Maine

Entries

• #28

  A child’s tumbling out of bed is a sign he will never be a fool.

  Maine.
• #35

  A baby should not look into a glass before it is a year old; if it does it will die.

  Deer Isle, Me.
• #45

  First a daughter, then a son,
  The world is well begun.
  First a son, then a daughter,
  Trouble follows after.

  Maine and Massachusetts.
• #53

  However many children a woman may have, the last will be of the same gender as the first, and they will look alike.

  Maine and Massachusetts.
• #64

  In asseveration, the proper method is to use the words, “Hope to die if I don’t,” the speaker drawing the forefinger across the throat from ear to ear.

  Biddeford, Me.
• #68

  A boy who desires to tell an extravagant story without being guilty of a lie would point with his thumb over his left shoulder. If he should succeed in accomplishing this without the observation of the boy to whom he is talking, so much the better.

  Biddeford, Me.
• #117

  White spots on the nails of the left hand denote the number of lies one has told.

  Maine and Central Illinois.
• #122

  If there is a blue vein in the child’s forehead extending down upon the nose, it is one of the surest signs of early death.

  Maine and Massachusetts.
• #126

  Beware of that man,
  Be he friend or brother,
  Whose hair is one color
  And moustache another.

  Portland, Me.
• #152

  A mole on the side of the neck means a death by hanging.

  Central Maine.
• #157

  A broad space between the teeth indicates a liar.

  Biddeford, Me.
• #158

  Broad front teeth mean that one is generous.

  Biddeford, Me.
• #164

  Eat an apple at midnight before the glass, saying,—

  Whoever my true love may be,
  Come and eat this apple with me,

  holding the lamp in the hand. The true love will appear.

  Winn, Me.
• #171

  Name apple-seeds and place on the lids of the closed eyes. Wink and the first to fall off shows the name of your future husband.

  Winn, Me., New York, and Pennsylvania.
• #175

  Go upstairs backward, into a chamber backward, and into bed backward. Drink some salt and water, and if you dream of some one bringing you drink it will be your future husband.

  Maine and Salem, Mass.
• #230

  Scatter your clothes in the four corners of the room, naming them. The man you are to marry will bring you your clothes in a dream.

  Maine.
• #238

  Put the chemise, inside out, on the foot of the bed and under it a board with ashes upon it; then go to bed backwards, saying,—

  Whoever my true love may be,
  Come write his name in these ashes for me.

  Winn, Me.
• #246

  Eat an apple at midnight before the glass, saying, “Whoever my true love may be, come and eat this apple with me,” while holding a lamp in the hand. Your true love will appear.

  Winn, Me.
• #247

  Set the table in silence for two at eleven o’clock P. M., with bread and butter and silver knives and forks. Two girls sit down at twelve, and say, “Whoever my true love may be, come and eat this supper with me.”

  Winn, Me.
• #265

  Put three saucers on the table, and walk round it blindfolded three times, then put a finger in a saucer. One saucer contains a gold ring, one soapsuds, one is empty. Repeat twice (making nine in all). If one touches the ring, she will marry an unmarried man; if the suds, she will marry a widower; if the empty one, she will be an old maid. The one touched two out of three times is the fate.

  Central Maine.
• #271

  For three successive nights look out of the window and name three stars. Walk to bed backward and without speaking. The one you dream of two nights out of three will be your husband.

  Central Maine.
• #287

  Let two girls wash and wipe the dishes together, then put a dish of water behind the door with a broom-handle in it. Two men will come in who will be the husbands of the two projectors.

  Deer Isle, Me.
• #294

  Make a little ladder of sticks, place it under the head at night, and you’ll dream of your future husband.

  Patten, Me.
• #295

  Swallow a chicken’s heart whole, and the first man you kiss afterwards will be your future husband.

  Winn, Me.
• #307

  I wind, I wind, my true love to find,
  The color of his hair, the clothes he’ll wear,
  The day he is married to me.

  Throw a ball of yarn into a barn, old house, or cellar, and wind, repeating the above lines, and the true love will appear and wind with you. To be tried at twelve o’clock at night, on Halloween.

  Maine.
• #339

  White is emblematical of holiness and truth. Blue is emblematical of peace and security; bright green of true learning, as being the uniform clothing of nature.

  Maine and Massachusetts.
• #340

  A bride must not look in the glass after her toilet is complete, i. e., she must add a glove or some article after leaving the mirror.

  Maine and Massachusetts.
• #369

  To hang clothes wrong side out is an antidote for a drunken husband.

  Maine.
• #374

  If you begin to button your dress unevenly, you will be a widow.

  Central Maine.
• #376

  If you fall up stairs, you will have a new beau.

