Mavens of Misdeeds
Mavens of Misdeeds
Super-Duper-Stitious: The best and strangest superstitions
In this episode meet my new co-host Yasmine! Together we discuss superstitions, where they come from and why we obey them while denying their existence...knock on wood anyone? You can't miss this episode especially if you change your sheets on Friday, or perhaps you are the reason your baseball team hasn't made the playoffs in years. Or maybe you didn't know you needed the sweat from a corpse to cure what ails you. We have more information than you ever knew you needed to navigate these trying times!
This podcast is going weekly! New episodes will drop every Tuesday! Also starting with this episode we have transcripts!! But wait, there's more...we are on video. Youtube channel coming soon!
Please join me in welcoming Yasmine on any of our social media channels or send her some love via email. Also remember that Megan is not leaving the show entirely, she will be launching a book club where she discusses the Sci fi and fantasy novels she is reading. More info to come on the website.
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TRANSCRIPT: https://mavensofmisdeeds.buzzsprout.com
Hello, mavens! This is Jen and I am joined by Yasmine and we are on video. So this is new for me, for sure. But the show is in the process of some very big changes, some very awesome changes. And Megan is gonna be switching to hosting a book club where she talks about books that she's currently reading. And she reads like, I don't know, three or four a week. It's something crazy of, yeah, sci-fi and fantasy novels. So look out for some more information coming very soon about that on the website. And as I know, and social media, and as I know more, I'll announce it in our episodes, but she is still seeking some input from you guys on a name for the book club. I have not been super helpful in that. So if you have a good idea send us an email at mavensofmisdeeds@gmail.com. But so with that, she is stepping away from the regular podcast show and. But she might pop in from time to time. But anyway, joining me now as my co-host on this spooky endeavor is Yasmine and I'm gonna let her take it away and introduce herself.
Yasmine:Hi guys. So like Jen said, my name is Yasmin. I use she her pronouns. Just a little introduction about myself. I have an awesome, hilarious husband named Nick. We've been together for 14 years and we have two amazing kids. Max who's 13, an artist and genuinely funny kid and Henry who's nine. He loves baseball and his dogs, and he has a potty mouth to rival a 14 year old We have three Huskies, Lokey, Leica, and Rex, a sweet corn snake we call poppy and a treat begging goldfish named Frederick. We live in the desert of Southern California, not as close to the cool stuff, as it sounds. We're close to family, so it's not all bad. As far as hobbies go, I run the PTO at my kid's school. I'm a baseball mom and I make inappropriate hand embroidery. I'm interested in true crime, folklore, historical, historical culture, and all things paranormal and unexplained. I turned 37 this year and although my life is full of love and fun, I see this podcast as an opportunity to do something just for me, indulge my curiosity and maybe make some new friends while I do it. Hello everyone.
Jen:Awesome. That was an awesome introduction. Yeah, in, in meeting and talking with, I realized I didn't even have my own introduction, so you can look for that coming very, very soon, probably by the time this episodes out on the website as well. And one new thing, like I said we're gonna try the whole video thing and you will figure out very quickly that, you know, the hands I just, I can't speak without the hands. So, you know, sorry if that's ultra distracting for anyone, but there'd be no way I could change it. So we will see how that goes. We're gonna be working. Everyone knows that I am the history Maven and Megan was the tech Maven. So that speaks for itself, probably in the fact that I don't know how we'll do this, but Yasmine is gonna put the assistance of her, her kiddos help us figure out a YouTube thing. So you can see us on a channel. That's the word I was looking for so that we can, you can watch the video if you want to. And as we learn more about that, who knows, we might get really creative with backgrounds and stuff like people do, you know?
Yasmine:Yeah. I think between the two of us, we'll figure it out.
Jen:exactly the, they'll the ones figure that's for our first episode together. We are gonna be talking about superstitions and I have always sort of wondered where in the world we get some of these things from, you know, I know like a big one that I could think of just right off the bat that I do is the knock on wood, you know someone will say something, you know I know nurses a lot of times, you know, it's a superstition. If someone comes in and says, wow, it's so quiet in here tonight, you know, in the emergency room or on the floor or something like that. And, you know, everyone freezes in panic and you've got to go, you know, like knock on something or, you know, cross yourself or maybe all of the above because you, you know, Famous last words. Right. So so in thinking about this, it's funny how even in 2022, where we are now, how we still hold on to some of these superstitions. So they've evolved quite a bit yeah, quite a bit over time, but the, there are still those remnants that are there that we don't even know why we necessarily are, are doing that. But what we do know, I guess, is that in some way, shape or form in, in carrying that on, you know, knocking on the wood or whatever it is that you feel better for, right? Like, you know, or why else would we do it? You know,
Yasmine:like, okay, we're good now
Jen:exactly. Like I just canceled out all of that negative, you know, Juju that you just brought into our realm. You know but, and that's, you know, we, we just, we do it. And for some very few things have I think survived as long as some of these, these superstitions and these things that we do. So to start off, superstition is the word is defined in Miriam Webster as a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown. Trust in magic for chance or a false conception of causation. And cuz they didn't knock us down enough on that. And a notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary.
Yasmine:Oh my goodness. So even when we know better, we don't know better.
Jen:exactly. Even though, you know, if someone, you know, sat down and intellectually forced you to say, why did you just knock on wood? You know, why did you just do that? I mean, our best answer is gonna be, I don't know. Yeah, it just made me, that's just what we do, you know, I don't know. Yeah. What I would have like a grand answer if you know someone with more degrees many more degrees than I have or something were to ask me. But I will say that was a big reign on the superstition parade, Miriam Webster that was harsh, but you know, not inaccurate so many people would deny being superstitious today, or at least I guess, you know, seriously superstitious. But have you ever known those folks, but then like seen them or caught them doing something that is
Yasmine:honestly in researching this? I realize that I do stuff and I don't consider myself as superstitious person. Right. But I'm like, I do the knock on wood thing. Right. But why I have no idea the salt over the shoulder. I have no, like, yes, no idea. exactly. But overall yeah, like it comes up all the time and, and the kids have asked, like, why do we do this? Why do, why do we say, bless you? What does it even mean? Like right, bro, I don't know. You're being polite. you know, so just do it. I dunno.
Jen:I don't know if they're gonna be excited that after this, when they ask the question, you might be able to give them a very long winded historical answer.
Yasmine:I'll just be like, come here, listen to
Jen:Jen. Yeah. So it, it is it's, it's very interesting. But we, we do, like I wrote in my notes, I'm like, we laugh it off and I'm doing it right now. Cuz I, you know, can imagine when I was researching this the thoughts that maybe go through my head, really? It, you do it so instinctually you know, if you have one, but it's for some. People, it is a very much even today, a very real thing, you know? Yeah. Um, So on the contrary, if you can think of people that maybe are a little bit more like us, we just do it. Like it's a, you know, some just thing you do or you also probably have met someone that has at least one that is a very serious, you know, superstition that they will absolutely make sure that they, you know, I'm not sure the word I'm looking for is that they don't cross that they don't, you know you know, they don't wanna tick off any, any gods or demons. So before, so to really get into this, you really have to take your mind back. And I, I love this. This is where my, my history, you know nerdiness will, will come into play. But so if you really put yourself back before computers before laboratories before instant gratification, certainly not even close before grocery stores yet, how would you describe or make sense of in your own mind in your community, a lightning strike a tornado. How would you account for entire families and towns completely wiped off the face of the earth? By disease. I mean, how would you,
Yasmine:I have I'm thinking about it. You would blame those people. It didn't happen to me. It happened to them. Mm-hmm they should have done something or maybe they did do something that they weren't supposed to do. Yeah. I mean, you're trying to figure out a pattern where there's no pattern, you know? Yeah, no, that's, that's really out there to think about, because I mean, I'm a millennial, right. Older millennial, but whatever. We've always had computers that we've always been able to go to the grocery store. We've always had access to the internet probably since I was in high school at least. Right. Ways to explain things. But before that, like how would you you'd have to ask other people and what kind of access would you have to more knowledgeable people you don't know exactly.
Jen:Interesting. Yeah. You think about, you know literacy and even written word, not being something that you could pop on over to the library or right. Any of those things. I mean, we still have illiteracy in America today. Right. So if you just think back, you know, even further when that you were surviving, essentially. Yeah, exactly. That was your job every single day to somehow survive. So. To kind of go back to with that, all of that in mind for everyone. Because it is very hard for us to, to think like that because of what you just said. I mean, we can't remember you know, Yasmine and I are very close in age I'm 39. We can't remember a time when we didn't have, you know, pretty much the answer to whatever, you know things that happened, you know, or someone that could tell you, at least the
Yasmine:access to be pointed in the right direction. I mean, I remember my parents had those encyclopedias yes. Encyclopedia britanicas and those were my favorite sit and just pick a letter and just go through it. But even those before access to the internet were accessible. Exactly. So I mean, but way back when, who knows.
