WISHES

Entries

• #431

  If you take a baby in your arms for the first time, and at the same time wish, you will get your wish before the year is out.

  Quebec.
• #432

  Take your Bible and wish. If it opens at “and it came to pass,” you will get your wish.

• #433

  Wish upon a candle on blowing it out. If it glows long, you will get your wish. If it smokes, it signifies a death.

  Ohio.
• #434

  If a speck of carbon comes on the wick when burning, and you wish for something, wet your finger and touch the speck. If it sticks to your finger, you will get the wish, and vice versa.

  Plymouth, O.
• #435

  Swallow a chicken’s heart whole and make a wish. It will come true.

  Pennsylvania and Ohio.
• #436

  Throw an egg out of the second story window and wish. If it does not break, you will get your wish.

  Deer Isle, Me.
• #437

  Throw an eyelash over your shoulder. If it falls from your finger in doing this, your wish will come true. If it remains on the finger, your wish will not come to pass.

  New York.
• #438

  Find a stray eyelash; place it on the back of the hand with a wish; blow it off. If it blows off at the first trial, the wish will come true.

  St. John, N. B., and Pennsylvania.
• #439

  Put a loose eyelash on the back of your hand. It signifies a letter. Wish from whom the letter may come, carry it three times around your head, then throw it over your shoulder, and you will get your wish.

  New England.
• #440

  Put an eyewinker down inside your clothes, wish, and you’ll get your wish.

  Maine.
• #441

  Put an eyewinker on the back of the hand, knock that hand with the other so as to throw the eyewinker over the shoulder, and at the same time wish. If the eyewinker is not seen again, the wish will come true.

  Stoneham, Mass.
• #442

  If you wish on the first thing you eat in the season, the wish will come true.

• #443

  Wish with two paper slips or grass blades, the ends only being shown. The longer wins.

• #444

  Wish on a load of hay, and you’ll be sure to get it.

  Winn, Me.
• #445

  Wish when you see a hay-cart, don’t look at it again, and you’ll get the wish.

  New Jersey.
• #446

  See a white horse; don’t look at his tail, but wish.

• #447

  Wish on a “calico” horse.

• #448

  You may wish on a row of empty barrels, or on a piebald horse, but you must not look on the object a second time.

• #449

  Wish on a load of empty barrels, and you will get your wish.

  Peabody, Mass.
• #450

  Write the names of one hundred people who (by request) have bowed to you, bury the paper in a secret spot, and at the same time wish. If no one sees you, you will get your wish.

• #451

  Wish while holding a lighted match until it is extinct, and you’ll get the wish.

• #452

  If by chance two use the same words, lock the little fingers, and wish before speaking, saying “Shakespeare” at the end.

  Eastern Massachusetts.
• #453

  Let two persons break the wishing-bone of a fowl; the one who gets the longest piece will get his wish.

  New Jersey and Ohio.
• #454

  If you say two sentences that rhyme, make a wish, then if you make a rhyme unintentionally and wish before you speak again, your wish will come to pass.

  Baldwinsville, N. Y.
• #455

  When you first see a sleigh in the fall of the year, make a wish, and you will get it.

  Winn, Me.
• #456

  Wish at the first snowflake of the season, and you will get your wish.

  Westport, Mass.
• #457

  Put a ring on the finger of another person, saying, “I wish it on until such a time,” and if it is not removed before the expiration of the period named, the wish will come to pass.

  Connecticut and Ohio.
• #458

  When you see a falling star, wish.

  New Jersey.
• #459

  To wish on a star, when you see the first star come out, say:

  Star light, star bright,
  First star I see to-night,
  I wish I may, I wish I might
  Have the wish I wish to-night.

  Wish what you please and it will come true, but the wish must not be mentioned to any one.

  Eastern Massachusetts.
• #460

  Count nine evening stars in succession, and you will have your wish.

  Massachusetts.
• #461

  Capture a floating thistledown, breathe on it, make a wish to see or hear from an absent friend, blow in his or her supposed direction, and it will carry your message.

  Ohio.
• #462

  Make a wish while throwing a leaf into running water. If it lands right side up, you will have your wish or good luck.

  Lebanon, N. H.