Back Aa

Current Superstitions

<h2 class="chapterhead">CHAPTER VI.</h2> LOVE AND MARRIAGE. ENGAGEMENT. 327. If you are a bridesmaid three times you will never stand in the middle. Baldwinsville, N. Y. 328. Three times a bridesmaid, never a bride. New England. 329. Don’t let another person put on your engagement ring, taken from your finger, or the engagement will be broken. Bathurst, N. B. 330. The mother-in-law’s test of the incoming daughter-in-law is to place a broom on the floor. If the daughter removes it and places it on one side, she will be a good housewife; if she steps over it, she will be a bad housewife. Labrador. 331. A girl will have as many children after marriage as she has “holders” given her before marriage. Eastern Massachusetts. ATTIRE OF THE BRIDE. 332. If you try on your wedding dress before the ceremony, you will not be happy. Cambridge, Mass. 333. The bride should wear a borrowed garter, and also a yellow garter. Boston, Mass. 334. If a bride wear a yellow garter tied on by a girl friend, the latter will be married inside the year. Eastern Massachusetts. 335. The bride should wear <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> Something old, Something new, Something borrowed, And something blue. Very common. </div> </div> 336. Wear no black at a wedding; it foretells ill luck. Massachusetts. 337. To be married in a brown dress is good luck; black is bad. Bathurst, N. B. 338. To be married in anything but white garments indicates bad luck for the bride, white being emblematical of innocence. <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> They say that white is a heavenly hue. </div> </div> Another has added, It may be so, but the sky is blue. Massachusetts. 339. White is emblematical of holiness and truth. Blue is emblematical of peace and security; bright green of true learning, as being the uniform clothing of nature. Maine and Massachusetts. 340. A bride must not look in the glass after her toilet is complete, i. e., she must add a glove or some article after leaving the mirror. Maine and Massachusetts. 341. It is bad luck for a bride to keep any of the pins that she used when she was married. Alabama. 342. You will be unhappy if you lose your wedding ring. General in the United States. 343. If the bride just before leaving the house throws her bouquet over the banisters, the one who catches it is next to be wedded. Philadelphia, Pa. 344. If a drop of blood gets on a garment in making, it will be one of your wedding garments. LUCKY DAYS. <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> 345. Marry in Lent, Live to repent. New York. </div> </div> 346. The day after a wedding is called the bride’s day, the next day the groom’s day; the condition of the weather on these days will indicate whether their lives are to be happy or otherwise. Salem, Mass., and Queen Anne Co., Md. 347. The wedding day is the bride’s day, and the weather foretells her married life. The following is the bridegroom’s, and his married life is shown in the same manner. The third day shows how they will live together. New York. 348. The two days before the wedding are the bride’s days. If they are pleasant, she will have good luck, etc. Waltham, Mass. 349. Marriage days. <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> Monday—a bad day. Tuesday—you will have a good husband and will live long. Wednesday—a grand day; you will have a good husband, and will live happily, but will have some trouble. Thursday—a bad day. Friday—a bad day. Saturday—no luck at all. Sunday—no luck at all. Baltimore, Md. (negro). </div> </div> 350. Wednesday is the luckiest day on which to be married. Saturday is the unluckiest. Friday is also unlucky. Bathurst, N. B. THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY. 351. Happy is the bride that the sun shines on. Northern Ohio. 352. If it rains on the wedding, the bride will cry all her married life. Talladega, Ala. 353. To marry in a storm betokens an unhappy life. Peabody, Mass. 354. It is unlucky to drop the ring at the marriage ceremony. New York. 355. A bride must step over the church sill with her right foot. Orange Co., N. Y. 356. A double wedding is unlucky; one of the marriages will be unhappy. Massachusetts. 357. The pair to be married should stand in line with the cracks in the floor, and not at right angles to them. Omaha, Neb. 358. When a couple are married and are driving off, if old shoes are thrown after them for good luck, and one of the shoes lodges on the coach or carriage, it is a sign that one of the party will die before the year is out. Waltham, Mass. 359. After the marriage ceremony is performed, the one that walks first from the altar is the one who will die first, either bride or groom. Alabama. 360. Old slippers or rice must be thrown after a bride for good luck. General in the United States. 361. If the younger sister is married before the elder, the latter will have to dance in a pig’s trough. Western Massachusetts. 362. Runaway matches will prove unlucky. New York. 363. It is a sign of ill luck to take off the wedding ring. General in the United States. COURTING AND WEDDING SIGNS. 364. If your apron string becomes loosened, your true love is thinking of you. New York. 365. If your apron drops off, you’ll lose your beau. The same is true if you lose your garter. Stevens Point, Wis. 366. If you sink a bottle in water, it will weaken your love. Massachusetts. 367. Step over the broom, and you will be an old maid. 368. If a girl wet her apron in washing, it is a sign that she will have a drunken husband. Labrador, Scilly Cove, N. F., and New England. 369. To hang clothes wrong side out is an antidote for a drunken husband. Maine. 370. If a girl finds a cobweb in the door, it is a sign that her beau calls elsewhere. Northern Ohio. 371. To find many cobwebs in the kitchen means that there is no courting there. Boston, Mass. 372. When the collar slips around and the opening comes to the ear, your lover is thinking of you. Salem, Mass. 373. If you button your dress up unevenly, it is a sign that your lover is thinking of you. Miramichi, N. B. 374. If you begin to button your dress unevenly, you will be a widow. Central Maine. 375. If you are cross when you are young, you will be an old maid. Alabama. 376. If you fall up stairs, you will have a new beau. Winn, Me. 377. Tumble up stairs and you’ll not get married within the year. (Hence old maids were formerly said to be careful how they went up stairs.) New England. 