Spirituality
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Superstitions Raven The raven is said to be the most prophetic of birds, with knowledge of both private and public misfortune; we still speak of having 'the foresight of a raven'. The American Indians call it the 'Messenger of Death'. Perhaps the most famous superstition associated with it is that if the famous ravens living in the Tower of London should be lost or fly away, then the reigning royal family will die and Britain itself will fall. The bird is indeed widely regarded as a creature of ill omen, and if one is heard croaking over a house then there will be sickness or death inside before long. An explanation has been ventured that the bird has a particularly acute sense of smell and can discern the odour of decay from some considerable distance. If the bird actually flies about the chimney croaking when someone lies ill inside, then that person's fate is sealed. Scottish deerstalkers, however, believe it bodes well for the hunt to hear one before setting out. Ravens facing the direction of a clouded sun are said to presage hot weather, while if they are seen busy preening themselves, there is rain on the way. And if they are seen flying towards each other then this is an omen of war.
Remarriage The Germans have a delightful belief that at the remarriage of a widower, the ghost of his former wife will attend the wedding and if she approves of the match will do no harm to the company.
Ribbon A red ribbon tied around a girl's head is said to be lucky, and to protect the wearer from evil spirits, according to a German superstition; while in Britain a silk ribbon around the throat will combat disease. In the East, though, coloured ribbons should not be worn on the head at night for they attract the Evil Eye.
Cross Although the cross has come to be a symbol of Christianity, it was venerated both as a religious and lucky sign for centuries before the Christian era. It has been found in parts of the world where the message of Christianity never reached. The Aztecs in pre-Columbian Mexico regarded it as a symbol of the rain god, the most important in their pantheon. In most primitive religions, the cross represents the tree of life. In some ancient cultures, the crosspiece intersecting the upright represented a ladder that helped a worshiper to reach God. In other cultures, the upright pointed the way to heaven and the crosspiece represented earthly influences. The oldest known version of the cross, dating back to prehistory and found all over the world, including among the Native Americans, is the swastika. This cross with its arms folded back took on a sinister meaning in the I 930s when Adolf Hitler adopted it as the symbol of his Nazi party. It wasn't a choice he made lightly. Hitler was very conscious of the power of lucky charms and it was his intention to crown his ambition with what he considered the luckiest charm of all. Fortunately for the world, it didn't work. But if Hitler didn't succeed in bringing the world under his heel, he managed to turn it away from a symbol that had been considered lucky almost from the time that man began to walk upright.
Cricket A cricket on the hearth has been a sign of household luck for thousands of years. And the idea is prevalent in every corner of the world. Possibly the belief stems from prehistoric times, when a cricket's chirping provided a kind of companionship. The cricket has also served as a watchdog in China and otherAsian countries for generations. At any sign of danger, the chirping will stop. Almost every Native American tribe believed in the cricket as a bringer of luck, and they regarded imitating the sound a cricket makes as disrespectful. In the Far East as well as across Europe, it is considered very bad luck to kill a cricket, even by accident. Images of crickets appear on charms and amulets, particularly those intended to ward off the evil eye, in most ancient cultures of the Middle East and Europe. One of the best-known in America is the large weather vane on Boston's Fanuel Hall, a copper cricket fashioned by our Colonial forefathers to protect the building.
Sapphire In the ancient Middle East, this blue stone was believed to have supernatural powers, It was said to have been the center piece of King Solomon's ring. In India, it has the Power to bring health and wealth. Among its other powers in other parts of the world are the ability to repel spiders, to protect virgins, to turn away envy, and to attract the attention of the gods.
Graveyard There is an old superstition that the body put in the first grave dug in a new graveyard is always claimed by the devil. It is also said to be unlucky to dig or plough any ground in which a body has been buried, and certainly no crops planted there will flourish. Because of a very ancient superstition that the south wind brings corruption, the south side of churches has always been regarded as the holiest and it was here for generations that people insisted on being buried. Only folk who had committed suicide or the corpses of stillborn children were buried on the north side. Graves should, of course, always be dug running east to west, so that the corpse may lie with his/her feet to the east and his/her head to the west and thereby be ready to rise when the call comes from the east on the Day of judgement. People in many European countries believe it is unlikely to step over a grave, and particularly over one in which lies a stillborn baby or unbaptised child. Despite the long history of grave robbing, it has always been considered unlucky to disturb a grave (you may well release a ghost), and no good will ever come of using tombstones or any other objects from a graveyard in the construction of a new building. Such a construction is said to run the risk of collapsing because it has "death built into it." |