  Winn, Me.
• #390

  Stub your toe
  See your beau.

  Massachusetts and Maine.
• #408

  If you burn a lover’s letter, he will never marry you.

  Central Maine.
• #415

  When a young man goes to see a girl for the first time, and the signs of the zodiac are in the heart, they will one day marry.

  Harmony, Me.
• #420

  Sit on the table,
  Married before you’re able.

  Mattawamkeag, Me.
• #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.
• #440

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

  Maine.
• #444

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

  Winn, Me.
• #455

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

  Winn, Me.
• #479

  To dream of rats is a sign of thieves.

  Central Maine and Chestertown, Md.
• #482

  To dream of a white horse is a sign some one of the family will die within a year.

  Maine.
• #503

  To dream of a dead person means a letter next day.

  Northern Maine.
• #528

  It is ill luck to dream of a priest.

  Central Maine.
• #587

  Saturday night’s dream, Sunday morning told,
  Will come to pass before it’s a week old.

  Maine and Massachusetts.
• #618

  If you cut your nails on Sunday, you’ll do something you’re ashamed of before the week is out.

  Maine.
• #623

  If you put a garment on wrong side out, you mustn’t speak of it, or you will have bad luck.

  Maine.
• #624

  If you put a garment on wrong side out, or a hat on wrong end before, spit on it before turning, to prevent bad luck.

  Maine and Ohio.
• #679

  To look over another person’s shoulder into a looking-glass means disappointment.

  Deer Isle, Me.
• #693

  It is lucky to find a rusty knife or other steel instrument.

  Maine.
• #703

  Never build on a spot where a house has been burned. The second house is likely to go in the same manner.

  Maine and Massachusetts.
• #726

  Itching in the palm of the hand means that it will soon receive money. Clap the closed hand into the pocket.

  Mt. Desert, Me.
• #736

  Having a piece of bread and taking another is a sign some one is coming hungry.

  Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania.
• #748

  If the dish-cloth on falling to the floor spreads out, the visitor will be a lady; if it falls in a heap, it will be a gentleman.

  Cape Breton and Central Maine.
• #766

  To put two spoons in your teacup is a sign of a stranger.

  Maine and Massachusetts.
• #797

  Gold beads worn about the neck will cure sore throat.

  Windham, Me.
• #804

  A key worn hanging about the neck by a string prevents nose-bleed.

  Central Maine.
• #827

  Nightmare is caused by the nightmare man, a kind of evil spirit, struggling with one. It is prevented by placing a sharp knife under the pillow, and stuffing the keyhole with cotton.

  Windham, Me.
• #836

  Rub the hands with the first snow that falls and you’ll not have sore hands all winter.

  Winn, Me.
• #837

  On Ash Wednesday before sunrise dip a pail of water in a running brook (up stream), bottle it, and keep as a cure for anything.

  Maine.
• #846

  A variant,—

  There was an old woman who lived all alone,
  And she was made of skin and bone.
  One day to church she went to pray,
  And on the ground there lay a man.
  And from his head unto his feet
  The worms crawled in, the worms crawled out.
  The woman to the parson said:
  “Shall I be so when I am dead?”
  The parson he said “yes.”

  Portland, Me., Brookline and Deerfield, Mass.
• #862

  You will not cry in peeling onions if you hold a bit of bread in the mouth.

  Or, put the bread on the point of the knife.

  Prince Edward Island, Cambridge, Mass. (Irish).
  Maine.
• #870

  To cure the sore throat, take three handfuls of ashes with your left hand, put into your left stocking, and bind it around your throat.

  Mattawamkeag, Me.
• #885

  Beans rubbed on a wart and thrown in the well will cure a wart.

  Maine.
• #887

  If you find an old bone in the field, rub the wart with it, then lay it down exactly as you found it. The wart will be cured.

  Maine.
• #917

  Take a potato and rub it over the wart, then wrap the potato in a piece of paper and throw it away. The one who finds it will have the wart.

  Maine.
• #919

  Rub the wart with rock-salt till it bleeds, and throw a lump of salt in the fire; if it crackles and snaps out of the fire, the wart will get well; if not, not.

  Central Maine.
• #931

  Fire spitting sparks means cold weather.

  Patten, Me.
• #942

  If it rains the last Saturday or the first Sunday in a month, it will rain the three following Sundays.

  Maine.
• #964

  If it rains before seven
  It will drip before eleven.

  Eastern Maine.
• #965

  If it rain before seven
  It will quit before eleven.

  Prince Edward Island and, Maine, Massachusetts, and Northern Ohio.
• #967

  In uncertain or threatening weather it is said that if you can see a piece of blue sky big enough to make a pair of breeches, it will clear off.

