Tag: Superstition

The Yew Tree

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Our beautiful  Yew Tree lit up at night with Christmas lights, photo by PH Morton

The Yew Tree

We have got a lovely yew tree in our front garden which we dress up with lights on Christmas. It is now about 8 feet tall and still growing.

But did you know that the yew tree has a not quite a nice superstition attached to it?!!!

Yew (Taxus baccata) is a characteristic tree of churchyards, where some are estimated to be well over 1,000 years old.:
It is believed that ever since people arrived upon UK  shores, they planted yew trees in acts of sanctification, close to where they eventually hoped to be laid to rest.
And, according to a label on a yew tree at Kew Gardens in 1993:

The Druids regarded yew as sacred and planted it close to their temples. As early Christians often built their churches on these consecrated sites, the association of yew trees with churchyards was perpetuated

Apparently, if you bring in a yew (as part of a bundle of greenery for decoration) inside the house at Christmas, there will be a death in the family before the year out. It is also advised not to take yew inside the house because it is very unlucky!!!

Oh no, our yew tree is so beautiful to be a source of such malevolent superstition.

And all parts of the yew tree are poisonous, the hidden seeds inside the berries are extremely poisonous.

Bitten Tongue Superstition

Superstitions

 

Superstition

Bitten Tongue Superstition

This is fun and rather intriguing.  It is the party season so watch out for guests who bit their tongues while partaking some of your delicious offerings.

Apparently, if someone bites his tongue while eating, it means that he recently told a lie!

LOL

Unwelcome Guest – Superstition

Superstitions

Superstition

Unwelcome Guest – Superstition

Did you ever wonder why sometimes they are some random shoes in the middle of a busy road?

Well, we may have one answer here.

Apparently, there is an old wives’ tale about guests who have overstayed their welcome. Guests who would not take the hint.

For those hosts and hostesses with onion skins, the advice is:

To get rid of unwelcome  guests, going on the superstition remedy,  is to place their shoes in the middle of a busy road with a loud incantation of “I wish them gone.”

I wish them gone.

Isn’t it there is a Japanese :

Even a welcome guest becomes a bore on the third day.
– Japanese Proverb

LOL

Superstition: Sneezing

Superstitions Weather

There is a superstition that can foretell the state of the weather the following day.

Superstition: Sneezing

Apparently if you sneeze three times in a row within seconds, it means the next day would be sunny.

How great is that?!!!  No need to bother the meteorological office for the weather report. LOL 😉

……………………..

Apparently, it is not possible to sneeze without closing your eyes!

Spoon and Fork

LIFESTYLE Philippines Superstitions

Spoon and Fork

In the Philippines, if you do not eat with your hands, you tend to use spoon and fork, as opposed to the traditional western use of a knife and fork,  especially when going to restaurants and parties.

When I went back home to the Philippines  in May 2006, there was  a major media news – television, radio and newspapers –  about a boy in Canada from a Filipino parentage,  who was allegedly punished and humiliated by the dinner lady/lunchtime monitor at his school.  The outrage was due to the  boy having to  eat using his fork to push the food onto the spoon  and into his mouth.  Apparently this was deemed  “disgusting” and “piggish”.  Filipino way is disgusting and piggish?!!! This controversy reached the Quebec Human Rights tribunal but did not go any further as a settlement of  CDN $17,000 was made to soothe hurt feelings of the boy and his family.  Pride has its price presumably!!!

Anyway what I wanted to say was that there is a worldwide superstition that if you drop a fork whilst eating, a man is coming to visit.