When we had an all day rain and my mom was a wreck with all of us kids in the house, she would make a paper cross and pour some salt on it and put it out on the front steps.
She said it would stop the rain. I think a solemn paryer would work better.

Elephants should always point to an open door.
Shoes on the table is bad luck (specially new ones).
Black cats are lucky, a white cat crossing your path, means death in your family (I think this cat superstition is particular to the county Devon where I was born).
Always put money in purses/wallets that are gifted.
Always exchange money if knives are gifted.
When moving into a new home always bring salt and bread in first (this is so you won't ever run out).

There are so many more....I have really enjoyed this post. Keep 'em coming:)

I'm a Southern girl and that's what we called it too. "Pully bone". :thumbup:

Ok here is one. Don't judge me. I married into this mess.
My husband killed a snake at our camp. He told me we had to burn the body at sundown or the snakes family would infest our camp. ( in retribution of the death I suppose). I told him there was not way I was roasting marshmellos over dead snake smoke so he would have to deal with the vengefull snake clan. Well I had me marshmellos and then he burned the dead snake and sure enough we had a whole colony of snakes infest our wood pile. I will never live this one down.

Yep. My husband's aunt swore by this and would secretly trash any elephants (she collected them) with downward trunks.

If you sing at the table you'll mary a crazy person. If your nose itches you'll have a fight. Heartburn during pregnancy means you'll have a baby born with a full head of hair. I had the worst heartburn and my daughter was born with thick blonde hair.

OHHHHH This explains a lot. My mom could never tell me why I wasn't supposed to sing at the table so I did when she wasn't looking. Now I know where the sanke thing came from!!!

Don't cut your hair in March or you won't see the next March.

Count the stars in halo around moon. That's how many days it will be before it rains. No stars, rain tomorrow.

Only one clock per room. If more than one it will bring bad luck.

When it rains and the sun is out means devil is beating his wife, the angels are crying and it will rain the next day.

If black cat crosses in front of you, make an X sign to ward of the bad.

Always leave from the door that you entered from.

So many, can't think of them all. lol

My Aunt told me the same thing but she said to steal a dish rag from someone and bury it and don't tell them. I had two warts on my fingers, I think I was around 8 or 9 and they didn't have wart away back then or else we couldn't afford it, so I snatched my Aunts dish rag and buried it, the warts did go away, don't know if thats why they did but sure was glad to get rid of them. After they were gone I told my Aunt what I did and she started laughing, she said she looked all over for that dish rag, thought she was going crazy. LOL

WOW! Imagine the good luck we must have been having when about 1/2 of my order of 250 got loose in the house :lol: I know the cats were sure thinking they got lucky! Crunchy snacks available 24 hrs a day.

All of my babies were born with a full head of hair (enough to put real baby barrettes in-no tape or velcro!) and I NEVER had heartburn.

My Grandmother always said if you got your belly wet when you were washing dishes you would marry a drunk and you never passed a knife or scissors across a table - you had to lay it front of the person and let them pick it up

sorry, double post!

if you suffer from foot cramps at night, put a bar of soap in your bed , between the sheets.
this is more of a mom-ism, but Never leave the house without clean underwear on.
you can test for the gender of an unborn child by holding a needle dangling from thread over the baby bump. if it goes in circles it's a girl. if it moves in a straight line back and forth, it is a boy.
whenever you are in the car you should count any white horses that you see. when you get to 100, the man you will marry will come from the direction that horse is facing.

I work in theatre. There are a lot of superstitions surrounding the stage, some of them so old nobody knows where they started. I, personally, am not superstitious, but I love learning about the origins of them.

It is bad luck to put shoes anywhere but on the floor--it curses the actor wearing the shoes. It represents the feet being higher than the body, which equals falling onstage.

It is bad luck to whistle backstage. This one has its origins in the early days of "fly houses," when they first started using ropes and pulleys to "fly" the scenery in and out. Sailors were often hired to man the ropes and they communicated scenery moves with a series of whistles, just like they did on ships. An unintentional whistle backstage could result in chaos. Whistle cues went the way of limelight and corsets, but the superstition stuck, and now if you're caught whistling backstage someone may ask (or demand) that you spin around three times and spit behind you.

A theatre is never, ever left completely dark. After hours, a "ghost light" is always left onstage. Depending on where you are, the ghost light is to either ward off ghosts, or to invite the ghosts of former stars to come back and relive their days onstage. There are also those who take the word "dark" literally. In theatre-speak, when a theatre is "dark" it means there is no show running at the moment and there's nothing onstage--meaning the theatre is not making any money. Therefore, some people never allow the theatre to go completely dark. If there isn't some kind of light on at all times, the theatre will shut down. (These days, it's more of a safety thing--theatres are cluttered with scenery, props, and all sorts of dangerous objects, and it's just safer to always have a light on.)

And everyone knows the phrase "break a leg." It's not really a "bad luck to wish good luck" thing. Back in the days of vaudeville, the performers only got paid if they were seen onstage. The long, narrow curtains on the sides of the stage are called "legs." Therefore, if you "broke a leg," or made it onto the stage, you got paid for the evening.

Your Grandmother was wise. If you lay it and they pick up you never have to worry about accidental cuts or stabs.