Jen:Yes. And so we even, you know, just, I'm trying to think what the last generation, even just these things of natural disasters and things like that, even by, you know, the 19 hundreds. So we, we don't have anybody really alive today that can you know, really think about not having, like I said, libraries and written word and things like that, you know? Right. It's that's sort of, that was really kind of a big thing to me. I was like, wow. I mean, here we are now in 2022. And really, I mean, obviously we've had major medical advances and we understand, you know, science and all of that right. A lot more, but they still already by this time. Anyone that would be alive today. You know, they already knew that, you know, charms and ambulance were not the answer to disease and warding off the disease and all of those things. So it's really interesting to, to think about, but so superstitions they can actually some of the most popular superstitions. And I'm gonna talk about those first before doing several that are lesser known, or at least they were lesser known to me. They can actually be traced back to Babylon. Wow. Wow. So another thing that I had read along the way pretty much was an answer to the question. You know, when did superstition start? How did they start? You know, one source was sort of like pretty much the Dawn of man Yeah, I did. So for sure though, we can get back to, to Babylon. So fourth
Yasmine:century
Jen:basically a good view of the, the, the world and your understanding of your place in the world, meant to have an appropriate piety in. Which they had the Greek word, which we know I'm gonna butcher this, but I'm gonna try DASA pneumonia. And so in the third century they talk about excessive piety. Okay. Which is becoming a very, very negative thing, especially to the more elite and learned in society. And their belief on that was the Greek gods should not be feared and nothing should be done in excess. Okay.
Yasmine:so like moderation and everything.
Jen:Yes. And another thing, I mean, it's interesting, you think about like the, the Greek culture today and even, you know, people often say, you know, why can Italians and eat all this rich pasta and bread and all of these things and still, you know, have these, you know, excellent figures and whatnot, but that's still an idea that has carried over into the Mediterranean culture. You know, they still say Mediterranean diet is the, it's not really like, not meaning like, you know, crash diets, but is the absolute best and healthiest way that you can eat. Right. So just interesting. So yeah, that everything is done in moderation, like you said, But at this point, there are still what they called Boger priests. And these would've been like your soothsayers that kind of thing. Okay. That were definitely by the elite thought of as what they were swindler. And, but you still have those that don't have access to any education or aren't entitled to that education that of course are gonna fall prey to so Sayers and people that are trying to explain to people away these different, you know, phenomena to them that are occurring in the, in the world through sickness, disease, war, all of those things. Right. So by the first CE they historian that I I was watching a video he had done about about superstition, the origins they call it sort of the bad religion era. So essentially you now have a focus on what is the right religion. Okay. Starting to happen. So so you have folks that are participating in any of these alternate. Beliefs, I guess if you will, mm-hmm they are practicing outside of the approved religion, even though we know that in the early church there was a place for magicians and there sorcerers right. But they were operating within the approved you know, government, front, whatever accepted religion at that time. So that was okay. But these other things are gonna ultimately become what, what we will know is pagan beliefs sort of right. That kinda thing. So we know then ultimately Christianity becomes the official Roman religion and superstition is obviously very frowned upon As you should not worship or give any credence to the pagan gods of, you know yes. Or you Right. Uh, So it's, it's again, there's a whole lot to that about why, you know, these, the church, you know, soothsayers, magicians, whatever were still okay. But. Other, you know, beliefs or people holding on to what was essentially the same thing Uhhuh was now not. Okay. But that's a whole other whole other thing it's
Yasmine:a whole other
Jen:episode to say the, yeah, that would probably be like a, an eight parter getting into the history of world religion. Right, right. So ultimately then, and obviously I'm condensing quite a bit, but ultimately then we get to when the Protestants come in and they are gonna object to a lot of things, but we're focusing here, I'm telling myself that the rituals of the Catholic church. Right. Because as we kinda know, I mean, a lot of these rituals and things that happen within the, the Catholic faith are, can be traced just as Christianity can. So don't like just Christianity as a whole can be traced back very easily to some pagan origins. So but that's, you know, part of the just the, the Protestants entering the chat as it relates to super, so essentially you really start to see after now we've got these two main, you know, we've got Protestants and we've got the Catholics and you start to see things like amulets being a, a big thing. And I had to kinda laugh because I'm a big TJ max fan and love it. You see so many of these and like the clearance jewelry, and you may not even think about what some of these, like nifty, you know, bracelets and necklaces and, and things are, but they are most of the time, what I see at least that we get at our TJ max comes from Indian culture, but most amulets their purpose was to protect you from the evil eye. Right. And so when you see these, so now you'll have to look. So you'll see. And I didn't go into the the names of those and, and all that. And I don't know them off the top of my head, but one that you'll see a lot is like the, the hand looks like
Yasmine:that's exactly what came to mind when you mentioned it. Yeah.
Jen:Yeah. And then there were some others that and the website will have links to the video where you can see on the British museum, they, they have like the originals of these. And it's interesting because some things that I had seen examples of before, I didn't even some are obvious the eye but quite obvious. other amulets and things. I didn't even recognize until someone pointed out and now I can't unsee that there was eye component, you know, to that. Right. So the talking a little bit about the psychology of why we still have superstitions and why this is managed to carry on from of man as, as the, some would put it. So they've done research and almost 50% of the population does have, or believe in a, at least a single superstition and wow. Yes. And I mean, that's a lot, so yeah. We know, and it seems pretty obvious that your culture and your family traditions and things like that play a role. So I kinda had to see it somewhere, you know, if I was just around people like kids in my elementary school that did it probably wouldn't have stuck around to me to, you know, knock on wood as much as a family influence or, you know, that kind of thing. So, right. So the reasons that the the, the professionals, you know, the psychiatrists and the, those folks. Say is the reason that it has such staying power is because with we live in an uncertain world we fear very much a loss of control or lack of control. Yeah. Important life events that we cannot be a hundred percent certain will turn out to well, that will happen. So like a marriage you know, your good health, that kind of thing. Right. And another one that was interesting though, was trial and error that concept. So the psychiatrist described it as our personal, lucky items or actions that we care about come from some circumstance that validated that, that correlates interesting for us. Yeah. Okay. Which is obviously what exactly what happened for some of these superstitions to even come into play in the first, you know, some of'em that we'll talk about, get they're out there. Right. But it's, there was some correlation that happened that validated completely validated you know, this, this thing happening and I'm resisting the urge to talk about one that's on my list right now as an example of that, but you'll know it when, when I get to that one the the other thing is they talk about is random association and. in which well, in China, for example, the number four is considered unlucky because the spoken word for that for the number four mm-hmm sounds like the word for death. Oh, therefore, so that the type thing they classify as a random association the number eight on the flip side is considered lucky because the spoken word for the number eight sounds like prosperity. Wow.
Yasmine:So yeah, I did not know that. That's interesting.
Jen:Yeah. So that was I don't know, little, little cool stuff to get us started on superstitions. I'm gonna make the face as I turn the page and I accidently turned it back again. so without further ado I wanna talk about some of the ones that are the most, I don't wanna say famous popular, well known whatever you wanna call it. 13 okay. Yeah, the 13th. What is the deal with the number 13? Why do hotels make sure that they quote unquote don't have 13 floor for people obviously? I mean, you have to right.
Yasmine:I mean, that's just numbers. That's math. 13 stairs. Yes, you can't count the 13th one. Like what is that?
Jen:So there are not surprisingly a lot of theories about how this became the, the thing and there they're a bit out there. I really didn't get the answer that I was looking for on this. I'll just be honest with you. So if somebody has another one or can expand on some of the ones that I found that I got completely lost in I would absolutely love for you to reach out and, and tell us because I, I wanted, I thought this would be an easy one and I did not find that to be the case. So one and considered by super smart historians that is considered the least likely origin comes from Norse mythology. And I am currently trying to get more into Norse mythology but it is very complicated. So that's probably why this one didn't really. And then once I've read that they didn't think this was the most likely, I was like, Ooh, moving on. But they relate it to people that followed that belief that this is the origin of the 13th. Number 13, being unlucky relates to the 13 gods in Valhalla okay. And so. I will let people, and if you know more about Norse mythology, I,
Yasmine:I know a little just because my husband can trace his, he associates his heritage with Vikings and the Northern Europe and things like that. Mm-hmm so we know a little bit, but I did not realize that having a number of gods could be considered unlucky like that. I don't know how that correlates, like, wouldn't it be more lucky cuz they were the gods, but not all of them were Some of them
Jen:were very, I was gonna say, and it, it brought in to play Loki and yeah, the assassination. Okay. Yeah. And it, it got into that kind of thing and I could not find a way to make that make sense. Okay. my own head. Yeah. So that would be fun if you can, since you have a better understanding of that, it's fascinating. Don't gimme it really is. Yeah. But to me, for some reason it makes Greek mythology seem like basic math. I don't know. Yeah.
Yasmine:yes. So and Greek mythology, like there's some things in there that you're like, wow guys.
