Strange Customs

Throughout the South and Midwest (but originating in England), there is the charming custom that country girls have of going out into the woods after dark, taking hold of the tip of a leaf, and saying slowly:

If I am to marry near,
Let me hear a bird cry.
If 1 am to marry far.
Let me hear a cow low.
If I am to single die,
Let me hear a knocking by.

One of the sounds is always heard. Usually this is done alone, but very often two girls go together.
One woman wrote that she had done this as a youngster with a friend and that she had heard a bird cry, but that her friend had heard a knocking. "I got married, but she never did."

Another version of the rhyme goes:
Low for a foreigner,
Bark for a near one.
Crow for a farmer,
Screak, tree, screak, if I'm to die first.
This must be said at midnight while walking around a peach tree.

Run three times around the house, and on the third round a vision of your husband will rise before you.

On the first day of Spring, shout into a rain barrel that stands at the corner of the house. If you hear an echo, you will marry the first unmarried man who comes around the corner of the house.

"If you want to find out your future husband, walk out of the house backward and walk to a peach tree; break off a small limb, then walk backward to the house and throw that limb in the fire; then walk backward to the door while that peach limb is burning, and when you get to the door, your future husband will grab you in his aims."

Throw a ball of yarn into a barn or old house, holding the end of the yarn. Then wind it back lo you, saying, "I wind, and who holds?" You will see your future husband in the barn or house.

Stub your toe,
Lose your beau.
On the Other hand:
Stub your toe,
Kiss your thumb,
See your beau
Before evening comes.

If a couple are out walking together and stumble, it is a sign that they will be married.

If you stumble up the stairs, it is a sign of marriage. The closer to the top of the stairs, the sooner the marriage.

When a cat washes its face in front of several persons, the first person at whom it looks will be the first to be married.

Place a quilt on the floor, put a cat in the center of it, and let four or more girls take hold of the corners. Lift the quilt, and toss it and shake it to scare the cat. The girl toward whom or nearest to whom the cat jumps getting out of the quilt will be the first to be married.

When a girl accidentally steps on a cats tail, she will be married within the year.

Before going to bed, remove seven cards from a deck without looking at them, put them in an envelope, and place the envelope under your pillow. Examine the cards the next morning. If the majority are hearts and diamonds, you will be married that year; if spades and clubs, you will not marry that year.

If a chair falls backward as you rise from it at table, you will not be married that year. If someone who wishes you ill begins to count under his or her breath before you can pick it up, the number counted stands for the number of years before you will be married.

Never let a man enter the front door on Monday if you want to be married. Make him come in through the back door, or you will live forever in single blessedness.

A scratch up and down
Is a lover found,
And a scratch across
Is a lover lost.

Lose your garter and you will lose your sweetheart.

Where cobwebs grow
Beaux never go!

Never let anyone sweep your feet, or sweep under your feet, or sweep beneath the chair on which you are sitting-you will not marry if this happens.

If a skunk comes by, it is a sign of a new courtship.

A white pigeon coming near your doorstep means that your lover will soon propose to you.

The quarter in which you hear the cooing of the first dove - or the sound of the first robin - of the season is the direction from which a new sweetheart will come.

A white speck on your little fingernail foretells a new sweetheart.

"Take a large rose petal, gather the edges into a ball, and hit it on your head. If it pops, he loves you. If it doesn't pop, he doesn't love you."

"If you want to find out what boy loves you, go out in the field and get some blue thistle buds, then write the names of boy friends on paper and pin each name on the bottom of a bud. Then put them in a big pan of water and set it under your bed when you go to bed that night, and the one that loves you and you will marry will all be bloom, floating around on the top."

To know whether your sweetheart loves you, cut a lemon in half and rub both pieces on the four posts or corners of your bed, and then put the two halves under your pillow. If you see him in a dream, he is faithful. If you do not dream of him, he is faithless.

Think of your sweetheart when you have the hiccups. If they stop immediately, he loves you. If they continue, you are not loved by him.

When you see a turkey buzzard flying alone, say:

Sail, sail, lonely, lonesome turkey buzzard!
Sail to the East, sail to the West,
Sail to the one that I love best.
Flap your wings before you fly out of sight,
That I may see my true love before Saturday night.

If he flaps his wings three times, you will see your lover, who is true to you. If he does not flap his wings, the lover is false.

On Saturday night, walk around a tall white yarrow three times, saying:

Good evening, good evening, Mr. Yarrow,
I hope I see you well tonight,
And trust I'll see you at meetin' tomorrow.

Then pluck the head, put it inside your dress, and sleep with it. The first person you meet, to speak to, at church will be your husband.

Pick a sprig of yarrow, put the stem up your nose, and say:

Yarrow, yarrow, if he loves me and I loves he,
A drop of blood I'd wish to see.

If blood appears, it shows that you are loved.

If you want to sneeze and cannot, it is a sign someone loves you, and does not dare to tell it.

Sneeze before breakfast, and you will see your sweetheart before Saturday night.

Think of the one you love when you are about to sneeze, and at the same time press your upper lip. If your beau loves you, you will not sneeze.

Sneeze before you eat,
See your sweetheart before you sleep.

If you wish to see your absent lover, the first time you go a-Maying pluck the first flower you see and breathe upon it three times, saying aloud:

Flower pink, flower white,
I wish to see my love tonight

He will be sure to come.

Throw a little salt in the fire on three successive Friday nights, while saying:

It is not this salt I wish to burn,
It is my lover's heart to turn,
That he may neither rest nor happy be,
Until he comes and speaks to me.

On the third Friday, he should appear.

If you wish your sailor lad to think of you during his absence, bury some sea sand in your pansy bed, and water the flowers before the sun shines on them.