Posts Tagged ‘superstitions’

Who’s coming to visit?

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

A Dropped Fork

     I’m not a very superstitious person but I do like some of the “folk beliefs” that have come down to us over the years – black cats crossing our paths, knocking wood, finding a four-leaf clover.  Like most of us, I give lip-service to a number of superstitious beliefs, almost as an automatic response, but I seldom register the occasion or pay attention to whether the omen came true.  Take broken mirrors, for instance.  I’m sure I should have had several seven-year periods of bad luck in my life, but if so I haven’t noticed.
     One of my favorites has to do with dropped silverware.  If it’s a fork, a woman is coming to visit, a knife means a man is on his way, and if you drop a spoon, get ready for a visit from a child.  I had never heard of that superstition before I married Nyel who had learned it from his mother.  But like all the others, I never think about it once I’ve said, “Oh, we’re going to have a visit from a woman today!”  So do we or don’t we get that visit?  And is there a time limit as to when it will happen? 
     Another saying from Nyel’s mom: if you pee in the street, you’ll get a sty in your eye.  Makes you wonder where these ideas come from, doesn’t it?  And it certainly makes you want to avoid getting a sty!