Jen:I think it's just more, because we're more exposed to that from learning, I guess, about the civilization and all of that. I think that's maybe why it's easier to take. I'm not sure. But so I would love to learn more about this theory in general and do a lot more just on Norse mythology and their legends and things, cuz they, they sound fascinating. But anyway, it starts just to give you a head start, Yasmine if you want follow up on this one day 13, it appreciates with 13 gods in Valhalla and I know that it was about something about Loki and the assassination and somehow that made it unlucky and I could not follow. So the second one, this is also considered not super likely by people that study this. But more likely I guess, than the Norse mythology is the Knights of Templar. Okay. So they, because this was in a long story short a group arrested on Friday the 13th of 1307 and burned at the stake. And for anybody that might not be familiar, the Knoghts of Templar basically they were part of the crusaders in Europe that should trigger right. A little bit to help folks if they're not as familiar. So that actually I felt was pretty, pretty good. I was yeah. All in for that. However they historians believe the absolute, most likely origin is, comes from the last supper. Where they had 13 at the
Yasmine:table.
Jen:So the last supper where there are 13 seated at the table. So that again, I, I honestly still didn't see, that was almost like the the 13 God, the Valhalla to me, I still was like, I don't see how, I mean that I, I don't see it. I still don't see it. So I, I could not follow. And as in a very much like with Christianity, I'm very much, you know, aware of that, but I could not follow why that would be the, the way.
Yasmine:So when talking about the Knights of Templar did Friday the 13th come up in your research. Yes.
Jen:So, okay. It, that was actually yeah, apparently. So that day was they, it was a Friday, the, the 13th of 1307. So you've got a trifecta there of 1307 I guess. And it be Friday the 13th and well, the Friday would come from that. Well, not necessarily cause I have a superstition that revolves around Friday. So yeah, like I, me, that one seemed the most likely to me mm-hmm as the origin than the other two. But anyway so, and also just a little fun fact about the 13th, where we were talking about elevators, not having, you know, that and your, your number, you know, your room number, not being, you know, 13 and all of that. 80 Percent of the buildings in New York city that could have a 13th floor do not have one,
Yasmine:it just stop at 12 or 80
Jen:percent of the buildings in New York that could and should have you know, that option. just. They don't because this is so pervasive. Yeah. And they also mentioned, I read along the way to really pay attention to like flight numbers and things like that, that they're not gonna have, but they do have the seats. I do know this because I have been seated in, you know, like the 13th and I was just like,
Yasmine:are we good? Everything Working? Yeah. good. Right.
Jen:Everybody's good. Everybody's feeling this morning, limber ready for anything. It's funny. I do actually remember it wasn't that long ago. But I do actually remember having that moment of you gotta be kidding me. here. We're OK. Here. We're and here I am. So it was fine. The and just one other thing, cause I didn't go into this right before I start talking about some other superstitions. I just, I jotted this down the middle, even though it doesn't fit here, but just wanted to like talk about mirrors. Does anybody else slightly freak out? If you break a mirror, do you have a moment where you're like, no.
Yasmine:So this is one that I've heard a lot, but I don't know if I've ever actually broken a mirror.
Jen:Is your life great?
Yasmine:Probably ups and downs. you know, like normal, but like, I don't know if I've ever actually
Jen:broken one. So fun fact. And I think this is what made me like, have to like throw it in there and I'm meant to put it more towards the beginning, but obviously I forgot to, to, you know, cross it off here and do that. But I broke my very first mirror about three weeks ago, first mirror ever in my entire life. We'd had some close calls, this mirror and I it was a very, very small mirror you know, little handheld thing. Mm-hmm and yeah, but I just, I had to talk because a lot of people, you know, they're like, well, why would breaking a mirror have been, you know, such a superstition? And it was just cause they were very expensive. You know, now that makes sense. Most people didn't have them, so that's gonna be very bad luck if you've broken something that, you know, is extremely expensive and you know, not many people would have them. Yeah. Um, But this was something that, that somebody mentioned that I was like, wow, never would've thought of that. To be able to see yourself, the ability to have something where you could actually see yourself was considered mystical and magical. Yeah. And I was like, wow, think it makes sense. Take that. So for granted to just think about the fact that there's no words, I was just like, it that's amazing, you know? Yeah. So. Little side, little detour down the path. But I could not forget to, to talk about that. One other thing along that St. Well, now another little path. What do you think are the most superstitious countries cultures in the world?
Yasmine:I mean, I don't wanna like call anybody out big time, but I am, I'm Mexican, I'm half Mexican. My mom's family. They're, they're pretty superstitious, but I've always tied that to also religion. We've got a lot of Catholic in there. What is an example? I'm trying to think. So I would say like Mexico, maybe, you know, a lot of, lot of superstitions there. You know, we have a lot of associations with like how they treat the dead and how they handle, you know, their, their loved ones as they pass. My mom always talks about butterflies and how that's, you know, what some past person visiting or what have you, even though it's an insect in the world, you know,
Jen:I see that other thing might be Cardinals oh, huge thing here. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So that's yeah, very interesting. You might be interested to know Mexico did not even make the top five really Nope. Actually they weren't, I didn't write down the entire list. But I didn't want to bolt, you know, allow myself to go down this side path too long. But India. Okay. And China. Okay. Thailand, three of those, pretty much. If you look for different lists one of those three would be number one and different lists. And Philippines. So essentially Asia Japan. Okay. Was another, but yeah, so Mexico and the United States were not, again bright even like we were almost like neck and neck and yeah, definitely didn't make the top top five. Wow. Oh, okay. Very interesting. Yeah, so anyway, India, that's where the, the evil eye that I was talking about, the jewelry that you know, that I see. Yeah. So that comes from, from India, a strong, very strong thing there. So, okay. Gonna come back to the main main road here. So number one of, I didn't even count the 13th cuz I couldn't even find anything to, you know, like nail it down. So right. The number one aside from that most common. Superstition that we still, everybody almost knows about. And you may still very much believe it. My husband is one for this, this one right here, walking under a ladder. Oh, wow. Yeah. I can't tell you how many times I have been that annoying person and done it just to annoy him. Mm-hmm household projects and he, but he can't tell me why you just don't do it. You just do not do it. So one thing that you're gonna see in pretty much, I feel fairly confident saying for memory in these superstitions, the church is gonna have a huge, huge, almost the, the role in, how these came about and why they are the way they are. So the, and they're so obvious once you really think about'em. So you can't walk under a ladder because it forms a triangle. So even if you have a modern ladder that, you know, has the two sides at the triangle, even if you had the ladders that they would've had where it just leans up against something, still a triangle that is gonna represent the Trinity, the holy Trinity. And don't you even be busting your regular, butt through the holy Trinity, break it right. So, and, you know, yeah. So that was that if you were going through that, you might as well have had a sign and said, I am here to violate God. That is, this would it's serious. Yes. So this can be traced back the whole triangle and having that super importance. Even though to them, it wouldn't have been well, let me just say it then I'll backtrack like that. So since ancient Egyptian times think about it the triangle has played a huge part yeah. Had major importance. Let's just say over a culture. So to them, the triangle was the symbol of life. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I felt like everybody, like even knows they're listening to this in the future. I feel your brain's like clicking back thinking, oh, about Egyptian. Like this makes so much sense now. Yeah. It's like
Yasmine:so obvious, but yes, not
Jen:really. Yeah, exactly. So that was probably one of like the most fascinating like aha moments that I can't believe I never stumbled across before. So yeah, so that would be the walking under a ladder. However, there are some more more thoughts behind it. And to me, these are gonna be more ways that it has had staying power. The medieval gallows until the late 18 hundreds hanging was done by the short drop method. So that would be from a cart or maybe they would have you just step off of a ladder with the, you know, noose surround your neck. And so when they, and so the superstition though is gonna remain because even once they build scaffolds and they get away from this short drop method, mm-hmm ladders are still gonna have to be used by the condemned to get up to and on top of the scaffold to be hung. Right. So the belief is, was that their souls, the condemned souls loitered underneath the ladder and that delayed their trip either. Well, they would just straight up believe to hell. But I would like to, you know, say, you know, it could be either way. So it was very, very, very ultra can I overstate this unlucky to mingle with that soul under the ladder that is still hanging around. Oh
Yasmine:yeah. Yeah. Not good news.
Jen:Yeah. Do you have. Ladder now I'm like, I don't know. I may not be, you know, just running
Yasmine:maybe try and find a way to annoy our husband. I can find
Jen:so, so that was that. So I am interested to see if this second one I'm gonna talk about is a Southern thing. I'm very to do this. So I'm trying to decide, should I just read the quote? So have you ever heard this phrase? So somebody you're just talking, it's a normal conversation. The sun is shining. It might be, you know, hot as, you know, blazes like it is today. And some go, oh, chill just went down my spine, somebody's walking over my grave or a version of that.
Yasmine:I don't think I've ever actually heard a person I'm speaking to say that like, I've, I've heard it in movies and shows only mm-hmm but never like a friend or somebody that I'm talking to. So may yeah, maybe
Jen:it is a, yeah, so I mean, it didn't start off as a, just strictly American Southern thing for sure. But that is something that interestingly has prevailed that has had staying power, at least in the south where, where I am. See this is actually sort of two concepts here merging or two superstitions merging. So the first thing would be, and you may, you may have this one or no, this one that you just don't ever walk on a grave, if you're in a cemetery. Yes. You path you that is that you just should not do that.
