Folk Traditions/Customs

[Humph Warden Bennett]

Some rural Orthodox communities have an interesting if macabre tradition, which involves a service at a grave five years after death. During this service the remains of the departed one are disinterred, if the body is fully decomposed it is seen as a good sign, since the deceased sins have all been forgiven, and the skull & bones are then placed in an ossuary. It's seen as a kind of reverse burial, i.e the ultimate triumph over death.

[floo]

Some rural Orthodox communities have an interesting if macabre tradition, which involves a service at a grave five years after death. During this service the remains of the departed one are disinterred, if the body is fully decomposed it is seen as a good sign, since the deceased sins have all been forgiven, and the skull & bones are then placed in an ossuary. It's seen as a kind of reverse burial, i.e the ultimate triumph over death.

Lovely!

[Harrowby Hall]

And in other places it is a method of optimising scarce land. Burial plots are rented not owned.

[Nearly Sane]

Go on - you know you want to - all 550 pages awaiting you.

And ordered

[Enki]

An old local custom when Hull long distance trawlermen set out for their three week stint at sea was for their wives/mothers never to wash their clothes the day before they set sail. The idea seemed to be that you would be tempting death by drowning by putting their clothes under water and washing away their souls.

[floo]

An old local custom when Hull long distance trawlermen set out for their three week stint at sea was for their wives/mothers never to wash their clothes the day before they set sail. The idea seemed to be that you would be tempting death by drowning by putting their clothes under water and washing away their souls.

I have heard of that too.

[Rhiannon]

Making Yorkshire pudding yesterday, my daughter had a go at mixing the batter, and I remembered to tell her that if she stirred it to the left she'd be stirring in the devil. Only clockwise stirring please.

[Nearly Sane]

Counter clockwise being what I might refer to as widdershins


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widdershins

[floo]

Walking under ladders is supposed to be unlucky, I make a point on walking under them unless there is someone on it.

[Rhiannon]

Counter clockwise being what I might refer to as widdershins


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widdershins

And sunwise is deosil.

I nearly used the term widdershins in my original post but then decided it made me sound like a right neopagan.

[floo]

Superstition and religion appear to go hand in hand.

[Nearly Sane]

Superstition and religion appear to go hand in hand.

Magical thinking such as superstition is widespread. It's what we are. Even you making a point of walking under a ladder seems like magical thinking to me.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking

[floo]

Magical thinking such as superstition is widespread. It's what we are. Even you making a point of walking under a ladder seems like magical thinking to me.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking

I walk under a ladder to stick two fingers up at superstition.

[Nearly Sane]

I walk under a ladder to stick two fingers up at superstition.

Which sounds exactly like magical thinking

[floo]

Which sounds exactly like magical thinking

In your opinion, not mine.

[Nearly Sane]

In your opinion, not mine.

Why would you do something for no reason here?

[Gordon]

I think too that all of us have some odd notions now and again - seems like part of being human to me - even if these don't quite fit known customs or superstitions.

For example: for years we have had a 3-pronged fork in the cutlery drawer - it is an isolated example and belongs to no cutlery set we've ever had, nobody knows where it came from, nobody ever uses it and if someone picks it up by mistake they will immediately swap it for a common or garden fork: yet when whenever we've moved house or bought new kitchen stuff and we've mentioned getting rid of it nobody is prepared to be the one who does the deed.

No idea why. 

[floo]

I think too that all of us have some odd notions now and again - seems like part of being human to me - even if these don't quite fit known customs or superstitions.

For example: for years we have had a 3-pronged fork in the cutlery drawer - it is an isolated example and belongs to no cutlery set we've ever had, nobody knows where it came from, nobody ever uses it and if someone picks it up by mistake they will immediately swap it for a common or garden fork: yet when whenever we've moved house or bought new kitchen stuff and we've mentioned getting rid of it nobody is prepared to be the one who does the deed.

No idea why.

Many of us do strange things, it is hard to be weirder than little me, but I wouldn't think they were all motivated by superstition.

[Robbie]

I think too that all of us have some odd notions now and again - seems like part of being human to me - even if these don't quite fit known customs or superstitions.

For example: for years we have had a 3-pronged fork in the cutlery drawer - it is an isolated example and belongs to no cutlery set we've ever had, nobody knows where it came from, nobody ever uses it and if someone picks it up by mistake they will immediately swap it for a common or garden fork: yet when whenever we've moved house or bought new kitchen stuff and we've mentioned getting rid of it nobody is prepared to be the one who does the deed.

No idea why.

It's a long term part of your home Gordon! Not a superstition. Steak forks usually only have two or three prongs and if it's a big fork, it could be part of a carving set.

[Gordon]

It's a long term part of your home Gordon! Not a superstition. Steak forks usually only have two or three prongs and if it's a big fork, it could be part of a carving set.

It is a normal fork size: so how did it appear in our cutlery drawer ( cue theme from the Twilight Zone). It is an oddity that, for me, is both sily and life-enhancing at the same time - a trivial mystery that has sparked years of family exchanges.

So the odd fork is safe - for now

[Nearly Sane]

It is a normal fork size: so how did it appear in our cutlery drawer ( cue theme from the Twilight Zone). It is an oddity that, for me, is both sily and life-enhancing at the same time - a trivial mystery that has sparked years of family exchanges.

So the odd fork is safe - for now

We have the cup that I don't use

[jeremyp]

I'm not superstitious because it's unlucky.

[Rhiannon]

We have the cup that I don't use

I don’t think I could live with a cup that couldn’t be used, or a fork. I’d feel that there was an interloper.

[Nearly Sane]

I don’t think I could live with a cup that couldn’t be used, or a fork. I’d feel that there was an interloper.

Throwing it away would just bring worse things. It's at the back of the cupboard. I can't stop others using it but I make sure we have enough cups clean to not use it. It was bought as a present for 'The Wonderful Man' when I was being at my least wonderful. Whenever it got used after that, it always reminded me of it and as part of the mindset I felt bad things then happened. It stays there as a reminder and as part of the magical thinking that even though In know is magical thinking is embedded.

[floo]

I have a good clear out of stuff we are not using on a regular basis.