  Maine, Massachusetts, and Northern Ohio.
• #968

  Variant: If you can see enough blue sky in the west to make an old woman’s apron, it will clear off.

  Eastern Maine.
• #981

  Red at night
  Sailor’s delight;
  Red in the morning,
  Sailors take warning.

  Maine and Eastern Massachusetts.
• #1029

  Open and shet,
  Sign of wet.

  Maine and Massachusetts.
• #1035

  When the rain dries up quickly from puddles, it will rain again soon.

  Mattawamkeag, Me.
• #1037

  Sparks on the bottom of the tea-kettle mean rain.

  Patten, Me.
• #1070

  Stars in a circle around the moon foretell a storm in the same number of days as there are stars.

  Maine, Massachusetts, and New York.
• #1088

  Look over the right shoulder at the new moon, and count nine stars, pick up whatever is under your right foot, such as a stick, pebble, or what not; put it under your pillow, and you will dream of whoever is to be your husband.

  Deer Isle, Me.
• #1095

  If you should see the moon over your left shoulder, and should without speaking turn round and look at it over your right shoulder, your ill luck will disappear, and you will be as well off as if you had seen it over your right shoulder first.

  Maine and Massachusetts.
• #1104

  See the new moon through a glass,
  See sorrow while it lasts.

  Deer Isle, Me., and Salem, Mass.
• #1108

  Moon full face,
  Open disgrace.

  Portland, Me.
• #1111

  If the moon shines in your face as you lie in the bed at night, you’ll die inside of a year.

  Central Maine.
• #1131

  To make hair grow, cut it in the new of the moon.

  N. F., N. B., N. S., Me., Mass., and Talladega, Ala.
• #1134

  Cut hair in the new moon, bury it in earth near a running brook, and it will make the new hair grow long and abundant.

  Maine.
• #1142

  If you wish to secure lightness, you must always stir cake and eggs a certain way, that is, the way the sun goes.

  Kittery, Me., Nashua, N. H., Eastern Massachusetts, and Southern Michigan.
• #1152

  Ringworm may be killed by moistening the finger in the mouth and rubbing sunwise around the diseased spot.

  Central Maine.
• #1189

  If you begin a quilt on Friday, you will never live to finish it.

  An act of this sort gave great distress to a domestic servant, who, until after the completion of the quilt, daily expected disaster. This woman came from French Canada.

  Maine.
• #1191

  If a hearse is drawn by two white horses, death in the neighborhood will occur within a month.

  Central Maine.
• #1195

  If it rains during a burial, another member of the family will soon follow.

  Poland, Me., Baldwinsville, N. Y., Ohio, and Alabama.
• #1202

  Lie down on a table and you will die before the year is out.

  Mattawamkeag, Me.
• #1218

  A spot resembling iron-rust on the finger means death.

  Maine.
• #1223

  When a woman who has been sewing puts her thimble on the table as she sits down to eat, it is a sign that she will be left a widow if she marries.

  Central Maine.
• #1257

  It is a bad sign to drive past a funeral procession.

  Maine.
• #1278

  If you break something, you will break two other things.

  Maine, Massachusetts, and Northern Ohio.
• #1284

  If you leave by any other door than the one through which you have entered, it is said that you will not come again.

  Cumberland, Me.
• #1301

  If you kiss through a veil, there’ll be a coolness.

  Portland, Me.
• #1320

  To sing after you go to bed is a sign that tears will come before breakfast.

  Maine.
• #1325

  To sit on a table is a sign of coming disappointment.

  Maine and Massachusetts.
• #1326

  In drinking tea, if you take a stem in the mouth it means an enemy; you must bite it and throw it over the right shoulder.

  Central Maine.
• #1346

  If your right ear burns, a lady is speaking of you; if the left, a man.

  Maine and Pennsylvania.
• #1351

  If you look at one who has inflamed eyes, you’ll catch the disease.

  Maine and Ohio.
• #1370

  Some hold that the white spots that one has on the finger-nails represent the lies you have told.

  Maine and Baldwinsville, N. Y.
• #1376

  If you mend your apron or dress while on you, some one will lie about you.

  Maine and Alabama.
• #1388

  If you break your needle in making a dress, you will live to wear it out. If you tear a hole in a new dress, the first time wearing it, you will have a new one before that is worn out.

  Deer Isle, Me.
• #1441

  Wet the finger and touch the “letter” on the candle. If it come off on the finger, it means a letter for you.

  Maine.
• #1463

  The tea-kettle suddenly singing means news.

  Patten, Me.
• #1466

  To have a sharp knife is a sign of a lazy man.

  Central Maine.