Yasmine:I always thought it was just outta respect for the dead that's there or their family that might be around. You don't wanna see them trampling. You don't wanna be tram the person trampling on somebody who's grave. Its just
Jen:respect thing. Yeah, I thought that makes sense. I guess. So as early as 319, B C 3 19 Oh wow. Yes. This concept whatever you wanna call it was mentioned by the Greek scholar Theas butchered it. Sure. Who studied what he did. He studied human nature. And so this belief was able to, that you do not walk on a grave has carried on through medieval times with where you had. Well, and even in 319 DC a super low life expectancy. and yes. And so essentially you did not want to do anything that could hasten your own death, right? So even by having your feet touch a, a grave where, you know, you know, someone has been buried mm-hmm would be seen as a bad moment, if you will, or more like you're bringing on you're increasing your chances basically of having something very bad, like death before you, because you, you know, have done this, you have I don't what the word I was, keep thinking desecrated, you're not desecrating it, but I mean, they kinda almost, you know, had that akin to it
Yasmine:coming in contact almost
Jen:with, I think, I think so. So they also, and this is for the medieval times still believe that the soul hung around as long as possible, starting to see a tie back with the ladder mm-hmm as long as possible before ascending or descending. However you wanna look at it during this time. So they would be seeking company for the trip. Okay. Either up or down. Okay. If you are. Yeah. If you are just right there around it and all that, you're basically inviting trouble because that soul is still there. I guess, waiting to see if they're going, you know, up the elevator or down. And they very well could just be like, oh, I'm lonely. I'm gonna take you with me. So you're basically borrowing trouble by doing this. So let's see by the 18th century, it just becomes general bad luck. You just don't do it. You just don't walk on, you know, great. You just, yeah, it's just bad luck in general. We don't know what will happen, but it will not be good. So now the earliest mention of the one I talked about where you it is just so common in Southern culture that it's just unreal. When somebody just, you know, gets a shiver and they usually will like do that, like that thing, you know, a cold chill thing that can be traced back to at least 1738 in a gentleman by the name of Simon Taff. He wrote a book called the, or called A Complete collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversations. And in it, he actually, the quote is,"Ooh, you might explain. Someone's just stepped on my grave". And so that second part of this superstition from that you can't even, you know, just walk on someone else's grave Uhhuh also comes from at least that they can trace back medieval believes where they accepted that your fate or your destiny was already pre-planned. Yeah. Okay. Okay. It already sort of is what it is, basically your, the time of your death, the way of your death, all of those things it's already predetermined and the place of your death. Oh goodness. Where you're going to be. Well, some would say, well, I guess, place of your death, but where you're going to be buried was also predetermined. So that is where if some, and, and of course they're not gonna have fancy, you know, cemeteries and all of these necessarily places where you know, you know, you're gonna be buried after you die. I mean, you might be right. You know, just buried in your field. You might have just killed over and there you, you know, right there you are are exactly. And that's why we're gonna bury you and put a, you know, something maybe in the ground if we like you. And and that's. Or, you know, if there's disease and all of that, like if we're in the plague, then you're just gonna be put in a mass grave, you know, very big enough to hold that sort of thing. So so it'd be very possible that though, you're you feel fine right now and all of that that somebody could be walking somewhere that is gonna be the place where your body is going to be buried. Oh, wow. That's starting to sort of a little more sense. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So that's where, yeah. So that's where that comes from. And they actually did make mention of this, the in the sources, again, they'll, they'll be on the website, but that it very much spread via immigration, of course, to the United States, right. Had much staying power and it says became very popular in the Appalachian mountain region where I reside so, and, and that's interesting because most of our heritage of, or vast majority traces back to Ireland and Scotland. Okay. So that's very interesting that just when you piece it all together, I think so it's, you know, that's the predominance in at least our of course the Appalachian mountains are very, are very long, but that's true. But in our area in Virginia, in the, in the looking at them Appalachian mountains, Yeah, it's a scotch Irish heritage. So that's just a really cool thing, but it, it remained very, very popular remains. I mean, to this day, a popular thing that people will say. So now another good Southern thing, I feel like. But it, it's not just this Southern thing because we know Germans, they do it and all this is bless you. Right. And someone sneezes. So interestingly, this is probably one of the absolute oldest that they can provide proof of. And so we're talking 77 ad. Wow. Okay. Yeah. So, and you're gonna actually hear from this, this guy a lot in my coming in coming one. So Adam, not a hundred percent sure. Pliny the elder P L I N Y for sure. Anyway, he wrote Natural History and he is it's written. So it's written on this date that, or in this year that they he's questioning the practice of it. So he's acknowledging that this exists. Okay. So a lot of people, me included, assumed I never like tried to do research on it or anything. I assumed wholeheartedly. It was a byproduct of the plague. I just, that made sense. Okay. And if you look it up, a lot of places that, you know, don't, you know, just general sources of information, not like actual scholarly will say things Uhhuh they will very much attribute it to the plague, but not the case in any way, shape or form way before that. Okay. So it was though born out of a pestilence but just not the plague. Okay. So I think a lot of times it's easy to forget that, you know, it wasn't just like disease, like major, massive devastating disease started, you know in the what, 1344 or something around that. Yeah. With, with the plague. But no, you know, this is, this has happened of course way before that many times. Exactly. So we know that and, and I do know I didn't write this down but I do know that Pliny, the elder was referring to the practice of the bless you of, of saying that was related to a specific pestilence that was sent on Roman Christians. That was very devastating and caused death. Well, like the plague, but not a much faster than even the plague would. Wow. Okay. It was a very much yeah, very devastating thing. And so. That's what he's referring to. But then they historians have also found a text from 1275 from, and it's, it was a popular, very popular religious text of the time. And it is my, my Latin and all of that is equally as bad as my Greek. So Aria Legenda it describes that, that pestilent that was sent to pestilent, pestilent, I wanna say disease that was sent to Roman Christians. That's where that, that information comes from, where they talk about that, where that had happened to, to Roman Christians and, oh, I did make a note. Yeah. It said you could be dead in literally minutes from wow. Yes. And so they added a phrase that was so basically by the time we get to the actual plague, by the time we get to this, this has St power, this, you know, bless you or whatever. They would've actually said like, God help you or Christ help. Okay. And they, of course, also during this time, they also believe that when you sneeze, you lost control of your soul during that time of the sneeze. Oh, my goodness.
Yasmine:So I, as a kid, I heard that your heart stopped when you sneezed.
Jen:Yep. I've heard that.
Yasmine:So is that what they thought or the soul thing is like, I've never heard that. That's incredible.
Jen:Yeah. I had not heard that. My original thought is I was reading through, I thought that's where they were going with it because Uhhuh, the mind was putting together. Oh, okay. So you had in 77 ad, you've got this pestilence sent on Roman Christians that killed them within minutes. So that's where like the heart stop, you know, thing is still pervasive today. That's what I thought. Yeah. But no that's not necessarily, you know, I'm not sure where the whole heart stop thing, but that's what I'd always heard. I had never heard about the soul leaving the, the body. Yeah. During the time of a sneeze. And I'm not sure what happens if you have one of those like rapid fire, like, you know, sneeze sessions. I'm not sure what that probably meant other than you probably cursed beyond belief is what I imagine probably happened.
Yasmine:You're still fighting to come back.
Jen:Yeah. So so yeah, no, that's, that is what I had about the blessed. Yeah, it's very interesting. Little intense. Yeah. So now the, a little bit of the lesser known superstitions at least, like I said, lesser known to me, other people may be like, of course, but I have not, these are not popular, at least in Southern culture that I'm aware. So the first one is loose or broken shoelaces
Yasmine:have never heard anything.
Jen:OK. So this is just in general bad luck, so, okay. You just the, yeah. Darned, if you do not cool, don't do it. Isn't well for you. Mm-hmm so basically, if this happens, what you should do is continue to walk another nine paces before you even think about fixing this issue of your laces or, you know, tying
Yasmine:them. So you don't do it right away. Like we tell the kids to do for shoes.
Jen:You do that. They are now tied to bad luck for the rest of the day.
Yasmine:stop. just for the day though, or like until you tie your shoes time. Okay.
Jen:So this superstition is mentioned that somewhat loosely, I think, but in 45 BC by Cicero, the Roman philosopher. Where in a text he mentions stumbling, breaking a shoe latchet and sneezing. Okay. In reference generally broadly to not great things, but it was very loose. I wanted to mention it just because, you know, but funny, but yeah, so a sort of more lighter tone and take on that as time went on and your imminent death was not, you know, forefront on your mind from at least the age of seven a loose lace of loose lace. Now this isn't broken young women thought that their sweetheart was talking about you, who just had a loose lace. Now that's the left specifically. I'm sorry if the right is the one that's loose. Oh no, no, no, Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope. This is, this is why these are dangerous, cuz I just got'em backwards. Left is they're speaking ill of you, right. Is loose. They're singing your praises.
