First Cuckoo, Swallow and House Martin of the year!

Swallow

[Yesterday I heard my first Cuckoo, saw my first 4 swallows (and one house martin) of the year on the edge of Dartmoor!

Needless to say I took the soil from under my right foot on hearing the Cuckoo and scattered it in front of the door to keep out insect pests.

I didn't however sit on the top bar of the nearest gate, nor did I run in circles three times with the sun and I did hear it on the left, - so I may have a lazy year full of misfortune....  Hope not!

 There is a consultation happening in the UK on repealing a lot of environmental protection laws (Clean Air Act, Countryside and Wildlife Act, National Parks Act and The Climate Change Act).  

In honour of the three heralds of the turning year I saw yesterday I would like to recommend this petition suggesting that repealing these laws is not a good idea. Don't worry, I wont politicize this blog - I simply could not resist posting this given the joy I felt at seeing the swallows swooping through the spring sky. 

Long may they thrive, and all who seek to protect them!  Remember - it is unlucky to harm a swallow...]

Devon charm to keep fleas and other insects out of the house

Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) - by By Ken Billington (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"When you first hear the cuckoo in the Spring, take some of the earth from the place on which your right foot is standing, and sprinkle it on the threshold of your front door; but speak of it to no one. Neither fleas, beetles, earwigs, or vermin of any sort will cross it."

Hewett 1900

Devon charm to cure the Kings Evil, or Scrofula, or cervical tuberculous lymphadenopathy .

King's Evil, Scrofula, or cervical tuberculous lymphadenopathy are all the same disease.

"After morning service in the parish church, the nearest male relative, in the case of a woman ; or in the case of a man, the nearest female relative, stations him or her self, on the right-hand side of the porch, holding his or her hat, into which young men (or women), between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, drop a penny to the number of thirty. The pennies so collected are changed for a silver half-crown. The centre of this coin is cut out, and the outer ring is suspended as a charm to the neck of the afflicted person. The centre piece is reserved until the next funeral takes place, when it is dropped into the grave just before the coffin is lowered into it."

Hewett 1900

Devon Charm to find out who will be your future husband

Paul Signac - Red Silk Stockings - 1935

"Whoso wishes to see the spectre of a future husband can do so by performing the following rite. Retire to bed just before midnight, as quietly as possible. Remove the left garter, and tie it round the right stocking, while doing so repeat the following :

This knot I knit, to know the thing I know not yet
That I may see, the man that shall my husband be,
How he goes, and what he wears,
And what he does all days and years. 

During the night, the future "he" will appear dressed in his ordinary attire, carrying some badge of his trade or profession."

Hewett 1900

Unlucky in Devon - 71 & 72

Right ear - By Klaus D. Peter, Wiehl, Germany (Own work) [CC-BY-2.0-de (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons

"If one's right ear gets very hot it shows that one's friends are speaking in laudatory terms of one. On the other hand, if one's left ear burns, then the friends are "picking holes in one's jacket."

Let left or right burn at night, 

then all things are well, 

both in and out of sight."

Hewett 1900

Lucky in Devon - 28

Cuckoo By GabrielBuissart (self-made, Romelaere, Clairmarais FR.) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"If one hears the cuckoo to the right it portends good fortune, but to hear his voice on the left is a sure sign of impending misfortune."

Hewett 1900

Lucky in Devon - 24

Francis Drake, putting his right foot first! - painted 1580

It is lucky

"To put the right foot first, because it ensures success."

Hewett 1900

Lucky in Devon - 13

A Grey Horse in a Landscape. ca 1650 Aelbert Cuyp

 It is lucky

"To spit over the right shoulder when one meets a grey horse."

Hewett 1900

Lucky in Devon - 8

A non-Devon Confirmation at St. Jude Roman Catholic Church H.E. Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais March 4, 2008 Some rights reserved by Jim, the Photographer  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcapaldi/2316932121/sizes/l/

It is lucky -

"To receive the right hand of the bishop on one's head at confirmation."

