Informant: William “Billy” Weiss is my grandfather who is 85 years old and was born in Hungary, but moved to New Your as an infant. His parents and other family members were Jewish and practiced their faith and traditions very seriously. He was raised in a Jewish section of the Bronx in which most of his friends and neighbors were Jewish as well. Synagogues were close by and a lot of the schooling was run by Jewish faculty. Therefore; a lot of his upbringing revolved around his Jewish heritage. He worked as a peanut salesman at Yankee Stadium in his adolescence, and later moved to Los Angeles were he became a very successful manager in the fashion industry in the 70’s and 80’s. His hobbies include gambling at the racetrack and spending time with his family whenever possible. He does not practice his Jewish religion often but expects to be buried in a Jewish cemetery with a traditional ceremony. My immediate family is Catholic, so he has learned that faith as well over the years and celebrates those holidays too.

William said, “If you cross knives on the dinner table when setting it, it is bad luck for the upcoming dinner. It means that there will be ‘sharp words’ said in the conversation at the meal.”

My grandpa told me this belief by coincidence when I was collecting folklore at family dinner. He said that when he was growing up, his mother told him that it was wrong to set knives on the table crossing each other. If this were to happen, it was said that the conversation would not be a positive one and that there would be an argument, negative vocabulary, or an overall unpleasant mood at dinner or whatever meal was being had. Jewish meals are very important to the culture and the family takes the preparation very seriously. Having the “knives cross” on the table is something that stands out as being out of place and unorganized. In addition, the knives crossing forms an “X” shape that is generally looked at as a negative symbol. Moreover; it is simply a folk belief and presents bad luck for the conversation at dinner. Everybody wants to have a pleasant meal experience and overall it should be a time to relax. Having that time ruined by a simple mistake of crossing the knives would be very unfortunate.

I think this superstition only exists to show how much importance the Jewish see in their family meals. I have multiple Jewish relatives, and even though I am Catholic, I have been exposed to their culture and had many meals with them. Every meal I have had with my Jewish family has been a big ordeal. Always an excessive amount of food and happy traditional music playing. There are prayers and songs performed  before and after the meal. So I have seen first hand how special meal time is for the Jewish culture. Having the superstition of knives crossing on a table is, in my opinion, a way to set a reminder that a meal should be filled with positive conversation. It should lack conversation about politics or any other topic that could cause strife or ‘sharp words’ because that would ruin the sentiment of the gathering.

Informant: Sheila Hurley (married name is now Weiss), 79, is my grandmother who was born and raised in Wales by Irish parents. She grew up extremely Catholic: going to church every Sunday and schools directed by the Nuns of her local parish. She was influenced by the Irish heritage and customs of her parents and relatives that lived in her small town. She lived in Wales until she was 18 years old and then moved to New York to pursue a career in modeling. She now lives in Santa Monica, California where she raised her two daughters and helped raise her 3 grandchildren.

Sheila said, ” If you feel your ear getting hot, that means that someone is speaking bad of you behind your back.”

My grandmother was taught this belief by her Irish grandmother when she complained one time about her ear being hot. Her grandmother told her that means that someone was saying bad things about her and proceeded to ask her if she was being a “good girl” at school or not. Why would someone talk bad about you unless you were being bad or rude to them? My grandmother also said that this was taught to her so that she didn’t talk ill of others. If she did talk bad about others behind their backs than they would get the warning of the hot ear as well and their feelings would be hurt. She said that everyone in her family and many over her friends believed that this was an explanation for having a hot ear and lived with that belief in their daily lives.

I was never taught this belief, but I find it very humorous and interesting. Having a hot ear happens somewhat frequently and all people must have experienced it at some point or another. Adding context to having a hot ear is random, but this trend of giving context to random things seems common in Irish culture. Meaning is put to the simplest of things so that nearly everything has some sort of explanation, superstition, or belief behind it. Adding life lessons to common things allows for children to understand what is right and what is wrong. It is funny how something like this is translated into adulthood because of general habit and caused by a belief learned as a child.

Informant: Sheila Hurley (married name is now Weiss), 79, is my grandmother who was born and raised in Wales by Irish parents. She grew up extremely Catholic: going to church every Sunday and schools directed by the Nuns of her local parish. She was influenced by the Irish heritage and customs of her parents and relatives that lived in her small town. She lived in Wales until she was 18 years old and then moved to New York to pursue a career in modeling. She now lives in Santa Monica, California where she raised her two daughters and helped raise her 3 grandchildren.

Sheila said, “In Irish tradition we were told that if you spilled any amount of salt on the table, then it was a necessity that you throw it over your left shoulder 3 times. If you did not do this than you would be cursed with bad luck and bad things would happen to you.”

Sheila holds, to this day, many superstitions that she received from her Irish parents. This particular one is one that has even been passed down to her grandchildren, who are myself and 2 siblings. Spilling of salt is a common accident that many would clean up and remove from the table without hesitation. However; growing up with her Irish parents, my grandmother was taught that if you did not complete the ritual of throwing the spillage over your left shoulder 3 times then bad things would happen to you. As a child this superstition seems very plausible and no child wanted bad things to happen to them. Therefore; the ritual became almost second nature. My grandmother told me that the superstition originates from Catholicism. In the Bible story of Sodom and Gamorrah, the Angel’s of Heaven came to Lot and told him and his family to flee from their city of Sodom because a disaster was pending. They were told directly to flee for their lives and not to look back at all. In the midst of the family’s flee, Lot’s wife turned around to look over her shoulder at Sodom and was immediately turned into a pillar of salt. This story involves salt and looking over the shoulder, and this is what my grandmother was taught to believe that bad luck would occur if the ritual was not performed. She also said that throwing the salt 3 times was a symbol of recognition for the Holy Trinity; the Catholic belief that God consists of 3 beings, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

I personally love this superstition. Mostly because it was taught to my mother and then taught to me and my siblings. I even perform this ritual whenever I happen to spill salt on the table, and I do not hesitate to tell others to do the same. Even though I do not necessarily believe in the superstition, it is something that everyone in my family does, so I do it naturally through habit. I particularly like the biblical significance of this superstitions origin and I did not know about it until I recently collected lore from my grandmother. Having context added to the superstition makes it more interesting and understandable, not just some wise tale that my grandmother invented. This superstition is a way to acknowledge the biblical history of the Catholic religion, and knowing the reason why I do practice this superstition allows for me to appreciate the stories of the Bible even more.