Yasmine:Oh, you know, that reminds me of the ear ringing thing. Have you heard about that? No, no, no. This one is one that I've heard since I was a kid, everybody. So when your ears are ringing, the left, one means somebody's talking bad about you. And the right one means that they're talking good about you. Oh my gosh. So
Jen:yep. There you go.
Yasmine:Must be like some kind of derivative or something right
Jen:now. I'm gonna be curious why I left it. Yeah. That's interest. Yeah. So then the tradition of tying shoes to like newlyweds cars, which I don't know that people do that anymore, but I did know that was a, you know, that's a thing. It comes from the 16th century tradition so written in 1598 by John Haywood. And his book was"dialogue of the Effectual Proverbs in the English Tongue Concerning Marriage. Oh my. And all I could think of reading some of these titles, I'm like, you know, you guys didn't have the greatest of, you know, printing presses. You had scribes like that one guy. Why are your
Yasmine:titles so long, so long, big, concise, like
Jen:anyway that's what, so the quote from that is,"and home again, hithertowards quick as a bee now for good luck cast an old shoe after me", which I felt was a bit of a stretch, but for rhyming purposes, but that's okay. So that is where the tradition of tying shoes to the bumper of a car and it being a good luck thing. That's where that came from. So anyway also they believed you could undo this bad luck by tossing the offending shoe that had come undone or broken in the direction of someone that you wish. Well
Yasmine:I love you at you. Yes. That
Jen:was not the direction. I had to read that a couple times. Wait minute. I feel like they mean a person that you do not wish well, but that is not knowledge
Yasmine:well, you'd probably have more access to somebody that you do wish well than someone that you don't. Right. I mean,
Jen:maybe I just, I Don know. So anyway, that was a lot
Yasmine:that's funny.
Jen:so the next one that I had no idea about was that it is bad luck to use scissors on new year's day. I have not heard about that. Yeah. So so again, this goes back to the Romans and so basically because resolutions new year's resolutions take back to the Roman. When loosely they would attempt to win favor with Janus is who was the God of beginnings I'm trying to yeah. Yep. That's right. Janus. The God of beginnings, January Janus. Yes. To ensure a lucky year, so, okay. I won't go down. That's a lot of rabbit holes. So anyway, that's the, the origin of resolutions and the whole bringing luck into the new year. So,
Yasmine:but why no scissors do the scissor cut
Jen:the luck?, You guessed. No, I'm kidding. Yeah, we're getting there. So that, that sets up just the the origin of why we make resolutions. Okay. And why we believe we can set our look good luck or bad luck for the coming year. So now the, so in folklore scissors can be given the power or a power, the power to basically cut more than just paper or household, you know, whatever. So right now enter, you know, the witches are gonna enter the chat. So for the next several of these. Yeah. So they, scissors could be used as protection from witch. By and especially super protection. If you open them in the shape of a cross and keep'em there, but then you are the crucifix. Yeah. Mm-hmm so you would hide those in your house. Like literally like under the cushions or something like that. And if a witch came into your house, she, he, or she would feel very uncomfortable potentially. Cuz they're sitting on scissors. I don't know, but they would feel uncomfortable and they would have to leave before they could pass any evil, the spells or curses or anything like that. Mm-hmm so, and that goes back to, I think the about like the metals that were used and the strength of, you know, cuz of course we think about our scissors today and that's not gonna be, you know, we're talking like some hand forged, like scissors, you know wow. Yeah. So they are gonna have great value because you can't run to, you know, your like 19th dollar general down the street and you know, that kind of thing. So and then there's just, there's a lot of folk floor mythology, things like a brown you know, metals and I'm not well versed in that kind of thing and crystals and really that realm of things. So even I'm just gonna stop myself right now. But anyway, I do know that that was part of it too. The, the metal was, was also could have even extra protection right. Were made of that. Yeah. Wow. Okay. So you let's see another's something else. Oh, so using the scissors, the reason you, you should not use them on new year's day is because using such a powerful, potentially powerful household object on the first day of the year. That is a no go because you could sever your good fortune for the year. Oh
Yasmine:my gosh. Yeah. So I, I could see how it kind of ties together how, you know, you can follow that thread of thinking. Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah.
Jen:So continuing again with the, with witchcraft and bats even today you will still run into people who either love them or are I love them, so I'm gonna say it unjustly totally ridiculously terrified of them. Right. I have bat houses and all that. So I, I love them, but do you really? Yeah, that's cool. They're great. I mean the insect control and like, I hate spiders. I don't kill them unless they're gonna actively, you know, try and kill me. I mean, I love them. There is nothing that you should not love about them. But anyway, they do look a little freaky. I will give people that, but so the first, one of the first mentions of, of bat, so the Roman poet Virgil he's the first that we know had written word to link bats to evil in Iliad. And that's just a little side thing, I don't know. And so the first century ad the bones of bats were used in charms to ward off evil. Okay. So my question on that was, are we still thinking though that they're evil, so we're like fighting fire with fire Uhhuh that the thought, I guess maybe am I, am I missing something while you would then wear the,
Yasmine:I mean, maybe they're they have their connection to like supernatural, so yeah. I don't know.
Jen:Yeah, I dunno. Yeah. Okay. And I may have missed something in that, but I, I couldn't quite see how we then so quickly, you know, switch anyway. So medieval Europe it's bad luck to see a bat in the daylight. I would argue that a lot of times we, you know, should be appropriately cautious if we see any nocturnal animal in the daylight, honestly
Yasmine:their home.
Jen:Yeah. Cause it, it's not normal. So there could actually be a little thing called rabies. You know, so anyway, so yeah, I could see where this could have definitely been a bad thing to have seen, you know, something like this and of course they're not gonna understand rabies and that's devastating. Right.
Yasmine:So you see a bat, it bites your dog, your dog gets sick, you know, you get bit, you get sick and you know, it's all bad. Sounds terrible. Yeah.
Jen:100% fatal. Yeah. Yeah. So and then of course it's even more like bad luck if it actually gets into your house. Now I'm pretty sure this fortnight somebody, basically someone is going to die soon, just end of discussion. And so again, it's just interesting, you know, you know, you've got high death rates you know, infant mortality, all of these things, right there be so high that, you know, no antibiotics. So you cut your finger on literally anything a splinter gets infected and mm-hmm that could be sepsis in the end of you, you know, and of course they're gonna know, you know, these things, but, you know, heck even if they did know, they wouldn't have had the, you know, the tools, the, the antibiotics or, you know, whatever to combat it. So So it makes sense how you're trying to always explain these deaths that are occurring, you know, or these bad things that would happen. These, you know, accidents, you know, things like that. Yeah. So of course, as you can imagine by the 18th century, a, you know, not well known novel Dracula, just
Yasmine:that old thing
Jen:yeah, pretty much there were any holdouts by the 18th century that bats were just fantastic. It, it was, it was
Yasmine:gone.
Jen:Yeah. Turned of course, against bats. With that. And Europe also is one that linked a if you get bats in your hair, then you'll go crazy. Oh, oh, batty. Yep. Okay. so loosely, we still have like bats in the belfry. So yeah, so basically they would specifically link bats to mental illness because they are of, or bats can be used by witches. So that basically meant, especially if one got tangled up in your hair, I guess mm-hmm that the, which had sent a not devil demon Uhhuh that is now taken over your body. so that is the way they would, you know, any mental illness. So things, especially like your schizophrenia, things like that. And epilepsy, that is a big thing that they tried so hard to attribute so many things in, in history. So, so that's basically that in a nutshell and it really has not been until fairly recent times that that that's, you know, are protected species in most places and, and all that good stuff. So, right. I try to tell everybody, if you hate spiders, you love bats. right. So putting a pin prick in your eggshells,
Yasmine:what that are you supposed to do that?
Jen:Yeah, we all should be doing that. Evidently. So as far back as the as, as one number one ad
Yasmine:two, please. Okay. Could
Jen:use intact shells to cast spells on the people who had eaten the egg. My question is this, I love hard boiled eggs. How the heck are they getting these shells off? So awesome. Because I, to this day cannot, you know, make that happen without a hot mess. Right. So whatever, but anyway, so again, we talked before about planning the. This is a quote from him in that same book that I mentioned. So"there is no one who does not dread being spell bound by means of evil implications and hence the practice after eating eggs or snails of immediately breaking the shells or piercing them with the spoon" to prevent a witch, I guess, lurking in your garbage. I don't know. But anyway, finding an unbroken ish shell and
Yasmine:yeah, so you're supposed to break it no matter what, but then how do you get the egg out of the she without
Jen:breaking? Exactly. That's where I'm very
Yasmine:confused. That is witchcraft
Jen:Ah, yeah, very so in 1486, the Catholic inquisitor Henrich Kramer wrote in, and this is of course the English translation"Hammer of Witches" that witches use these intact shells to cause epilepsy or falling sickness. But they also could use it like a voodoo doll, so they could take like pins and inflict pain on the person and it gets even better. Well, not better. This is not good.
Yasmine:You know, much worse. OK. This
Jen:gets worse. But they could also use it to simulate like a boat and cause shipwrecks, what? Yeah.