Hewett 1900

Lucky in Devon - 3

Some rights reserved by shimgray http://www.flickr.com/photos/shimgray/2321991098/sizes/z/

It is lucky to -

"To see the new moon over the right shoulder if one is out of doors."

Hewett 1900

Ash and Clover charms in Devon

Four-leaved Clover - Some rights reserved by SuperFantastic

 

"AN even leaved ash and a four leaved clover
Are certain to bring to me my true love
Before the day is over.

An even leaved ash and a four leaved clover are beneficent attractors of the opposite sex, for if one finds an even leaved ash and holds it flat between both hands, and repeats softly,

" With this even leaved ash between my hands
The first I meet will be my dear man."

then placing it in the palm of the gloved right hand, say,

 

" This placed in my glove
Will bring my own true love."

then remove it to the bosom and whisper,

" This even leaved ash in my bosom
Will give me, in the first man I meet
My true husband.""

Hewett 1900

A normal odd-leaved Ash leaf - I have found even leaved ones in the past, but only rarely - By Pearson Scott Foresman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Hewett's Haloween - Part 4 - Apple and comb love-charm

"After this, one of the girls took an apple, a comb, and a mirror, and retired to the brightest corner of the room, where she began to comb out her long tresses with her left hand and held an apple in the right, which she slowly ate. Her future husband was expected to look over her shoulder, revealing his face to her in the mirror. He did not, however, satisfy our curiosity by putting in an appearance."

Hewett 1900

Map - Haldon Hills 

Padstow Mermaid

"THE port of Padstow has a good natural harbour, so far as rocky area goes, but it is so choked up with drifting sands as to be nearly useless. A peasant recently thus explained the cause. He told how "it was once deep water for the largest vessel, and under the care of a merry-maid--as he called her; but one day, as she was sporting on the surface, a fellow with a gun shot at her. "She dived for a moment; but re-appearing, raised her right arm, and vowed that henceforth the harbour should be desolate." "And," added the old man, "it always will be so. We have had commissions, and I know not what, about converting this place into a harbour of refuge. A harbour of refuge would be a great blessing, but not all the Goyernment commissions in the world could keep the sand out, or make the harbour deep enough to swim a frigate, unless the parsons can find out the way to take up the merry-maid's curse."

Another tale refers the choking up of this harbour to the bad spirit Tregeagle. --"

Hunt 1903

How Joan lost the sight in her eye - part 2

'...Joan went in, and Betty was delighted, sure enough, to see her, and sent the children out of the way. But Betty couldn't walk to Penzance, she was suffering pain, and she had been taking milk and suet, and brandy arid rue, and she must have some more. So away went Betty to the othe, room for the bottle.

Joan seized the moment, and taking a very small bit of the ointment on her finger, she touched her right eye with it. Betty came with the bottle, and Joan had a think; when she looked round she was surprised to see the house swarming with small people. They were playing all sorts of pranks on the key-beams and rafters. Some were swinging on cobwebs some were riding the mice, and others were chasing them into and out of the holes in the thatch. Joan was surprised at the sight, and thought she must have a four-leaved clover about her...' [cont.]

Hunt 1903

Fairy Ointment - part 4

'..."Oh, then, you see me with the right, do you?"

Then Tom put his finger on her right eye, and from that moment she was blind on that side.

On her way home, Nancy was always going off the road on her blind side; but the hedges kept her from wandering far away. On the downs near Pendeen there were no hedges, so Nancy wandered into a furze brake,--night came on, she could not find her way out, and she was found in it the next morning fast asleep.
The old Squire was out hunting in the early morning, according to his usual custom. In passing along the road leading to Carnyorth, he saw a woman's knitting-work hanging on a bramble, and the yarn from the stocking leading away into the brake. He took the yarn in his hand and followed it until he came to the old woman, who had the ball in her pocket...' [cont.]

Hunt 1903