by Christine Senter

Created on: July 20, 2008

Growing up in the country, and being raised by my grandmother, there was always an old wives tale being used as pure fact in our house. Things that most people would find as utterly ridiculous, were seen as common knowledge. Some of these were nothing more than superstitions, while a few others actually seemed to work.

Old wives tales are as old as civilization itself. There are a lot of them that have been passed down from one generation to the next, due to events of the past. For instance, I was always told that if you spilled the salt, you were to scoop it up and throw it over your left shoulder for luck. There is some speculation that this custom comes from the days of the ancient Romans and the fact that they were paid in quantities of salt and it was thought to bring bad luck if you spilled some.

Another old wives tale is that you should never hang a mirror on an exterior wall. Now, I don't know how this one came to be, but it was thought that by hanging a mirror on an exterior wall would allow ghosts and demons into your home. Today, we know that this isn't the case, but it wasn't all that long ago when people still believed that spirits roamed the night, looking for living beings.

One of my favorite old wives tales is that you can tell the sex of an unborn baby by dangling a wedding ring above the mother's stomach. They say that if the ring moves in a circular motion, they the mother is carrying a girl. If the ring moves in a straight line, it's a boy. Ironically, my mother did this to me and it turned out to be right.

There's an old wives tale that says you should never allow a cat near a baby, as the cat will jump into the crib in the night, and steal the child's breath. This one has a basis in fact, however the cats weren't trying to steal the baby's breath. It is now thought that cats would jump into the crib, smelling the baby's milk. In an act of trying to get a taste of the milk, they would be seen with their faces inside the child's mouth.

Then, of course, there are all the tales that surround weddings. For instance, when a girl gets married, she is said to have "something old, something new, something barrowed, and something blue". This is a tradition that has lasted for several hundred years, originating in Europe. The "something old and something new" were thought to represent the bride's transition from single to married, and from child to adult. The "something borrowed" came from the idea that borrowing something from a happily married couple would ensure happiness for the newlyweds. And the "something blue" comes from ancient Israel, where a bride would wear a blue border around the bottom of her garment, suggesting purity and fidelity.

Though we live in a technologically advanced society, people are always going to believe in old wives tales. Not because we still live in the dark ages, but because they continue to give us a link to our collective pasts. They spring from a basic human need to create a better world.

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