Yasmine:that that's intense. I could like
Jen:make a storm Uhhuh with the egg show. Yes. But making true. Yes. By making the eggshell, like making it simulate a boat Uhhuh. And I don't know if they've got like their trough of water and they're like, I don't know, but that's my envisioning of, of how that would happen. Yeah. Yeah. So that's that one. So changing a bed, changing your bed on a Friday. Are you okay? Watson? My cat fell out. Geez. He's okay. He tried to jump on something that, yeah. So anyway so changing on bed on Friday, or really any domestic chores, that's a No no bad omen. So Friday, because, and so now we're thinking back to the whole 13th and all that mm-hmm Friday because Jesus crucifixion was on a Friday. Okay. And that day was to be set aside as holy. So farmers would not like begin a harvest on that day. This, this is great. So if you had been sick and confined to your bed, but you felt better on Friday, you would stay in bed for an extra day so that you, yes. Yeah. And so in keeping with, with this crucifixion, you know, Friday set aside all of that. So in the 18 hundreds, they believe changing the bed on that day would essentially allow the devil to take control of your dreams for one week to explain nightmares. Mm-hmm that'd be terrible. I dunno what you did. If you didn't change it on a Friday, you still have nightmares. I have no idea. Don't ask If you were to flip your mattress on a Friday, which of course was something they had to do frequently because your bed made of feathers and straw, things like that. That was an element of death because that was considered turning the luck.
Yasmine:Okay. I have a question. Yes. If your bed is made of straw, mm-hmm, how easily. Do you have access to a calendar? I guess knowing when Sunday is because Sunday was like a whole village thing, like everybody goes to church or to mass or what have you. So you'd kind of know what day it was. Mm-hmm what I mean. I work at a school during summer. I rarely know what day it's right.
Jen:And you still gonna have like literacy. And so even like, probably like having a calendar, I know this is all very interesting to me because it almost makes me think that this was something tied more to the wealthy. Okay. That would even, you know, be able to read a calendar or have one, one, right. Period. Yeah. But then again, the other part of me is like, well, if they're that wealthy, they're not doing the bed. Something they could say to the staff staff, you do not do this on Fridays. Right. But my, it, that almost makes me okay. So it's interesting because we know that the moon and the, you know, thinking like sun dials and, you know, things like that is time keeping method. I'm, I'm equally curious as to how and yeah.
Yasmine:That's interesting. That's really interesting,
Jen:but it, yeah, so just, you know, think about that because, you know, Fridays are not an unheard of day for me to change out stuff if I've got plans on Saturday. Exactly. So another real brief one is wearing a toad around your neck. If it's a alive or dead, a toad. So this would be to ward off the plague. So again, we're imagining the absolute abject care of a disease that has no known cause that we know or they know of at this time, the ramifications ation. So the, the book that I read it said, so by 1655 this is, you know, definitely where the amulets and the good luck charms and all of these things are in extreme high demand. And there's even a book written in the early 17 hundreds. I'll try to find it and link it, but it was a work of fiction, but it very much accurately described conditions of the time during the plague, like during the, the latter 16 hundreds. So, but it said, you know he describes in this fiction book, but about how the people being buried in these mass graves with these crazy concoctions of charms and amulets and, and things on their person that were, you know, just meant to ward off the plague, essentially the, to tying a that's a frog and a, to you really extra a toad around your neck was believed to draw out the disease from your body.
Yasmine:So you'd put it on a sick person. Yeah. Well, or if you're not feeling good. Yeah. So, yeah. So like we take, what is that medicine airborne? When we start feeling not good they would put a, to pop a toe on and right. So that was
Jen:one for some reason was believed that. Yeah. So that's just interesting. And I had to include that in case someone had any more thoughts about right. Yeah. That's
Yasmine:crazy.
Jen:So last one for me is touching a corpse for good luck.
Yasmine:No, no, thank you. OK.
Jen:So corpses were believed to essentially be the embodiment of the veil between life and death. Okay. That was the most visual right there, you know tangible in your face, you know, thing. So. They believe that the, the corpse then held supernatural powers that you could harness by touching it or collecting things from it to use. Okay. And so essentially, if you touched the forehead, then that would release you from your own fear of death. Oh, oh, oh yeah. And you wouldn't be haunted by the person. They wouldn't come back and haunt you. Okay. So here for that. The hand you that could cure wart, because this is great. It transferred the, the, the wart from you to the corpse. It would shrivel, you could watch your wart shrivel up and going away as the body decomposed.
Yasmine:I like that. So
Jen:also now they would treat goiters, tumors and hemorroids with the sweat of a new, thank you, Lord corpse because I guess, I don't know why, so
Yasmine:I mean, when you don't have access to cream, then.
Jen:The first of a newly deceased person, right? Why not? so, yeah. Anyway then also if you, in the, I didn't write down no it's 17th century, 17th century, and a lot of people might have heard this. So if a corpse has a blood coming from the nose mm-hmm that meant that they had been murdered and the murderer was in the room. So what they would then do would be to have the people, well, you know, any suspects or, or whatever, to come and touch the corpse. And if the nose bled again, you had your murderer case closed, right. Case closed.
Yasmine:Wow.
Jen:That's incredible. And just as a side note that I was like, it said, you know, however, if you touch the corpse and it's still unusually warm after, you know, a period of time or rigor hasn't set in and, and has like in a expected timeframe, then another death would soon follow. And all I could think of was that was premature burials
Yasmine:yes. Yes. Oh my gosh. Still they're just unconscious. Yeah. Yeah, that is interesting. I up with good job. That was a lot of
Jen:wow. Oh my, I know I couldn't stop. I'm sorry, everyone.
Yasmine:Yeah, no, that's awesome. Okay. Let me, let me get ready. Okay. Google doc. I put it all on my
Jen:phone,
Yasmine:all right. So the purpose of superstition, the way I understand it is to explain the unexplainable to look for and explain patterns in day to day, life nature, enrich life with common beliefs, and it helps you to recognize like your people through common experiences and beliefs. I mean, you mentioned yeah, having some Southern superstitions and, you know, I mentioned one that, you know, I'd heard, you know, where we live. And also a fear of new technology and desire for a simple explanation. Sometimes explanations are a lot more complicated than we have understanding where the people in the past have had understanding. So it just gives us a straightforward answer, whether it's right or not, it's acceptable.
Jen:Acceptable. That's a key word yet.
Yasmine:okay. So personally I'm not a superstitious person, but I am a little stitious I do enjoy researching and discovering answers for things that seem far fetched. However, I'm very trusting and maybe a little bit naive. So that being said, I did mention my mother and her family. Some of those come from religious based beliefs, but others are just, things passed down orally through times when things were harder to research. We talked about that a little bit. Unfortunately that means a lot of advice, especially during pregnancy when I was pregnant. Oh, they would not stop with the old lives tales. Ugh.
Jen:It's the boy or a girl. And
Yasmine:you can lift your hands over your head because it tie it the cord on the baby's neck or something like that, like, oh, that's not true, but oh, wearing a safety pin or something metal on your belly during an eclipse to ward off. Whatever the eclipse does. I don't know. eclipse does nothing, but
Jen:absolutely.
Yasmine:What is anyways. Yeah. With both my pregnancies, there were eclipse that happened and my mom always made it a point to like call me or actually with my first she brought over like an extra large safety pen. She's like, oh, you put it on your, you know, clip it to your pants or whatever. I'm like, okay, mom, whatever. So, anyways, so that's just a little
Jen:I bet. So did do her end with two with both of them? Yeah. Like the eclipse.
Yasmine:Yeah. So she really, it, it enforced her thinking, my God, oh gosh, there's another one, you know, like let's yeah. Make sure we do it again. You know,
Jen:the, and that's like, to me, that's like the, almost the, the confirmation, you know? Yeah. The patterns and things like that effect. I can't remember what the actual term for that was, but anyway, yes, that's funny. It just, yeah. Reinforces that, you know, you did this and everything was fine. Now, here we are. Again, you
Yasmine:gotta do again.
Jen:Yeah. So
Yasmine:okay. So in browsing through the dictionary of superstitions, I realized that just about everything. A lot of stuff has some superstition surrounding it in some way. It's really fascinating to flip through it. And I did learn some interesting stuff. Today I'm gonna talk about baseball first. I did mention I'm a baseball mom. It's what I do. It's what I love. It's who I am. Mm-hmm so naturally we're gonna talk about it. Baseball America's favorite pastime has been around for a long time and over the years, the superstitions surrounding wins and losses is ever present and evolving. So we're gonna talk about some general wins. Just kind of like rapid fire baseball cap on the bed. Bad games on Fridays bad. oh, if you see a member of the clergy, it's bad, seeing your red head in the stands is good. Getting a hair pin from said red haired lady, it's gotta be a lady is better. Seeing a truckload of empty barrels is good. Excuse me? What okay. It said that this is this led to the New York giant streak of victories one season long, long time ago when the giants were in New York left handed pitcher is good. And any lefty in the lineup is good too. Literally every baseball team that my kids have been on over the. The coaches will ask for a lefty, like any lefties that are in the division. All the coaches want one. Wow. It's crazy. Some fans will flip their hats inside out. Oh, go ahead. I'm
Jen:sorry. I guess cuz it's where that's of course nondominant for most, you know? Yeah. They're lucky because it's more rare to be lefthanded I assume.
