“Everyday” Appalachian Superstitions

I grew up in a very superstitious family, especially my grandma. I try not to walk on graves, I believe death comes in threes and many, many more. I love historical fiction and I, too, incorporate many of these superstitions and traditions into my stories.I have a historical novel I’m about ready to release that’s titled, Where the Stars Grant Wishes, that takes place in 1908/1910 era and was inspired by the life of my grandparents and the novel, Christy, and I have incorporated many superstitions and traditions into it. Good luck with your novel.

Don’t wash laundry on the first of the year because it signifies to the spirits you are washing away the ones you love.

If you dream of a bird, someone you love will die. A bird in a house is also a death omen. Taking an old broom into a new house is bad luck. Keep a buckeye in your pocket to ease arthritis pain. Tying a lead weight around someone’s neck will stop their nose bleeds. If your nose itches on the right, a man is coming to visit; on the left side means a woman. A woman whose last name didn’t change when she married, or who never knew her father, can breathe down a baby’s throat to cure thrush.

I grew up in Appalachia and these were some of my Mother’s “Sayings”:

If you sing before breakfast, you’ll cry before supper.
If you always leave a little food on your plate at dinner, you’ll someday be rich.
Don’t sew on your clothes while wearing them. It will bring bad luck.
If a broom falls across a doorway that means company will soon be coming.
It is bad luck to kill a cricket in the house. Always catch it and take it outside.
If droplets of rainwater stay on the clothesline, it will rain again real soon.
Never bring a hoe into the house. It will cause bad luck
If, in the morning, you see enough blue sky to make Dutchman’s britches, it will not rain that day.
If you enter into the house through and go out the other, you’ll bring more company.
An itch on your right hand means you will soon meet someone. An itch on the left hand brings money.
If you sew on a Sunday, you will have to rip the stitches out with your nose in Heaven.
If you drop a spoon, a child will visit, if you drop a fork, a woman, a knife, a man.
On the 1st day of may, if you wash your face in the morning dew, you’ll never have freckles.
The first butterfly you see in the spring will be the color of a new dress you will get.
If you eat the heel or the crust of a loaf of bread, you will get curly hair.
If you drop a dishrag, company’s coming.
If a black cat crosses your path spit in your hat or count backwards from 9 before the cat leaves your sight.
If it rains while the sun is shining, it will rain the same time tomorrow.
On whatever day of the month the first snow fallls, that is how sorrows will come that year.
Don’t drink milk when you eat fish. It will upset your stomach.
See a penny? Pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck.
If you take bread while you already have some on your plate, someone’s coming who is hungry for bread.
When the Forsythia blooms, there will be three more snows.
Never whistle while sitting at the dinner table. It brings bad luck.
When your nose itches, someone’s coming. When your ear itches, someone’s talking about you.
A sore tongue means you told a lie.
If you see a falling star, say “money! money! money!” before it disappears and you will get money.
If a bird flies into the house, there will be a death in the family.
When you walk on a sidewalk and step on a crack, you’ll break your mother’s back.
While walking with someone on a sidewalk and you come upon an obstacle, don’t allow it to come between you. Both or all of you must go around the obstacle on the same side or some day, you will be separated in life.