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| Grandma & Grandpa Burnette--December 1977 |
When I was growing up, I was fortunate that my Grandpa & Grandma Burnette were my babysitters. Much of my life was shaped by both of them and I would not change it for the world! Both of them taught me wonderful values and that you have to work for what you want.
I do not think that either of them were truly superstitious, but there were certain things that they would always say or do and it rubbed off on me. I mean, really, why tempt fate?!
Here are some of the ones that I remember and I still do most of them.
Don't rock an empty rocking chair. Grandpa & Grandma both always sat in wooden rocking chairs and I was forever sitting on the couch with my foot on one of the chairs and I would start rocking it. They both always told me that I would have bad luck if I did that.
Always leave a house by the same door that you came in. I typically always went in the back door when I visited them, but sometimes I would start to leave by the front door. Many times, they would be sitting on the front porch and Grandma would always tell me to go back through the house and go out the back door. I still have a tendency to do this no matter where I am.
Don't open an umbrella in the house. I'm sure that much of the reasoning for this one is so that you do not poke someone in the eye with one of the umbrella ribs, but I still will not open an umbrella in the house because Grandma said that it would be bad luck.
Make an "X" on the windshield when a black cat crosses in front of your car. Grandma used to always tell me of a lady who lived just down the road. If a black cat crossed in front of her, she would refuse to go any further and would return home! I'm not quite that bad. Just to be safe, any time that a cat runs in front of my car, I make THREE sets of THREE "X"s on the windshield and I do that no matter what color the cat.
Knock on wood--Always knock on wood after you say something so you will not be tempting fate. An example might be, "Our potatoes are sure growing good this year. I haven't seen a single potato bug so far!" Always knock on wood. I still do this one, probably at least 3-4 times per week!
The ever popular "don't walk under a ladder." I suspect that just about everyone has heard this one. Of course, it makes lots of sense because a couple of bad things could happen: If you bumped into the ladder, you might knock someone off of it and of course, you might knock something like a tool or paint bucket off off the ladder onto your head.
Never say that you are going to so something tomorrow unless you say "if the Lord's willing." My Grandma was a big believer in this one. I remember that I would be so excited that I was going to go stay at a friend's house the next day and I was just chattering on and on about it. Grandma finally told me that I should always say "if the Lord's willing" when I was talking about doing something in the future.
Copyright 2013--All Rights Reserved--The Wheel & Distaff by Kimberly Burnette-Dean
My folks said all of these things, too, except the black cat one. Grandma always said that a girl that owned a black cat wouldn't get married, though.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard the one about owning a black cat. That is really neat!
DeleteAfter reading your post, I tried to think of some of the superstitions that my parents and grandparents observed and after several minutes of thinking, I can't think of a single one. Given when and where they grew up, such things would be everyday normal. Perhaps that's why I don't remember any; they were normal to me. Or I'm getting old.
ReplyDeleteHeh-heh! You don't know how long it took me to remember these!
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