saxon superstition—continued: animals, plants, days.
the cat, dedicated to frouma, frezja, or holda, in old german times, still plays a considerable part in saxon superstition. thus, to render fruitful a tree which refuses to bear, it will suffice to bury a cat among its roots. epileptic people may be cured by cutting off the ears of a cat and anointing them with the blood; and an eruption at the mouth is healed by passing the cat’s tail between the lips.
when the cat washes its face visitors may be expected, and as long as the cat is healthy and in good looks the cattle will likewise prosper.
a runaway cat, when recovered, must be swung three times round the hearth to attach it to the dwelling; and the same is done to a stolen cat by the thief who would retain it. in entering a new house, it is recommended to throw in a cat (sometimes also a dog) before any member of the family step over the threshold, else one of them will die.
the dog is of less importance than the cat, except for its power of giving warning of approaching death by unnatural howling.
here are some other saxon superstitions of mixed character:
1. who can blow back the flame into a candle will become pastor.
2. new servants must be suffered to eat freely the first day they enter service, else their hunger will never be stilled.
3. who visits a neighbor’s house must sit down, even were it but for a moment, or he will deprive the inhabitants of their sleep. (why, then, do saxon peasants never offer one a chair? or is a stranger too insignificant to have the power of destroying sleep?)
4. it is dangerous to stare down long into a well, for the well-dame who dwells at the bottom of each is easily offended. but children are often curious, and, hoping to get a look at her face, they bend over the edge, calling out mockingly, “brannefrà, brannefrà, zieh mich ?n de br?nnen” (dame of the well, pull me down into the well); but quickly they draw back their heads, afraid of their own audacity, lest their wish be in truth realized.
5. it is not good to count the beehives, or the loaves when they are put in the oven.
6. neither is it good to whitewash the house when the moon is decreasing, for that produces bugs.
7. who eats mouldy bread will live long.
8. licking the platter clean at table brings fine weather.
9. on the occasion of each merrymaking, such as weddings, christenings, etc., some piece of glass or crockery must be broken to avert misfortune.
10. salt thrown on the back of a departing guest will prevent him from carrying away the luck of the house. neither salt nor garlic should ever be given away, as with them the luck goes.
11. a broom put upside down behind the door will keep off the witches.
12. it is bad-luck to lay a loaf on the table upside down.
13. when foxes and wolves meet in the market-place, their prices will rise (of course, as these animals could only be thus bold during the severest cold, when prices of eggs, butter, etc., are at their highest).
14. a piece of bread found lying in the field or road should never be eaten by the finder; nor should he untie a knotted-up cloth or a rag he chances to discover, for the knot perhaps contains an illness.
15. whoever has been robbed of anything, and wishes to discover the thief, must select a black hen, and for nine consecutive fridays must, together with his hen, abstain from all food. the thief will then either die or bring back the stolen goods. this is called taking up the black fast against a person.
on this last subject an anecdote is told of a peasant of the village of petersdorf, who returned one day from the town of bistritz, bearing two hundred florins, which he had received as the price for a team of oxen. reaching home in a somewhat inebriated state, he wished to sleep off his tipsiness, and laid himself down behind the stove, but took the precaution of first hiding the money in a hole in the kitchen wall. next morning, on waking up, the peasant searched for his money, but was unable to find it, having completely forgotten where he had put it in his intoxication; so, in the firm belief that some one had stolen the two hundred florins, he went to consult an old wallachian versed in magic, and begged him to take up the black fast against the man who had abstracted the money. before long people began to notice how the peasant himself grew daily weaker and seemed to pine away. at last, by some chance, he hit upon the place where the money was hidden, and joyfully hurried to the wallachian to counter-order the black fast. but it was now too late, for the charm had already worked, and before long the man was dead.
there is also a whole set of rhymes and formulas for exorcising thieves, and forcing them to return whatever they have taken; but these would be too lengthy to record here.
of the plants which play a part in saxon superstition, first and foremost is the fulsome garlic—not only employed against witches, but likewise regarded as a remedy in manifold illnesses and as an antidote against poison. garlic put into the money-bag will prevent the witches from getting at it, and in the stables will keep the milk from{215} being abstracted, while rubbed over the body it will defend a person against the pest.
to the lime-tree are also attached magic qualities, and in some villages it is usual to plant a lime-tree before the house to keep witches from entering.
much prized is the lilac-bush. its blossoms, made into tea, are good for the fever; and the bush itself is often reverently saluted with bent knee and uncovered head. many of the formulas against sickness are directed to be recited while walking thrice round a bush of lilac.
the first strawberry-blossom, if swallowed by whoever finds it, will keep him free from sickness during that year.
the four-leaved shamrock here, as elsewhere, is considered to confer particular luck on the finder, but only when he carries it home without having to cross over water of any sort. laid in the prayer-book, a four-leaved shamrock will enable its possessor to distinguish witches in church.
the common houseleek, here called donnerkraut (thunder-herb), will protect from lightning the roof on which it grows.
animals beaten with a switch of privet or dog-wood will die or fall sick.
larkspur hung over the stable door will keep witches from entering.
