Superstitions

PA DUTCH LIFE--List of SUPERSTITIONS Known to the Members 2007

From Joan Young, in October of 2006:

The Pennsylvania Dutch were very sprititual people and as such they were also superstitious and tended to believe in ghosts and curses and such.

I don't know if anyone on the list has ever read the little book written by Klaus Wust titled "The Saint Adventurers of the Virginia Frontier" but it is about those who branched out from Ephrata Cloister and started new colonies in what is now West Virginia (Hampshire County).

There is an appendix to the little booklet entitled "The Ghosts of Longmarsh Run, The Three Wives of Christopher Beeler" and the story points out wonderfully the spiritual nature of our PA Dutch ancestors.

Christopher Beeler and his family lived near Ephrata Cloister and they were among the followers of Conrad Beissel and the Pietest movement at the Cloister. The most devout of the followers lived at the Cloister and led a celebate lifestyle. Christopher Beeler's wife Catherina and their daughter went to live at the Cloister leaving poor Christopher alone.

He eventually "fell into temptation" as the book puts it (the events are taken from the Chronicon which was the journal of the day to day events at Ephrata Cloister) with a neighboring widow. Eventually Christopher and the widow lady went to Hampshire County and took up residence there. They eventually married after Christopher's first wife died at the Cloister. Catherina Schule/Sheely (the widow) and Christopher Beeler went on to have 3 children of their own. Then she died and Christopher remarried for the third time in Hampshire County. The third wife was German-born and was an extremely spiritual woman.

The story goes on to explain the events as the ghost of Christopher's second wife and first wife appeared to the third wife and taunted her--even to the point or ripping at her clothing. Eventually she became so distraught over the ghosts that Christopher arranged for a "reconciliation ceremony" to be held at Ephrata Cloister to get the disembodied spirits to leave his third wife alone.

This amounted to an exorcism and on Feb. 3rd, 1761 at the 11th hour in the night the session began. In addition to the 3 family members from Virginia, 18 people from Ephrata were also present at the session--among them all of those who the ghosts had specifically named when making their appearances. At the close of the ceremony the account states that they all knelt down and after the prayer was said, the ghosts made off...never to return.

I've been on the tour of Ephrata Cloister and mentioned this event to the tour guide--who promptly and vehemently denied that anything like an exorcism ever took place there. I cited the book and the Chronicon and she sort of had to eat her words--the book is on sale in their gift shop and Klaus Wust was probably the most knowledgeable student of events at Ephrata Cloister. So there is little doubt that the events actually took place there on that cold dark night in February at the Cloister.

Joan

PS: How's THAT for a PA Dutch Halloween evening tale?

• A stitch in time saves nine.
• An old empty purse, opened wide to the sky, on the night of a full moon...you howl at the moon, and say some saying (anyone remember what it is...I know I have it written down somewhere...maybe in Lindsey's baby book, as it came from her grandmother on her father's side)--brings great wealth
• Black cat crosses your path--bad luck
• Burn Bayberry candles burned on New Years Day.
• Do not buy gifts for a baby before it is born...no baby showers until after the birth...could be an Irish superstition.
• Do not drink anything but coffee from a mug.
• Do not hand a sharp instrument from your hand to another--lay it down on a table, so it can be picked up.
• Do not open a knife for someone...?
• Do not close a knife for someone, for it will sever the relationship.
• Do not plow your fields on Good Friday.....(end of it was) if he couldn't finish that field, that day. [We are missing the middle, anyone know it?]
• Don't walk in one door, and our another--you must leave by the same door you entered
• Do not walk on graves for the dead would haunt you at night, if you did.
• Do not walk on graves out of respect for the dead.
• Do not walk on the graves of old Revolutionary or Civil War soldiers, for they would haunt you if you do.
• Do not say come in, if the door blows open, for you are inviting the devil inside your home.
• Do not whistle in the dark.
• Eat fresh dandelion from the yard always on Maundy Thursday.
• Eat Pork and Sauerkraut on New Years Day--reasoning behind the tradition is that you want to eat something that goes forward, like a pig rooting. A Chicken or Turkey scratch backwards. So you want to go forward in the New Year.
• Eating cabbage or other greens is considered good luck on New Year's Eve--the green leaves are representative of money.
• Gift of an empty billfold, put a penny in it for prosperity to whom the gift is given.
• Girls who whistle are more likely to have a baby out of wedlock.
• Good and bad things happen in threes.
• If you break a mirror, you'll have seven years bad luck.
• If you give a knife as a gift, include a penny--the penny sends a different sort of message, calming down the giving of a sharp instrument
• If you planted parsley in a pot, and have it growing in the house, it's going to bring you bad luck.
• If you sing at the dinner table, you make the angels cry.
• If you sing at the dinner table, you are singing to the devil for your supper.
• If you sing before breakfast, you will cry by dinner time.
• If you spill the salt, you must throw it over your left shoulder--important!!! it MUST be the LEFT.