378. Stumbling either up or down stairs means you’ll be married inside a year. Cape Breton. 379. If you sit on a table, you will not be married that year. New England, New York, and Alabama. 380. Dropping hairpins from your hair means that your beau is thinking of you. General in the United States. 381. If a lady dons a gentleman’s hat, it is a sign that she wants a kiss. 382. If your lips itch, it is a sign some one will kiss you. Boston, Mass. 383. If the outside of your nose itches, some one out of town loves you, and if the inside of your nose, then you are loved by some one in town. Western Massachusetts. 384. If a gentleman and lady are riding and are tipped out, they will be married. Nashua, N. H. 385. Make a rhyme when talking, and you’ll see your true love before Saturday night. Massachusetts. 386. Should your shoestring come unloosened, <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> ’T is a sure sign and a true, At that very moment Your true love thinks of you. New York. </div> </div> 387. If your shoe comes untied, your sweetheart is talking about you. Alabama. 388. If you want to sneeze and can’t, it is a sign some one loves you, and doesn’t dare to tell it. Boston, Mass. 389. If you can’t drink a cup of tea, you must be love-sick. Labrador. <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> 390. Stub your toe See your beau. Massachusetts and Maine. </div> </div> 391. If four persons cross hands in shaking hands on taking leave, one will marry before the year is out. Prince Edward Island, Eastern Massachusetts, and New York. 392. If hands are crossed at the table while passing a dish, a wedding will follow. The top hand belongs to the person who will be married. Pennsylvania. 393. To have two teaspoons in a saucer signifies marriage in a year. 394. If a gentleman stayed to dinner and by accident got two knives, two forks, or two spoons, at his plate, he would be married within a year, and there was no help for it. Connecticut. 395. Knock over your chair on rising from the table, and you won’t get married that year. Peabody, Mass., New York, and Talladega, Ala. 396. If a girl sew a button on the clothing of a marriageable man, she will marry him within the year. New England. 397. If you have a dress with rings for a figure in it, it is a sign you will be married before it is worn out. New York. 398. If you have hearts in a figure in a dress or in a shawl, you will be married before it is worn out. New York. 399. If you have a new dress and there are roses in it, the person who owns the dress will be married before the dress is worn out. Salem, Mass. 400. Pins in the front of a dress waist are a sign that the wearer will be an old maid. New Hampshire. 401. If, in making a dress, the thread kinks badly, the person for whom it is made will either die or get married before the dress is worn out. Alabama. 402. If you have a dress tried on, and any pin catches in the underclothing, every pin means that it is a year before you will be married; hence dressmakers are especially careful to pin the dress in such a way that it will slip off easily. Boston, Mass. 403. If you have good success in building a fire, you will have a smart husband; if bad success, a lazy husband. St. John, N. B., and Ohio. 404. If a lock of hair over the forehead (“widow’s lock”) be cut before marriage, the girl will be a widow. Labrador. 405. Get a lady friend to knit you a yellow garter. She must ask a gentleman unknown to you to knit ten rows. You will meet and marry the gentleman within a year. 406. The exchange of one yellow garter means a proposal in six months. Washington, D. C. 407. If a girl wears a yellow garter (which has been given to her) every day for a year, or every day and night for six months, at the end of that time she will be married. Montreal, P. Q. 408. If you burn a lover’s letter, he will never marry you. Central Maine. 409. If, at a dinner, a single person is inadvertently placed between two married people (husband or wife), it means marriage for him or her within a year. 410. If you pass between two men on the street, you’ll marry both of them sometime. Champaign, Ill. 411. If you drop a knitting-needle, you won’t be married during the present year. 412. If you break many needles in a garment, it will be worn at a wedding. 413. If you draw blood from a prick of the needle while making a garment, it is a sign you will be kissed the first time you wear it. Boston, Mass. 414. Should needles break while sewing on a new garment, it is a sign that the owner will be married before it is worn out. New York. 415. When a young man goes to see a girl for the first time, and the signs of the zodiac are in the heart, they will one day marry. Harmony, Me. 416. If you step on a cigar stub, you will marry the first man you meet. Salem, Mass. 417. Two spoons in a cup is the sign of a wedding. Bathurst, N. B., and Wisconsin. 418. If you get two spoons in your cup or saucer, you’ll marry a second husband or wife. 419. If a couple out walking together stumble, it is a sign that they will be married. Labrador. <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> 420. Sit on the table, Married before you’re able. Mattawamkeag, Me. </div> </div> 421. If a girl gets the last piece of bread on a plate at the table, she will have a handsome husband. Massachusetts. 422. If all of three dishes at the table are eaten, all of the unmarried people at the table will be married within the year. Northern Massachusetts. 423. “If the tea-kettle boils, you will boil your beaux away,” is an old saying. Salem, Mass. 424. If you have a cup of tea handed to you, and there are little bits floating on top, they represent the number of husbands you will have—one, two, or three. 425. A girl that takes her thimble to the table will be an old maid. Northern Ohio. <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> 426. Three in a row, Meet your beau. The one in the middle will have him. Massachusetts. </div> </div> 427. Three lamps in a row, the one who sets down the third will be soon married. Massachusetts. 428. Three lamps in a row foretell a wedding in the family. New York. 429. To look into a tumbler when you are drinking is a sign that you will be an old maid. If you look over the side, you are a flirt. Massachusetts. 430. To wash the hands under a pump denotes that you will be a widow. Chestertown, Md. <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.