My informant is a native of Brazil and is of Portuguese descent. According to her, her grandmother, from whom she learned this superstition, was a fervent Catholic and “knew hundreds of saints and their miracles and for every misfortune or mishap there would be some saint to pray to or a superstition to fix it!” She said superstitions were her grandmother’s specialty. She recalls of her grandmother: “If it was raining hard with thunder and lightning she would go around the house covering the mirrors: they attract the storm.”
I have never heard any superstition quite like this one, though I have heard others that associate omens with mirrors. Certainly I have never associated mirror superstitions like this one with Catholicism. This magic-superstition is probably either taken directly from native lore or is a hybridization of the lore of the Portuguese with that of the native land.
Category Archives: Folk Beliefs
The Legend of the Dogwood
In Jesus time, the dogwood grew
To a stately size and a lovely hue.
‘Twas strong & firm it’s branches interwoven
For the cross of Christ its timbers were chosen.
Seeing the distress at this use of their wood
Christ made a promise which still holds good:
“Never again shall the dogwood grow
Large enough to be used so.
Slender and twisted, it shall be
With blossoms like the cross for all to see.
As blood stains the petals marked in brown
The blossom’s center wears a thorny crown.
All who see it will remember me
Crucified on a cross from the dogwood tree.
Cherished and protected this tree shall be
A reminder to all of my agony.”
(author unknown)
This poem of unknown origin canonizes an old legend about this twisted, beautiful tree. My informant originally heard of the legend from her grandmother, and was unaware of its roots. As neither the Bible nor other historical records have anything to say about the wood used for Jesus’ cross, the idea that the dogwood was used cannot be verified. The legend exhibits a high degree of Christian symbolism, which would lead me to guess that it has foundations in the Catholic church, which has always shown great interest in symbolism, perhaps as far back as the Middle Ages.
My informant said, “According to the legend, the dogwood was one of the largest and strongest trees in the Middle East at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, and thus was the wood of choice for making crosses. Supposedly, the biggest and strongest was used for Jesus’ cross…. because of his pity for those who suffered on the cross, Jesus spoke to the dogwood tree and told it that it would be slender, bent, and twisted, so that it would never again be used as a form of execution.” She pointed out that one can look at a dogwood blossom and see that it has two short petals and two long petals in the semblance of a cross. The edges of the blossoms display a color pattern that resembles a nail wound, “tinged with brown (rust) and red (blood).”
My informant also recalled part of the legend not mentioned in the poem. Supposedly, three days after Jesus’ death, the dogwood trees began to wither and die. Several years later, woodcutters were amazed to have witnessed how forests of the trees they once used for lumber had been transformed into groves of twisted shrubs with fair blossoms.
Lebanese Dream Superstition
According to Lebanese folklore, my informant said, bad dreams should be interpreted as signs of good fortune. (This would be reassuring to me, as I have had my share of them!). The superstition says that once a scenario is played out in a dream, it will not be repeated in reality. Thus, it is also reflexive: a pleasant dream should not be received as a sign of good fortune to come.
My informant was not aware of the origin of this sign-superstition. He learned it from his family, none of whom he says actually believe it. I would most likely postulate monogenesis as a model for the origin of this superstition, as it is unique and counterintuitive.
This is indeed a unique perspective on dreams, one I have never encountered before hearing the superstition from my informant. As with many superstitions, odds are that there is some element of belief somewhere back in my informant’s family. Otherwise, it would be unlikely that the superstition would have been passed down and remembered by succeeding generations.
Catholic/Italian Headache Remedy
My paternal grandmother, who is of Italian heritage and a second-generation American, described a folk remedy against headaches that was practiced before her day. She said “When a person had a headache, a friend would obtain a basin of water and sprinkle a few drops of olive oil on it, make the sign of the cross and recite a prayer. That was to chase the evil spirits away.” This was also used to make a person stop gossiping. Obviously, this would have been practiced before her family emigrated and assimilated into American culture. It is closely tied to the Catholic church and Catholicism’s deep roots in the nation of Italy. My informant, while still a devout Catholic (as is most of her extended family), did refer to this practice as a superstition, and is far more likely to resort to Tylenol or Advil to relieve a headache than to attempt to cure it through any spiritual means.
The tradition itself seems to reflect elements of both Catholicism (sign of the cross, prayer) and more obscure or pagan religions (chasing away evil spirits), though perhaps my informant uses “evil spirits” synonymously with “demons.” My informant’s description also seems somewhat vague and incomplete, as though it has been transformed through much telling and retelling over time. My conjecture is that the tradition originated many centuries ago, well before the advent of modern medicine, out of the idea that demons or evil spirits are responsible for physical distress. Certainly “magic superstitions,” under which classification this ritual falls, for curing ailments have existed well before even the Roman Catholic Church, and this one was likely Catholicized like many other pagan beliefs, superstitions, and even holidays. As today’s society (at least in America) tends to favor scientific progress as the solution to medical problems (and a host of other problems), beliefs imported from worldwide have tended to fade out in this forward-looking culture.
UFO Sighting
My grandfather still recalls an incident that occured on a flight to Washington D. C. approximately fifty years ago. He remembered being in the aisle seat, while the plane was approaching the airport at twilight. Looking out the window, he saw an object that he describes as having a “saucer-like bottom” and a smaller inverted saucer on top. It was off in the distance, passing through the clouds on a parallel path to the airplane. He said he could not estimate its size, as he could not tell how far away the object was. Along the edge of the saucer, he mentioned what he called lighted windows or lights. He was not the only witness of the incident; he recalled a man whose name I will abbreviate F. B., in the seat next to him, that also saw the object. After the incident was over, my grandfather and F. B. separately sketched their own impression of what the craft looked like, and both the drawings matched. My grandfather maintains an agnostic view toward the object he saw in the sky. He indicated that if he were a skeptic, he would try to rationalize it by calling it a reflection of the airplane itself in the clouds; however, he does not hold to this theory. Rather, he said it excited him, as it occurred in the era when UFO’s were a big cultural phenomenon.
Are these UFO’s still a cultural phenomenon, or have they faded out? Certainly sightings still occur widely and the subject matter is still quite popular; consider that the paranormal-oriented radio show Coast to Coast AM is the most popular late night talk-radio show in the world. Why do UFO’s excite people so much in the modern world? I propose that in America and other developing nations that engage in free enterprise and capitalism, the opportunity of technological innovation promotes a forward outlook on society, civilization, and life in general. As airplane flights were becoming available to the masses in the mid-twentieth century (when my grandfather’s sighting occurred), UFO’s foreshadowed futuristic technology in the minds of a forward-looking people. In other nations, which have more monarchic or dictatorial governments, and in less-developed countries, past-oriented outlooks on unidentified flying objects are more common. Explanations usually involve ancient times or spirituality. As free trade and global business continue to spread, however, the idea of beings and craft from other parts of the universe or from other dimensions of reality will probably continue to evolve into a global concept.