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Page 2 THE ADVANCE, BURFORD, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1979 Burford Superstitions by Mel Robertson The arrival of Autumn brings us into two seasons around which a great number of superstitions have gathered. I refer to All Hallows Eve, or Halloween and the days before the winter solstice which early pagans considered -to be the "dark days" of the year when daylight became shorter and the sun less bright. It might be appropriate at this time to examine some of the superstitions that existed, or exist, in Burford Township. What is superstition? The dictionary defines it as "Credulity regarding the supernatural or mysterious, misdirected reverence, etc". Superstition is not confined to any race or time. It has existed from the beginning of time and forms an important part in the history of all nations and races. Individually, many people have implicit faith in superstitions, many treat them as part of whimsey and many more regard them with ridicule. The list of superstitions is endless. Most have no scientific basis in fact. However, a closer look at some will show that they contain ingredients of common sense and even psychiatric value. For example, most of the superstitions involving curses are so outlandish that they defy times, cob-webs from manure piles were used to treat battle wounds. They were thought to be an effective charm but in fact contained traces of penicillin. Similarly, wounds treated with scrapings of willow bark became less painful. This was not due to the strength of a charm but to the presence in the bark of one of the chief ingredients in aspirin. The superstition against walking under a ladder may seem stupid to everyone except the person who has been accidentally drenched with dirty water or paint by someone on the ladder. Researching superstitions is difficult for in spite of they current TV and movie interest in such things as "possession" and exorcism, most people are reluctant to admit belief in superstitions for fear of ridicule. However, I was fortunate recently to find in the 1918 publication of "The American Journal of Folk-Lore" a section on Canadian supersititions containing a considerable number of entries attributed to people in the Burford area. To these I will add a number I have collected, over the years from local people. I do not vouch for the originality of any of these superstitions as the field is so old and so wide. All I will say is that the author of the article in the "American Journal of Folk-Lore" seems to have been a near-resident of the area who had spent much time in his research and the fact that I have been unable to find any reference to these superstitions in other books on the subject I have been able to consult. I would also like to emphasize that I have not attempted to include all of the many superstitions of the area but only those that seem to be unusual. I present this article as an historical compilation only. My personal opinion of superstitions is that they form a whimsical, but important part, of the culture of any area, displaying, as they do, the inner thoughts of many people. The names of all contributions are being omitted in order to avoid any possible embarrassment to their survivors. Superstitions seem to fall into a number of well-defined categories such as health, cures, weather, courtship, marriage, death, crops, etc. In the field of cures, for example, the treatment of warts has come in for many superstitions since, until recently, warts were considered to be a rather mysterious growth with possible connections to witchcraft. A man southwest of Burford suggested in "The American Journal of Folk-Lore" that warts were nanas wet in water used to wash eggs. His recommended cure was treating the warts with water taken from a rotten stump or from a cow "pad". This treatment may be on the border-line between fact and fancy for there is the possibility that the water referred to might contain medicinal ingredients capable of combatting the virus that causes warts. Another "charm" offered by the same informant was to take as many bits of chewing tobacco as there were warts, rubbing them on the warts and then discarding the tobacco on the road. The belief was that the person who picked up the tobacco would get the warts. This sounds like a dubious cure as it is hard to imagine anyone picking up bits of used chewing tobacco. A man north of Burford recommended rubbing the warts with pork and then feeding the meat to the dog who, presumably, became warty. An even more fanciful charm came from a person east of Burford who suggested that the afflicted person write the number of warts on a paper, steal a dishcloth, wrap the paper in the cloth and then discard the whole thing on the road without anyone seeing him do it. Here again, it was felt that the unfortunate finder would get the warts. In the realm of health, a Hatchley informant suggested that it was unhealthy to throw the combings of one's hair on the road for headache would result as soon as the sun shone upon them or if birds carried them off for their nests. The same person offered as a cure for goitre the wearing of amber beads and that a black ribbon about the throat would prevent nose-bleed. From north of Burford comes the contention that the wearing of a tarred string about the throat would ward off scarlet fever (and create a serious laundering problem). In Burford, I have personal knowledge of the use of a charm against asthma. When my mother was a little girl in the 1880's she suffered from what was described as "Asthma". Local medical science was unable to give her any relief so finally, for the lack of any other suggestions, it was decided to try a charm. To carry this out mother was required to bore a hole in a beam in the cellar-way. In this hole she placed fingernail cuttings and a lock of her hair. Then the aperature was plugged with a clothespin which had to be whittled by mother until it would fit the hole. Obviously this charm had no medical value in treating the asthma but it can be seen readily that there was certain psy- little girl's mind off her problem while she fashioned the charm. Did it work? The answer is "Of course not". Neither my mother nor her parents took it seriously and in fact the so-called 'asthma' was diagnosed, in later years to be an allergy to woollens. However, the little peg and the charm remained in the cellarway for over eighty years. On mother's death I pulled out the plug and removed the cuttings as part of family history and to determine the colour of mother's hair when she was about five years old. Love, courtship and marriage provide many superstitions. Two of the most interesting come from the Hatchley observer who said "If a girl sneezes before she eats she will see her beau before she sleeps" and "If a girl, as she removes her shoes at night, repeats these lines, 'Hoping this