Hollie from My Wild Way agreed to share with us a little magic in the form of folklore She lives in the south of England and first began learning about magic from her aunt when she was young. She has always felt drawn to the wild way of life and now shares her pagan journey on her blog.
Old wives tales have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. They are very common in Britain and are part of our heritage. I wanted to share with you some of the tales I have grown up with, and still guide my life today.
There are some that seem to be just a way to scare children into behaving appropriately, such as “If the wind changes while you are pulling a face, it will stay that way”. To me, this just sounds like someone trying to stop you making rude faces.
The sayings I want to share with you the ones that seem to have a little bit of magic behind them. Those that when you hear them, you know they are rooted in history and folklore. They bring a sense of wonder to the everyday and are a gift from the wild people who came before us.
If the cows are lying down it is going to rain– one of my favourites! If you live in a rural area I hope you would have heard of this one. It is quite self-explanatory, if the cows are lying down then we are to expect rain. Now, I know what you’re thinking, I live in England so it does rain a lot. But I have to include it as I was brought up hearing it, I can’t vouch for its legitimacy but if I see a group of cows lying down then I do always expect the sky too soon pour.
This next one takes on the form of a rhyme, I am aware that there are several different variations of this but here follows the one I grew up with;
“Red sky at night, Shepherds delight,
“Red sky in the morning, Sailors warning”
This means that if the sky is a beautiful red hue in the evening then we are to expect a lovely weather the following day. If it’s a red in the morning, then we are to expect bad weather throughout the day (a warning to sailors that there will be a storm). I still live by this one and to my knowledge, it has always been correct!
If you purchase a purse/wallet as a gift for someone, you must always place in it a piece of silver. Now that our money is no longer made of silver, we use the equivalent of a 10p or 20p piece. This is to bring good fortune to the receiver while they use their gift and to this day, I have never been given a purse which doesn’t have a silver coin inside.
When I was younger, I learned this one; my parents took my brother and I to view a house they were interested in buying. The house was lovely, but there were spiders and cobwebs everywhere. My dad is scared of spiders and needless to say they did not end up buying it but I did learn this little gem from the owner. The lady went on to explain that it is unlucky to remove spiders and their cobwebs from your home during the month of September and October. I had never heard of that one before or since visiting the house, but I love that this knowledge has been passed down throughout the generations in her family and that she still lives by it. Therefore spiders are safe in my home during September and October.
If your ears are burning then someone is talking about you. I would place money on this that if you were to walk into a room of people (in England) and state that your ears are hot and red, someone would tell you that you are being talked about. This is just taken as fact in my neck of the woods.
I hope you have enjoyed the few that I have shared. I find them so interesting because they are Folklore, they have absolutely nothing to do with science and are based on reading the signs that nature gives you. As the name suggests they are the sayings of the women of the village, the ones who were most likely witches.
I heard of the one about red skies. But it didn’t have to do with shepherds, just sailors. If the sky was red at night it was a sunset, but if it was red in the morning it was either a fire or storm on the horizon. Usually when the cows lay down in a circle there is a storm coming. I have seen this often. Not sure about the others.