Yasmine:And the way that the pitches go or whatever, they're lined up a little bit better or maybe worse for a right handed pitcher. And so it's more likely that they'll either hit or down base something, something like that. Some fans will flip their hats inside out for a rally or rally cap usually during the last stemming few more bad ones stepping on the chalk. Everybody jumps over the chalk, even ump a cross item empire. like, obviously it's not good an afflicted woman. Like what does that even mean? And where can she not be at the field at all in the stands?
Jen:Oh, I wonder if that has to do with menstruation, maybe
Yasmine:all it said was afflicted. So yeah, probably
Jen:you know where women were, you know, they couldn't go to the temple. Right. I don't know. That's. That's the only explanation that,
Yasmine:right. That's a regular thing anyway. Exactly. Play with a damaged bat. Not good, obviously. Yeah. A bat line crosswise in front of the dugout, not good losing an item of team clothing and a dog walking on the field during play Okay. So that, those last two really get me as a baseball mom for a long, long time. Keeping all the baseball gear together is an art. Honestly, in itself, we have systems and plans and special places to keep things. But I mean, how many times should I actually go buy a red belt? and where the heck are the socks with? No, when the holes come on, like things get lost, things get damaged. So
Jen:I know off, off, like you had mentioned that they didn't have a great season. Oh yeah. And now is it the missing socks?
Yasmine:May? Yeah. I'm telling you, my son probably played every game with a hole in his socks or we'd buy new socks because they'd be, think it was maybe the new socks. Maybe I just shouldn't wash socks all how it happens. Great. One less thing to do. All right. And then the, the dog on the field thing. So most of our fields are at parks dogs, actually that accidentally get on the field sometimes. Okay. Let me tell you. I've actually had to tell grown adults not to walk their dog through our games again. Like somebody would do it. Okay. They're leaving. But then they come back. It's like excuse me, you're gonna get hit by a ball. What are you doing? It's distracting for everyone annoying. And I'm glad it's not a superstition. That is a fact because it's actually a regular occurrence, regular currents. So team superstitions are alive and well now too. The Phillies had a potted plant, a bamboo that they credited with wins in 2019 and bamboo they're lucky, but you're right. But they took it with them everywhere. Yeah. And they would talk to it and you take care of it. So, yeah. Yeah. And there's like the
Jen:money trees, right. People will give daily
Yasmine:Wes and things. Yeah. That I have killed many times
Jen:just middle of the road, you know
Yasmine:in 2016, a large praying mantis was credited with helping the Royals win a series, turning their season around It just landed on one of the player's hats and it was lucky, so, oh, okay. so a few ways that baseball players can safeguard their luck is spitting in their gloves, girls, ah not sharing their bat. It's thought that the bats have a certain amount of hits, like, okay. And then that's it. Lucky bats, gloves, specific socks. And of course, each player seems to have their own rituals at the plate from stepping in with a certain foot, tapping the plate with their bat, kissing a rosary. My son actually says if he swings at a bad pitch, he'll repeat the mistake in his head. Hoping it'll keep him from swinging at a pitch like that. Again, I don't know if that's really a superstition or more of a ritual, but wow. Even as young as nine years old, he's already. Yeah. Cause this thing. So we take all the things we love. Seriously. Baseball is loved by a lot of people, so I'm not surprised that at all by most of these and I'm sure there are many more. The other thing that I find interesting is that even though there are a lot of individual superstitions surrounding a player's game, but the teams and fans get on the superstitions and rituals as. I'm sure we all know someone who doesn't wash their team Jersey during regular season play and sometimes no shaving during championships, which is really interesting. We've seen. So yeah, that's it on baseball? Do you have any specifically that you know of, or that you guys do?
Jen:I do not. Not with baseball. And I think because I'm a red Sox fan it is what it is. Yeah. I that's all I'm gonna say. Yeah. That's all right. I did though. Well, no, wait. So I did, I'm a huge antique collector and things like that. And so I did find at a, a flea market one time, I think we were in, I think it was in Maine a red Sox, like baseball player child doll, like a stuffed, you know, I mean having a hard time explaining it anyway, but he was in the red Sox uniform mm-hmm and so I got that and gave it to my dad for Christmas mm-hmm and he will set him up. What he did, he used to set him. Beside the TV during baseball season. Oh, wow. And I wish I could remember. I can't remember what year. I mean, certainly after the, the last time that they won world series, but that, well, that probably says enough right there that,
Yasmine:yeah. So no more at all.
Jen:No more. No, no. Okay. So yeah, we've joked, but he, he likes him, so he keeps him keeps him, but but no, I don't really, I'm more the we're doing a lot
Yasmine:of like, come on
Jen:and move. Yeah, yeah. That stuff. And then after it ends, I'm the one that's like explaining to everyone why the red Sox do not suck, you know? Right. Even when it was like the worst. But yeah. So no, I,
Yasmine:yeah, yeah, not really heavily. Super. I know my husband has he's a New York giants football fan and he has a particular sweater that does not get washed during the season. Oh. So, okay. I try not to touch it. right. I like, that's your thing. Mm-hmm anyways. So another topic that I found really interesting and that has a few superstitions surrounding it is drunkenness. Oh, people love to try and keep drinking in a sweet spot and enjoy, eh, enjoy, avoid hangover but some really hilarious superstitions have grown out of drunk people trying stuff. So here we go. A modern belief for saying is liquor before beer in the clear beer before liquor never been sicker. I think that's it always get that wrong? Yeah, me too. I, I hope that I got it right. then I
Jen:don't drink beer. So I feel like I'm in the clear
Yasmine:sure. Yeah. Me either. so like, but what about Seltzer? Where does that fly? Is that more like beer or is that more like,
Jen:I'm just now? Yeah. Somewhat into the, the truly, so,
Yasmine:yeah. And what about wine? Like where does that fall? Can I have a shot when I'm drinking wine? No, probably not.
Jen:Wine is bad. There
Yasmine:is it bad news spirit. Good. Oh, so I haven't officially tested that there's been no, you know, trying it out because I don't drink beer. I don't like it, but it always seems to come up when drinking with friends. So. Common cures for the dreaded hangover hair of the dog, that bit you so like a bloody Mary with breakfast mm-hmm or fried food to soak up the alcohol, which sounds gross. But but back in history, someone would've slipped, something gross into your drink to get you to slow down, such as owls, eggs, a few drops of the drinker's own blood. Like, do you collect that first? No. Thank you. Or do you cut them while they're drunk? And they already give alcohol on their bloodstream? Like they wouldn't have known that,
Jen:but they was that like part of like the DD duties,
Yasmine:a dead man's ground up bone. Sprinkle those in a drink. And live eels. you just have one of those in your back pocket. Ready to go. what am I gonna do with it? Put it in the drunk person's drink. I don't know, like how big is my cup? How big is your cup and where are you keeping it? Like, I have no idea. These cracked me up cuz I. This is outta control. Just trying different stuff, because the people trying to get the person to slow down drinking, they were probably drinking too. Just maybe, you know,
Jen:very true
Yasmine:that we get real creative so nowadays, if we wanna sober up quickly, we'll chug some water, have a coffee, have something to eat but back in the day, the drunk one would be rolling manure.
Jen:Oh, that would sober me up.
Yasmine:Yeah, same. They would be made to drink olive at oil. Hm. Forced to smell his own urine and bind his genitals in the vinegar soaked rag. Gross. Whose job would that have been again? The get over here, vinegar, like again, so what if the drinker was a lady? Like how would she sober up then?
Jen:and these idiot men, I don't, I don't
Yasmine:know. Just urine. Maybe they wait, what was I saying? Oh, maybe they weren't allowed to get drunk. Who. Okay. I'm sure it was probably very
Jen:unladylike.
Yasmine:Right. The Welsh believed that eating the roast lungs of a pig would allow the person to drink all day. Awesome. Now we just stay drink while we barbecue or binge watch Netflix. So we just take it easy. See so yeah, that's, that's it on drunkenness. I thought that was really funny and interesting. I did wanna talk a little bit about cats. That's more of like a common superstition that you hear a little bit more. Yeah. More widely known superstitions. Black cats specifically. I did see a cat in your background. Do you only have one or do you have more than one? I
Jen:have two. I have one that is a, bengal that should have been the one that you saw in here. And then I have a solid white cat with blue eyes. He is deaf as most cats with white cats with blue eyes Uhhuh. 50, 50. I'm not sure what the statistics are, but they'll be deaf, but the white cat. I adopted him after my previous cat. Who was very, very, very, very old. She passed away, but she was a solid black cat with gorgeous green eyes that we had adopted when she was very, very, very young. And I have to say the Grumpiest cat I've ever owned, and I've always had cats all my life that I've ever had grumpy all the time, the black
Yasmine:cat oh my goodness.
