CHRISTMAS SUPERSTITIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14250, 22 December 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

CHRISTMAS SUPERSTITIONS.

♦ Three are superstitions anont Christmas in all countries, but probably the following aro a few of tho most extraordinary. In North Germany a person must not spin during the Twelve Nights of Christmas lest he 01* sho should walk after death, nor after sunset on Saturday, for the mice will eat the work. If it is desired to have money and luck all the year round, one must not fail to eat herrings on New Year's Day; nor, if you wish to be lucky, must you rock an empty cradle or spill salt wantonly, or cross knives or point at the staie. If a dirty cloth is left on the table over Christmas night it will make the angels weep; if you point upward to the rainbow it will make the angels' feet bleed ; and if you talk of cabbages while looking at the moon you will hurt the feelings of the man in it. Near Raleigh, in Nottinghamshire, there is a valley said to have been caused by an earthquake several hundred years ago, and it is now usual 011 Christmas morning for old men and women to tell their children and young friends to go to tho v.alley, stoop down, and hear the bells ringing merrily in tho ruins of the church under tho ground. At Kilgrimol, near Blackpool, a very common superstition prevails that the bells of a hidden church may be heard by anyone who bends his ear to the ground. In Berkshire it was at ono time a popular belief that bells could be heard ringing in theground on Christmas Eve, and in some parts of. England miners have been heard to say that bells could be heard merrily pealing in the most distant parts of the mine.