Superstition

I come from a family that held some superstitions close to their heart (particularly among the older folk). Things like walking under ladders and breaking mirrors were viewed as very unlucky. It was also viewed as respectful and lucky to bless yourself when you passed a Catholic chapel and disrespectful and tempting fate to walk over a grave. “God bless you” if someone sneezed stopped their soul from jumping out and stopped the devil stealing it. Saying “God Bless” when you were taking your leave was not just good manners but another way of ensuring some decent luck. Black cats…I could never remember if they were lucky or unlucky! And off course banshees and Polkas who followed the ‘O’s and the ‘Macs’ Banshees were harbingers of death and if you heard one there would be a death in the family shortly there after. Polka’s were mischievous and quite nasty spirits. Then there was the fairy thorn and the stories about them. Fairies for the most part had an ambivalent attitude toward people; they could be cruel or kind and loved nothing more than to tease. The fairy thorn is the white thorn and even in Celtic times was regarded as a magical tree.

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