night my lover to see, I place my shoes in the form of a TV This latter superstition is claimed to be of local origin but one has to suspect that the placing of the shoes in the form of a "T" may really be a corruption of a much older superstition whereby the shoes were placed in the form of a Cross. Thus this superstition may have some foundation in ancient witchcraft practices. Another superstition submitted to the American "Journal" by the same man stated that if a girl swallowed a thimbleful of salt and went backwards to bed she would dream of her future husband. It is doubtful if this practice would have been repeated as the consumption of a thimbleful of salt would doubtlessly create so much nausea that the poor girl would either not sleep at all or would have nightmares involving King Kong or some other unsuitable suitor. Of other questionable value was the local belief that if a girl sat on a table she would not marry. Of more romantic content is the superstition credited to the Burford area which maintains that if you see a white horse and think about it without thinking of its tail you will kiss a red-haired person (after all that trouble let us hope that it is a person of the opposite sex). Among the many superstitions about courtship are a practical one and an impractical one which are credited to this area. The practical one is that if a girl can start a brisk fire she will have a smart husband. This made common-sense in the days when the ability to start and maintain a good fire in a wood stove was considered to be a virtue. Consequently any "smart" man who was looking for a good wife would be apt to be attracted to any girl who could start and has to suspect that the man's "smartness" after marriage would consist of retiring from the fire-making business completely; leaving the task to his overburdened wife. The unpractical courtship superstition alleges that if an unmarried person finds a horseshoe, every nail remaining in it signifies a year before the finder is married. Finally among the love and marriage superstitions is one which while it is not local, is so amusing that I am including it with local beliefs. This states that if a girls dreams of fairies the night before she marries it is good luck. The comments that can be applied to this belief are unprintable. There are many well-known local superstitions about marriage of which I have chosen only two; both of which come from the Hatchley area. One of these maintains that a bride should never keep a pin she has used in her wedding dress and the other belief is that "Whichever leaves the room first, the bride or groom, will die first." It is hoped that this latter superstition was not widely known as its observance must have been the cause of many first quarrels and many broken doors. However, if the young couples managed to leave the room arm-in-arm a superstition from the southwest part of the Township would apply in due course -"Kiss a new-born baby and make a wish and you will be sure to get it in a year". Of a more sinister note are the many superstitions about death. One area informant observed for the "Journal" that pigeon feathers in a pillow would disturb a dying person since pigeons are such restless birds. This is a rather strange superstition for whereas passenger pigeons frequented Burford Township in vast quantities until the latter part of the nineteenth century it was not the practice of settlers to use pigeon feathers in pillows. The same person maintained that a mirror in a room where -a corpse is lying should be covered. It is doubtful if this is an original local belief since it is an ancient assertion that mirrors are really windows through which the strange inhabitants of a strange world observe the living. Also among the Hatchley contributions were superstitions that it was unlucky to meet a funeral, that if a hearse stopped in front of a house its next business call would be there and if a sick person plucks at the bedclothes it is a sure sign of death. Several of the superstitions recorded in "The American Journal of Folk-Lore" concerning weather, are. credited to local informants. These include a belief that to see a cat eat grass is a sign of rain and that the number of white frosts in February will determine the number of white frosts in May. These were followed by a bit of doggerel verse from a Hatchley observer - "You pluck the first blow (blossom) Break the first break, Kill the first snake, You'll do everything you undertake." The originality of this superstition is questioned as the words "blow" for blossom and "Break" for thicket are not local words. Since the informant was English in origin it is suspected that the rhyme may be English in its derivation. The mention of killing snakes is also noted frequently and includes one superstition that if you kill a snake you will make a friend (unless, of course, you kill a friendly snake). Another snake superstition credited to this area is that if you kill the first snake in the spring you will have good luck. It is to be hoped that this superstition has died out as most local snakes are of great benefit to people. A similar mis-directed superstition was that the best way to cure a horse of the "heaves" was to force the poor creature to swallow three live toads. The mention of toads in this superstition would seem to place it in the realm of witchcraft and not in local folklore. Here again, the superstition is based on the false belief that toads are evil; the true facts, of course are that toads are friendly little chaps who are of great benefit to mankind. The one comment that can be made to this outlandish treatment is that whereas it may have cured the "heaves" in horses it undoubtedly would have brought on the "heaves" in anyone so unfortunate as to observe it. Good luck and bad luck play a great part in many of the superstitions credited by the "Journal" to this area. A contributor from the southern part of the Township considered it lucky to spit on the bait when fishing while people in the eastern section felt that it was very unlucky to hear a hen crow. The Hatchley contributor suggested that good luck would follow if when you found a piece a iron on the road you would spit on it and throw it over your left shoulder without looking. This may be all very well but how lucky would one be if a muscular and belligerent man was following close behind. Plant lovers were advised by the same observer that to thank anyone for a plant would ensure its demise whereas stealing a slip from a plant would guarantee growth. Continued on page 5 Incorporating THE BRANT COUNTY SHOPPER Published every Wednesday, by the Burford Advance, 3 King Street, East, Burford, Ontario. Subscriptions $7.50 yearly in Canada, $12.00 outside. Member C.C.N.A. and O.W.N.A. Second Class Mail Registration No. 0021 C. A. LOOMIS, EDITOR and PUBLISHER JOAN LOOMIS, BUSINESS MANAGER K. A. LOOMIS, PRODUCTION MANAGER