I don't know about the drunk part. I washed dishes from the time I was 4 years old and I got my belly wet fortyleven times and DH rarely touches alcohol and never to excess ;-)

My DH's grandmother had a fit when her son suggested she get rid of the hogs because they were too much for her by herself. It was disasterous if you didn't have things balanced out...hogs rooting forward and chickens scratching backwards! Couldn't have one with out the other! She, also, would not go out a different door than she used coming in.

My grandmother and mother always said,"If it rains big drops of rain, it will be a short shower. But if the drops afre small it wil last longer."
Also, a friend of mine says you can look at the moon, and if it is tilted toward the ground there will be rain. If it is more level, there won't be any rain.

TryItAll's reminded me of a couple of rainy day ones ......


Rain before seven, top by eleven!
Rain after seven .... and you're in for an all day rain.



If you see rain drops hanging from the clothesline, the rain is over!

speaking of superstitions, everyone knows about the wishbone and making a wish. How many grew up calling it a "pully bone"? I had a friend down south who called it that.[/quote]

Yep, grew up in Central Texas and we called it the "pully bone" too. Sometimes I still catch myself saying that. My mother taught me to cut up a chicken to where the "pully bone" was a separate piece and the bone is whole.

My favorite wive's tale is that if you see a turtle crossing the road it will rain within 3-4 days. It's really true, at least most of the time. Last week I saw a turtle crossing our county road, but I think he was just looking for water as all of our stock tanks are drying up and we have no chance of rain in the forecast.

Another saying my mother always used was if you see a ring around the moon, it will rain soon. She also said that "sun dogs" (those glowing orange spots to one or both sides of the sun late in the afternoon) were a sign of rain coming soon.

I was told by my grandmother not to be around cumcumber vines while having my period because it would kill them. It's good luck to eat black eyed peas and hog's jowl ( a larger, thicker style of bacon) on New Years Day of A Wish Bone was called a pulley bone at my house too.

Wind from the East, rain at least!
Sing before 7, cry before 11.
NEVER lay a hat on the bed.

Always been a "wishbone" in our family

I have a special rock that I keep outside. When it is hot & dry- it is sunny, when wet-it is raining, when white-it is snowing! :lol:

LOL too funny! Here in wyoming we use a logging chain, same thing but for if it is moving the wind is blowing! LOL

I think it is so funny to read about never putting a hat on the bed. Years ago I read a funny story in Reader's Digest about an older couple that had always slept on separate twin beds. Man's friend asked him once how he knew when his wife was 'in the mood'. He said 'Every night I wear my hat to bed and throw it over to her bed. Some times she throws it back, some times she brings it back'. Laughed my butt off when I read it and it has stuck with me all these years ;-)

Heck if the logging chain is moving, I'd think you were in the midst of a tornado! :)

Oh, just remembered the Big Dipper...if it is tipped up(pouring water out) it is going to rain. Love all these sayings and superstitions.

I've always put a shiny new penny in any pocketbooks/wallets I've made for people. It is so ingrained that I don't even think of it being based on old wives tales.

me, me it was always a pully bone.

It's always been a pully bone at our house. We always eat black eyed peas at new years for good luck. Always hang your horseshoes with the ends turned up or all your luck will run out.

lol Will have to go check out the cemetaries.

Try that on Halloween!!! Should be some fun!!

No bananas allowed on boats! Bad luck! Mostly known by fisherman!

LOL naaa, just where I live we are in a 'wind tunnel' the wind is always blowing! If it stops, then that is the time to worry LOL

Old Wives Tale: being Born in the Caul


This means that the amniotic sac doesn't break during the birth and the head is born still covered in the membrane. It doesn't happen very often even in natural births. It almost never happens in the hospital because the 'water' is so often broken artificially. Some say that a child born this way may have special intuitive powers, be destined to be a midwife, have extraordinary luck or never die by drowning.

My second son was born this way - and I think he has been very lucky in his life. I always tell people he is the kind of person who would fall into a bucket of doo-doo and come out smelling like a rose.

Once he was in a car accident (he was the driver) all the 4 other kids in the car were taken to hospital (nothing serious) and he was left on the side of the road without a scratch. There were no police charges either - and he was clearly in the wrong. I dont know how he got away with that one.

He has been very lucky in lots of things. Now if he could just win lotto so his mum could retire. :-D

I have actually seen it rain little frogs....in my grandmother's backyard when I was little. I also thought it was interesting that one day it rained on the other side of the road and our side was dry....again at my grandmother's.

I've heard this too....from memory in the old days didn't they save it as a talisman or something? Anyway, wish my second son was like yours.....one thing after another with my young fella....I could do with winning lotto, just to pay for the therapy I'll need to get through his and my life with some shred of sanity:)

My dad always said "the sun always shines on Saturday". Haven't seen one Saturday yet where it didn't shine even if it was just for a second.
He also said you get mositure 3 and/or 90 days from a fog. This one seems fairly true also.
A gal I worked with said if a mother carried her baby high it would be a girl and if she carried it low it would be a boy. She told her daughter she was going to have a girl while the doctor told her daughter the ultra sound showed a boy. After the birth the parents had to exchange all the boy clothes for girl clothes.
Never heard of a pully bone before!
Thanks for the interesting thread!!

LOL!