with her neighbour telling her husband that her neighbour and herself were friends before she had given her a needle.