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Parapsychology and Magic / Witchcraft And Magic / Superstitions / Christmas and New Year Superstitions / 


Christmas and New Year Superstitions

The practice of decorating the house at Christmas time is not a Christian custom in origin but a heathen one. The feast of Saturn, the Roman god who represented Time, was held in December, and the temples were decorated with various plants and flowers, especially those which were green. As with many other pagan usages, the Christians transferred the idea of decoration to their own festival. The reason why holly is chosen as the chief decoration is somewhat obscure, but it is probably merely because the tree bears its attractive red berries at this time of year.

Mistletoe is considered to be lucky to hang in the house at Christmas, it being a survival of the times when the Druids venerated this parasitic plant, which they discovered growing on the oak tree. It should be remembered that mistletoe is not allowed to be employed as a church decoration because of its pagan associations.

It is lucky to kiss under the mistletoe and unlucky deliberately to avoid the opportunity. The correct method of performing the ceremony is for the man to pluck a berry from the mistletoe for each kiss which he gives the girl, stopping only when all the berries are exhausted. This procedure is seldom strictly observed, however, as it would entail the replacement of the mistletoe after each person had been "caught."

A final word of warning. If you wish to avoid ill luck, make sure that all Christmas decorations are removed before Twelfth Night (January 5).

Charms in the Christmas pudding or cake are always popular. She who retrieves the ring will be the first to be married. If a girl walks up to bed backwards and places a piece of the cake under her pillow, it is said that her dreams during the night will be of her future husband.

Here are a few Christmas spells that have been handed down from generation to generation:

Take three leaves of holly and on them prick the initials of three of your admirers. On Christmas Eve place the leaves under your pillow, and it is said that the one whom you will marry will appear to you in a dream.

Sew nine holly-leaves on to your night attire, borrow a weddingring and place it on the third finger of your left hand, and then retire to bed. During the night, it is declared, your husband will appear to you in a vision.

Make a chain of holly, mistletoe and juniper, and between each link tie an acorn. You must have two other girls to assist you in doing this. As the clock strikes midnight on Christmas Eve the three of you must go into a room where a fire is lit, lock the door, hang the key over the mantelpiece and open wide the window. Now wrap the chain which you have made round a log and sprinkle it with oil, a few pinches of salt and some earth. The log and chain must be placed on the fire and all lights turned out. Each girl sits round the fire with a prayer-book upon her knees, opened at the marriage service. As soon as the chain has been burnt, it is said that each girl will see the vision of her future husband crossing the room. If such a vision does not appear to a girl, she will never marry; or if she sees a phantom, such as a skeleton, which causes fear, it is also taken to be a sign that she will remain a spinster.

Tie a sprig of holly to each leg of your bedstead, and before you retire eat a roast apple. According to tradition, your future partner in marriage will come and speak to you in your dreams.

The yule-log is still burnt in certain parts of the country, and, according to an old custom, this should be lit by a piece of the log used on the previous Christmas. It is said that no evil spirit can then enter into the house. The remains of the yule-log were also considered exceptionally lucky, and if kept in the home would be a protection against lightning or fire. In certain parts of France it is an old belief that the ashes of the yule-log will prevent the crops from rotting if they are Scattered over the fields, and the application of them is said to be a cure for chilblains and swollen glands.

The New Year is not celebrated in England to the extent that it is in Scotland and countries on the Continent. At one time, in the Highlands, it was customary on "Hogmanay," or New Year's Eve, for a young man to dress himself in cow-hide and, attended by youths who carried sticks to which a piece of cow-hide was attached, to visit the houses of the neighbourhood. Upon reaching a dwellingplace he would run round it three times while the others ran after him, making a great noise and beating against the walls of the house. When they were invited in, the leader would say, " May God bless the house and all that belongs to it, cattle, stones and timber! In plenty of meat, of bed and body clothes, and health of men may it ever abound!"

This strange old custom is now modified into what is known as first-footing, when people visit houses just after the clocks have struck midnight, to wish their friends a happy New Year and to hand them gifts, among which are red-herrings and coins for bringing good luck.

If a dark-haired man is the first person to cross the threshold of a house after midnight on New Year's Eve, much good luck will enter with him. In order to ensure such a fortunate visitation, it is not unusual for a member of the household, if he is dark, to go out and come in again just after the hour of midnight.

Squint-eyed, flat-footed, or red-haired men bring bad luck If they are "first-footers," and so does a woman. But a man with a high instep, or one who comes on a horse, is considered particularly lucky. Just as the clock strikes twelve the head of the house should open the door in order to allow the Old Year to pass out and the New Year to come in.

Clocks should be wound up immediately the New Year begins in order to endow the house with good fortune, while all daily cleaning and dusting should be completed early in the day of December 31 in order to avoid the danger of sweeping good luck from the house.

On New Year's Day if, on rising, a girl should look out of her bedroom window and see a man passing by, she may reckon to be married before the year is finished.

Children born on New Year's Day bring great fortune and prosperity to all the household.

To dance in the open air, especially round a tree, on New Year's Day is declared to ensure luck in love and prosperity and freedom from ill health during the coming twelve months.



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