Jen:Yeah. Quite a bit of mileage out of that. And and Megan has spaz who he is a, a very older gentleman mm-hmm and he is a solid black cat and he has major, major attitude. He's a major attitude. Yeah. So yeah, people that have owned black cats, I will have to say they do usually say that there's something
Yasmine:about, yeah. Something, a little extra little attitude or something. I love it,
Jen:but I think we're probably just looking for it based on the superstition and the, or just our back knowledge of
Yasmine:yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I love cats. But I'm so allergic. I grew, it's a bummer cuz my kids want a cat so bad. I grew up always having cats. My mom's a cat lover. Maybe someday. I don't know.
Jen:I told you said you could get one of those hairless. I can't
Yasmine:remember whats Sphynx. That, is that what they were? I think the Rachel had him friends Hmm. Oh,
Jen:I remember that. And I lot friends, but anyway, you know, just saying yeah,
Yasmine:I dunno. So my mom always had cats. I got the unique experience of seeing many kittens being born, helping care for sick or not thriving babies. Rehoming caring for injured cats. And of course benefiting from the occasional cat that picked me as their favorite in doing this research. I learned that while generally black cats are considered omens of bad luck, but in other cultures they're viewed as benevolent and even supernatural symbols of prosperity. Mm-hmm so let's jump in the cultures. These superstitions are thought to originate are ancient Egypt and Greek mythology in ancient Egypt. They're seen as divine beings and being graced with their presence was an honor. I love that cause cats really are so picky with who they love and how they spend their time.
Jen:Absolutely. They will always find the person in the room that does not like cats. Right. And be so into
Yasmine:them. Yeah. It's like they wanna win you over. They just know. I love it. So they're also generally nocturnal hunters. So, you know, they're not always available in the day cause they're sleeping or whatever. So they were treasured pets. A wealthier Egyptian family would dress some in jewels and expensive material. They'd be given delicious treats and upon their death would be mummified along with their owners. So their mummified body would be placed with their owners or held onto until their owners passed. So many gods and goddesses of Egyptian culture were thought to have been able to change their form into animal form. Oh cute.
Jen:Oh,
Yasmine:we're talking about, we need a prompt. Yes but the only deity able to change into a cat was bass dissect. There are paintings in scriptures that still survive today. That honor Egyptian's most beloved pet. I thought that's so interesting that even now yeah, they, those things survive. I love it. So the other side of it in Greek mythology, the goddess, he Getty the chief presider over magic and spells was thought to have a cat, not only as her pet, but her familiar. So I don't know if it was multiple cats or the same one that she's thought to have taken care of, but was also her familiar, probably multiple. So unfortunately the idea that cats were associated with magic and witchcraft persisted through the rise of Christianity and the rise of the Roman empire as pagans and naturalists were pushed to the edges of acceptable society. So were their symbols eventually leading to witch hunts in Europe and the killing and torture of anyone, especially women who were thought to be witches. In the 13th century, there's an official document where in Pope Gregory, the ninth declares cats, an incarnation of Satan, such strong lady, such strong language for our kitties that we love. Awesome. This decree marked what is thought to be the beginning of the inquisition in church sanctioned violence. Oh, wow. So for a long time, Christianity survived alongside witches and practitioners on Wiccan. You mentioned that where they the cultures kind of existed alongside each other, and there was a place for witches and soothsayers and things like that. Okay. But not for too long. Unfortunately, cats were connected very strongly with those outside of Christianity and women thought to be witches. I came across a quote that actually was, that kind of moved me a little bit. So here we go, cats, like the women accused of witchcraft tend to exhibit a healthy disrespect authority. They don't fawn like dogs upon even unworthy in the church. Neither independent women nor independent animals were to be tolerated. So this is a quote from Sara win falling star who wrote broth from the wisdom journey of everyday magic. Ah, it was. Wow. Yes.
Jen:Like, yes,
Yasmine:it's the church couldn't stand to abide a woman standing up and of course their symbols were not abide as well, so. Yep.
Jen:And and that's just so interesting. I know, just on the podcast we've done talked a lot about the witchcraft and the, the witches how they were so hated, but they were also, or feared, but they were also the first ones that people would seek out when yeah. They had an illness or you know, because they, they were the medicine women, you
Yasmine:know, right. A solution to a problem, just plants, that
Jen:things that we use today, a lot of people don't realize how much modern medicine relies on Yeah. Some plants and things that have been discovered and, you know, very ancient, you know, times, so right. It's the people that would have that knowledge in the, in every community, you know, there would be one and they would just be equally revered and feared, you know, and feared. Right, right. And unfortunately the church would, yeah. Perpetuate that because again, if they couldn't couldn't understand it, they couldn't accept
Yasmine:it. Exactly. Yeah. So. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, this thinking made its way across the Atlantic with the Puritan colonists mm-hmm and has made its way into modern culture. Black cats are among the most abandoned or surrendered animals during Halloween season. Oh wait. Those are two separate thoughts. Black cats are among the most abandoned or surrendered animals during Halloween season. I still see posts on Facebook or Instagram, whatever warning pet lovers to keep their black cats indoors and protected. Cause people are still after'em. The superstition that is, is that if a black cat crosses your path, that it's on a mission from a witch. And since witches were thought to be on mission from the devil, therefore cats were up to the devil's work. It's kind of a little bit of a like witches are on their devil's mission and they send their cats. So the cats are on the devil's mission as well. Right. No
Jen:surrogate.
Yasmine:Right, exactly. And then the thinking of they're they're familiar too. they're so I love it. So like a, a witch could change into a cat. So maybe that cat that is crossing your path is the witch herself
Jen:shape shifting.
Yasmine:Right. Right. So. In order to ward off that bad luck, you could go be blessed by a priest or cross yourself this whole, you know
Jen:that, oh, people do the windshield, the, have you noticed that they're oh, instead of like crossing themselves, they'll like cross their windshield. What?
Yasmine:I haven't seen that. Yeah. Know that
Jen:that was not the, I mean, crossing yourself makes much more sense.
Yasmine:like in a car cross your windshield.
Jen:Yeah. So if you're in your car and a black cat runs out, then you will see people literally take their little finger and making X on their windshield. Okay. Wow.
Yasmine:Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I don't, I don't know what that is. Yeah. So
Jen:that always comes from crossing yourself, which like I said, makes so much more sense than your windshield. Yeah. Think about like, why does this make sense at all?
Yasmine:I mean, really like, it takes a lot of, kind of historical and mental gymnastics to get to the place where a cat is bad luck, but yeah. That's where we're so, oh my gosh, that is black cats. And that is my part on superstition. Awesome.
Jen:I feel so long
Yasmine:winded no, I I'll have to add more to the next one.
Jen:no, I am long winded. I am known as that on this podcast, so but I so hope everybody enjoyed this. I know I definitely did. And if everybody you're gonna get us censored on the internet Watson and especially if you enjoyed the video component of everything let us know and we'll keep, keep doing that. Oh, what else was I gonna say? Oh, so new thing is that we will now have a can't think of the tense of this word transcribed version of this entire podcast available. So that will be on the website for sure. I. Think there's another way that I can do that. But I, I will say on the website for sure. And so that'll be awesome and we're, I'm very glad to be able to provide that for those that are hearing impaired and that kind of thing. So that's, yeah, that should be great. New thing that I'm really thrilled that that we're able to do. So that's cool. And we'll work on the captions with the video itself. So this is the first time and we kind of did the whole video thing on the fly. But know, I think I saw that option that we can do on here. So we'll work on that too, but thanks everybody. And of course, if you have any thoughts or any insight into any of these superstitions, particularly on the Norse mythology, that's driving me nuts on the, the Fri or the 13th, the number 13 mm-hmm we would absolutely love to hear it. And so our socials are super easy and I'm realizing that Megan normally read those out and but they are super easy. I can do this. So the email is mavens ofmisdeeds@gmail.com. And with the exception of Twitter, everything is just Maven of Mis deeds for Facebook, all that. But with Twitter, I think you lose the S in mavens. Pretty sure. And we are on TikTok as well, have not posted anything on TikTok, but that will be changing. And yeah. Awesome. So thank you. Yes, I'm so excited to have you join me. It's been awesome. And also I always say, let me know if you've got any topics or anything on the, the weird unexplained all of that that you would like us to cover. We would greatly appreciate any input there,
Yasmine:so yeah, that'd be awesome. Can I maybe add one thing? So in research for this I kind of looked at like local superstitions, but that led me more to like ghost stories and local hometown beliefs or what have you. So I think I'm gonna delve a little bit more into that, but if anybody has their own local like ghost stories or something like that, that'd be awesome to, to hear from you
Jen:guys too. It would be so awesome. Yeah. Ya and I have talked off Mic, it would, I would love to be able to do a listener stories sort of thing. That would be absolutely amazing. So if you want to, to email something in or get in touch on social media or if you want to join us and tell the story yourself, that can be arranged. Good. Yeah, that would be fun. I always think it's, you know Really fun when the person that maybe has experienced it, you know, yeah. I have a few of our own experiences with the unexplained and paranormal. So we'd be happy to, to chime in share. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. That's awesome. All right, well, thanks. All right. And we will see you next time.
Yasmine:Bye. Bye.
