Supernaturalearth.myfreeforum.org

admin sinfulldude · Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2006 9:32 pm Post subject: Animal superstitions 4

Category Animal Superstitions

Subcategory: Sow Bugs

A Texas superstition says that a bag filled with 13 sow bugs tied around a child's neck will cure the child from the thrash, or sores in the mouth.

Subcategory: Storks

Storks deliver babies.

Storks were sacred to Venus in Roman mythology.

If a stork builds a nest on your roof, you have received a blessing and a promise of never ending love from Venus. Aristotle made killing a stork a crime, and Romans passed a stork law, saying that children must care for their elderly parents.

Killing a stork - bad luck

Building a nest on the roof - good omen

Seeing two storks - omen of pregnancy

Subcategory: Swallow

Herald of the summer

Killing a swallow - bad luck

Nesting on the roof - protection especially against lightning and fire

Storms will accompany the arrival and departure of swallows

Subcategory: Swans

A swan's feather, sewed into the husband's pillow, will ensure fidelity.

Subcategory: Toad

If you eat a live toad first thing in the morning nothing worse will happen to you all day.

Crossing the path of a bride on the way to the church - prosperous and happy union

Seeing a toad - end of drought or good fortune

Thought to be the familiars of witches

Killing a toad - rainstorms

Carrying a dried toad - protection against plague

Handling toads - causes warts

Subcategory: Tortoise

Killing a tortoise - bad luck

Wearing a tortoiseshell bracelet - protection against evil

Subcategory: Wasp

Killing the first wasp of the season - good luck

Subcategory: Vulture

Seeing a vulture - omen of death

Subcategory: Weasel

Seeing a weasel - bad luck

Keeping money in a weasel skin purse - financial security

Subcategory: Wolf

During the middle ages, wolves were ascribed magical powers and wolf parts became an important part of many early pharmacies. Powered wolf liver was used to ease birth pains. A wolf's right paw, tied around ones throat, was believed to ease the swelling

It was widely believed that a horse that stepped in a wolf print would be crippled

The gaze of a wolf was once thought to cause blindness

The breath of the wolf could cook meat.

It was believed that Wolves sharpened their teeth before hunting

Dead wolves were buried at a village entrance to keep out other wolves (some farmers continue to shoot predators and hang them on fence posts to repel other predators.)

Travelers were warned about perils of walking through lonely stretches of woods, and stone shelters were built to protect them from attacks. Our modern word "loophole" is derived from the European term "loup hole," or wolf hole, a spy hole in shelters

Seeing a wolf - dumbness

Subcategory: Wren

Harming a wren - broken bone