Eliza Carthy's News of the Whirl: Rituals

How has your summer been? Ours has been quite late-blooming but is here with a balmy vengeance now. After last month’s worrying about the folk festivals it was nice to dive into a flourishing Sidmouth, and I’m about to head to FolkEast for the full weekend, celebrating their 12th year and their last at the lovely Glemham Hall.

So for a bit of fun [editor] Russ has suggested this month that we look at little weirdnesses, little rituals that we all must for some reason adhere to and perform, whether traditional or practised within our lovely familial bubbles of weirdness.

I took to the socials, and… wow. I have some truly strange friends! Here we go! First, the obvious ones:

Magpies.

Two rhymes for our black and white boss birds, plenty of greetings. They are clearly considered magic, and mostly helpful, though a solo chap can downgrade your luck, hence the need to greet them.

‘Magpie, magpie, flutter and flee; turn up your tail and bring good luck to me’ was said in our house, the magpie needing to respond with a tail flick. 

There is, of course, the nursery rhyme about magpies too: ‘One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy. Five for silver (or sixpence), six for gold, seven for a secret never told.’ 

And the more formal salutations:

‘Hello Mr Magpie, where’s your wife?’

‘Good morning Captain/Sir/Your Honour, how are you?’

Such greetings are usually accompanied by a salute or wave, though one friend blows raspberries, and fiddler Bryony Griffith’s granny used to lick her finger and turn three times when saying hers.

Salt.

Associated with the Devil. Next to the idea of never throwing food on the fire as you might ‘feed’ him, comes the fear that when dropping salt on the ground or spilling it, the same will happen. Lots of people throw a pinch over their left shoulder ‘to give him his due.’ Some think he gets it in his eye!

Eggs.

Sailors were very superstitious about eggs, among many other things! In a dangerous profession, you can understand why, though their obsession with witches sailing to them in eggshells seems a bit of a stretch. I am also fond of witches, so I’m torn.

Lots seem to have lucky/unlucky ways of eating eggs. Crushing, smashing and ‘topping’ all feature, so the witches can’t use the shells to reach ships to sink at sea. It’s only in my family that I’ve encountered a thing to say along with it. We cry ‘Save a sailor!’ while turning the empty shell over and smashing a spoon through the bottom. More recently, we’ve adopted a trick my great-aunt Stella used on her parents when she was very small. You turn it over and offer it, saying ‘Would roo like a nice agg?’

Spitting.

This happens a lot! Ladders, of course, should you have to walk under one. Warding off the Evil Eye by pretending to spit between two fingers whilst saying ‘ptooey!’ three times. And it’s good luck to spit when seeing a white horse.

On the road.

When travelling, say goodbye to your house, and greet it when you return. My Hungarian friend pats the outside of the aeroplane she is boarding for a safe journey. Several friends in the North-East area wave at the cranes in the Team Valley retail park, others beep their horns at Eddie Stobart trucks.

Seeing a yellow car? My kids shout ‘Yellow car!’ and punch each other, friends yell ‘Dave!’ (I told you we were odd. It gets worse).

A US friend will always shout ‘Hey! Hey! Hey!’ for every vehicle departing from their house, and you are required to sound your horn three times in response.

My friend Lynz kisses the tips of her fingers and touches the roof of her car every time she runs an orange light.

Bridges are good; the best I came across was a family who absolutely have to lift their feet off the floor and touch their hands to the ceiling until the crossing is done.

Crossing water in general has lots of rituals attached, and that includes manhole/drain covers. Walking over three or more is considered unlucky.

Sayings.

Glasgow-born Linda Thompson (whose new album, Proxy Music, is out now!), when making tea, recites, ‘Stir a pot, stir trouble!’

My first boss, hearing me whistle (lots of whistling ones), declared: ‘A whistling woman and a crowing hen, brings the Devil out of his den.’

When forgetting something you’ve left upstairs: ‘Me ‘ed’ll never save me legs!’

When shocked: ‘I’ll go to the foot of our stairs!’

When hearing the word ‘meringue’, replying ‘Nah, y’ahreet pet’ (NE again).

Being the first to shout ‘Dick Wolf!’ At the end of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (my family again).

I was always told it was unlucky to say ‘thank you’ when someone blesses your sneeze, so I say ‘excuse me’ instead. Similarly, my Polish friend Zofia will say ‘I’m not thanking’ when being wished good luck. They don’t know if that’s a Polish thing or not.

I’ll go to the foot of our stairs!