  NOTE from Sue: Throwing it over your left shoulder, you throw it in the Devil's face.

• "and woe be unto anyone who put a hat on a bed!"

  NOTE: Marilyn (Shepler) Simpson submitted this food for thought:

  The hat on bed prohibition isn't a superstition, it's good and timely advice. Seventy five years ago it wasn't difficult to "catch" head lice or bedbugs but without insecticides such as we have today it was very difficult to rid your home of the pests. If you have ever had a child in day care or elementary school you have probably experienced head lice in your home. Along with thoroughly disinfecting and scrubbing the poor child you must wash down the child's bed and wash every scrap of bedding in hot water with detergent and bleach. To be on the safe side you did the same thing with the other children in the house and washed clothes, hats, scarves and mittens. Coats and things that couldn't be washed went into the freezer for 24 hours. By this time your own head itches even though it is bug free so you use the stinking shampoo too. A bed full of hats is a breeding ground for head lice. It was good advice.

• NEVER let a rocking chair rock without someone in it.

  NOTE: Tracy asked her mother why, and her father piped in out of the blue and said, "it was bad luck, invited bad luck into the home." Said that his mother was very superstitious, but his dad wasn't.

  NOTE: Connie wrote: I live in the house where my grandmother lived and once in a while her rocking chair moves a bit. It comforts me as I know she is still with me. I loved her very much. Connie

• NEVER sweep the dirt out the door or under a mat.
• NEVER open an umbrella inside the house.
• NEVER pass on the stairs. If someone is going up or down the steps, the first to enter gets the right of way...the last, must back up to make room for the first. Then the latter may enter and go up or down.
• Sewing in the dark will make you blind
• NEVER sew on Ascension Day according to June Rose's grandmother.
• Step on a crack, you break your mother's back
• Stick knives in the butter, to ward off evil spirits--this one is from Centre and Clinton Counties, in PA. Anyone else think of this, and who sent this one?
• Sweep out the house with a broom on New Year's Eve, then leave until the man of the house enters.

  NOTE: Patti submitted:

• My friend's grandmother would make everyone leave the house late on New Years Eve. She would sweep the house out with a broom and then leave the house herself. No one was permitted to enter the house once New Years came until the man of the house entered first. Something about sweeping out all the past years dirt and starting the new year fresh. They were Russian Orthodox.
  
  Then:
• NEVER sweep with a broom on New Year's Day

  NOTE: Tracy's sister says it would sweep the luck out of the house.

• The more you stir it, the more it stinks.

  NOTE: Tracy's grandmother would say this...we are wondering if it has something to do with family gossip/telling tales or the more you speak of something the worse it gets.

• The first person of the new year to come in the front door had to be a dark haired male.

  NOTE from Sue: My mama said in her house for good luck the belief was that the first person of the new year to come in the front door had to be a dark haired male, so her one brother always had to go sit on the front porch late New Year's Eve and couldn't come in till just after midnight....I don't know what the dark hair had to do with it but it had to be a dark haired male...

  NOTE from Mary: Could it be that the younger, dark-haired male represented Baby Time whereas a lighter haired male would be more like Father Time? Remember that both have always been represented by men.

• To keep a child from being left-handed, nurse from the right breast.
• Walk under a ladder--bad luck
• Whatever you do on New Year's Day, you will do the rest of the year.

  NOTE: From H.E.Bower: We were 16 at the time. My girl friend was baby sitting for a family on New Years Eve. She lived in North of Williamsport, PA. She was baby sitting in South Williamsport. I drove over to get her and take her home. We had not gone very far when the clock struck 12:00 PM and the New Years celebration sounded. She made me stop in the street an kiss. She quoted;

  "what ever you are doing at midnight on New Years Eve you will be doing the rest of your life." That was 56 years ago. We celebrated our 52 wedding anniversary this past December. Harold Sr.