the atropa belladonna (called here buchert) renders mad whoever tastes of it, and in his madness he will be compelled blindly to obey the will of whoever has given him of this herb to eat; therefore it is here said of a man who behaves insanely that “he must have eaten buchert.”
whoever kills an adder under a white-hazel bush, plants a pea in the head of this adder, and then buries it in the earth so that the pea can strike root, has only to gather the first flower which grows from the pea and wear it in his cap in order henceforward to have power over all witches in the neighborhood. but let him beware of the witches, who, knowing this, are ever on the lookout to catch him without the pea-flower and to do him an injury.
a particular growth of vine-leaf, whose exact definition i have not succeeded in rightly ascertaining, is eagerly sought for by saxon girls in some villages. whoever finds it sticks it in her hair, and thus decorated she has the right to kiss the first man she meets on her homeward way. this will insure her speedy marriage. a story is{216} related of a girl who, meeting a nobleman driving in a handsome four-in-hand carriage, stopped the horses, and begged leave to kiss him, to the gentleman’s no small astonishment. he resigned himself, however, with a good grace when he had grasped the situation, and gave the kiss as well as a golden piece to the fair suppliant. the proper romantic dénouement of this episode would have been for the gentleman to lead home as bride the maiden thus cast in his path by fate, but we are not told that he pushed his complacence quite so far.
a whole volume might be written on the subject of agrarian superstition, of which let a few examples here suffice.
in many villages it is customary for the ploughman, going to work for the first time that year in the field, to drive his plough over a broomstick laid on the threshold of the court-yard.
the first person who sows each year will have meagre crops. during the whole sowing-time no one should give a kindling out of the house. it is never allowable to sow in holy week.
to insure the wheat against being eaten by birds, the sowing should be done in silence before sunrise, and without looking over the shoulder. also earth taken from the church-yard will keep birds off the field.
whoever lies down to sleep in a new-ploughed furrow will fall ill; nor must the women be allowed to sew or spin in the cornfield, for that would occasion thunder-storms; while washing the hands in the field will cause the house to burn.
in obstinate droughts it is customary in some places for several girls, led by an old woman, and all of them absolutely naked, to repair at midnight to the court-yard of some neighboring peasant, whose harrow they must steal, and with it proceed across the field to the nearest stream, where the harrow is put afloat with a burning light on each corner.
the harvest will be bad if the cuckoo comes into the village and cries there.
in bringing in the corn a few heads of garlic bound up in the first sheaf will keep off witches.
the most important days in saxon superstition are sunday, tuesday, and friday.
whoever wears a shirt sewed by his mother on a sunday will die. according to another version, however, a shirt which has been spun,{217} woven, and sewed entirely on sundays is a powerful talisman, which will render all enemies powerless against the wearer, and bring him safely through every battle.
wood cut on a sunday serves to heat the fire of hell. sunday children are lucky, and can discover hidden treasures.
in some districts no cow or swine herd would lead his animals to pasture on any other day but a tuesday.[59]
thursday is in many places the luckiest day for marriages, also for markets.
on friday the weather is apt to change. it is a good day for sowing and for making vinegar, but a bad one for baking, or for starting on a journey. in some places it is considered unsafe to comb the hair on a friday—therefore the village school on that day presents a somewhat rough and unkempt appearance.
rain upon good friday is a favorable omen.
on easter monday the lads run about the towns and villages sprinkling with water all the girls and women they meet. this is supposed to insure the flax growing well. on the following day the girls return the attention by watering the boys.[60]
on easter monday the cruel sport of cock-shooting is still kept up in many saxon villages. the cock is tied to a post and shot at till it dies a horrible lingering death. sometimes the sport is diversified by blindfolding the actors, who strike at their victim with wooden clubs.
between easter and pentecost none should either marry or change their domicile.
on pentecost monday it is sometimes customary to elect three of the girls as queens, who, dressed up in their finest clothes, preside at church and at the afternoon dance.
in one village it is usual on pentecost sunday at mid-day, when the bells are ringing, to encircle each fruit-tree with a rope made of twisted straw.
the fires on st. john’s day, and the belief that hidden treasures are to be found, are also prevalent among the saxons.
no one should bathe or wade into a river on the 29th of june, feast of ss. peter and paul, for fear of drowning, it being supposed that this day requires the sacrifice of a human victim.
before the 24th of august no corn should be garnered, because only after that date do the thunder-storms cease, or as the people say, “the thunder-clouds go home.”
the night of st. thomas (december 21st), popularly considered to be the longest night in the year, is the date consecrated by saxon superstition to the celebration of the games which elsewhere are usual on all-halloween. every girl puts her fate to the test on that evening, and there are various ways of so doing, with onions, flowers, shoes, etc.
one way of interrogating fate is with a sharp knife to cut an apple in two. if in doing so no seed has been split, then the wish of your heart will be fulfilled.
similar games are also practised on sylvester night (december 31st), which night is also otherwise prophetic of what is to happen during the coming year. if it be clear, then the fowls will lay many eggs that year, and bright moonlight means full granaries. a red dawn on new-year’s day means war, and wind is significant of the pest or cholera.
