By Jane Whitaker During the wonderful sunny spell we enjoyed in mid-March, the forsythia shrub in my garden came into full bloom, cheering everything up with its vibrant yellow flowers. It was a wonderful sight. However, before taking some clippings to add to my vase of flowers indoors, I recalled my grandmother telling me off…
Most of us will have heard the old nursery rhyme, “See a penny, pick it up; all day long you’ll have good luck!” In fact, the rhyme was originally about pins, not pennies – and it was a lot more sinister: “See a pin, pick it up; all day long you’ll have good luck. See…
In the past, ‘Yule’ did not relate to Christmas as it does nowadays Yule logs, which were traditionally a block of oak or beech, were burned all over Europe, including Russia and Siberia – and sometimes even in the warmer Mediterranean areas – and were used as a source of light and heat. In the…
We all know how annoying gulls can be when we want to enjoy some chips. But whatever you, don’t moan at them when you’re in company of fishermen….
We look at the mystery and superstitions surround both time as well as the tide
With the summer season approaching, we will see many changes in around the car parks and beach areas of our village. However, something that happens all year round is horse riding on the beach. This month, I am going to look at superstitions surrounding horseshoes.
With winter firmly upon us, we are all trying our best to dodge the usual seasonal nasties such as colds and ‘flu. This month I took a look at the superstitions surrounding sneezing.
With Christmas looming large, I took a look at the many Pagan traditions that have been absorbed by Christianity during this winter festival, such as decorating the inside of our houses with evergreens like pine trees, holly and ivy, or the burning of a ‘yule log’. Another Pagan superstition that continues today is the way we stir the mixture of our traditional Christmas cake.
This month, to tie in with both themes of fire and war, I am going to delve into the superstition that it is unlucky to light three cigarettes from one match – or, these days, one flick of a lighter.
Over the last seven years, the newsletter’s This ‘n’ That articles have been about many, many topics and are always interesting, educational and well researched. A good number of the topics covered introduce us to reasons why things are as they are, and very often it is due to folklore, myths, legends, traditions… and superstition.
