Mountain superstitions of Appalachia Myths, Wives Tales and Signs

[Music] these beautiful rugged hills of appalachia they're as old as time itself and as people come in here hundreds of years ago and they even carried these old wives tales and these superstitions from the old country where they come from and they still carry on today now these old people when they come in here they had their own superstitions and they they noticed nature year by year certain things happen certain ways and they they notice they put two and two together if this happened this happened down the road and this is how a lot of these superstitions come to be some of them are just myth some of them are just old wives tales but these old people they live by these superstitions and they was real religious and they believed in the bible and they believed in their family and they loved this country but this is just some of the superstitions of these old mountains now some are common everyday superstitions and some are not i was surprised when i dug up some of this research that i didn't know some of these and i know i broke some of these superstitions but that's just part of life so there's so many to choose from i just picked out a few dozen here and there so i hope you enjoyed this and i'm gonna go through some of them on just different things different superstitions in these mountains i'm sure you have a lot too so it's unlimited superstitions in these mountains so hope you enjoy this and here we go [Music] first off is weather signs of weather superstitions how they could predict the weather now my grandmother she was a real firm believer in that she could tell you what was going to happen by just the signs of nature what was going to happen in the winter a lot of people still go by this old farmer's almanac it's great for planting seasons time of the moon phases when plant and stuff but it's an old thing that still goes on today and a lot of people go by this but our list of superstitions of weather starts out with persimmon seeds now these oprah symmetries they usually start out in late august september and if you ever take a persimmon and cut it open and the saying goes that if it you cut it open the seed in half it looks like a spoon you're gonna have a heavy winter have to dig yourself out and if it's a fork it's going to be both in both mixed and both it's not going to be just all winter going to be good winter bad winter but in a knife it's going to be completely mild winter so i've only always just seen a spoon well anyway here's the next on the list is a groundhog this is a common thing every year sees his shadow is going to be six more weeks of bad weather and if you don't see a shadow that means it's going to be good weather in the next six weeks spring will be early so that's an old common sign that we see every day and the next old saying here is i didn't really know if you hang a dead snake on a fence that's a promise of rain and the next step is the woolly worms now these woolly worms my grandmother really believed in these you can see here how they are what the colors are black means real extreme bad weather and then the ground means mild weather so here's a mixture of what they're supposed to stand for when you see a woolly worm and a lot of people go by that today i do myself now the next step if you see squirrels building their nest higher than normal up in a tree is a sign of bad weather in the winter coming and then lightning during a snowstorm means two more weeks of bad weather and when flyers turn bright white which is really weeds we call them frost fires there'll be a frost when they get snow white and my grandmother was real firm believer of that one and next on this list when you see smoke coming out of a chimney it comes up and then it goes close to the ground still on out in the sky that means snow is coming and i've noticed that myself it really happened and an old saying is red sky at night sailor's delight red sky in the morning sailors warning and that seems to be right on the weather and if you see a hornet's nest close to the ground it means bad winter coming they built them close to the ground where they can get in there real easy and when the sun's out and it's raining i've always heard the old saying it's the devil beating his wife that's an old mountain sail and uh if it thunders in december there'll be snow on the same day in march that's an old wise tale of weather and finally on this list there's so many of them the number of heavy frog fogs that you have in august is the number of snows you'll have this coming winter so there's so many other disciplines i just highlighted some of them you could go on and on well that's the weather so let's move on to the next now the next step is just common superstitions and some rare ones around the house around the home and we start out with stuff you know just common stuff around the house some you know some you don't know like horseshoes being hung in the bedroom will keep help help keep nightmares away and never carry a hole into the house it's really bad luck that could mean a death in the family and never rock an empty rocking chair that's a sign of death in the family that's a no-no my grandmother really believed in that one and never put a hat on a bed that's bad luck now you used to paint your whole porches special shade of blue to keep evil spirits away away called them haynes used to i always noticed that while they always painted them porches like a bluish gray color and never put a pocket book on the floor that just a sign of money will go out the door and if you eat both ends of the bread a loaf of bread at once you'll never be able to make ends meet in life that's an old saying and everybody's heard of break a mirror is seven years of bad luck and yeah i've had bad luck and i broke mirrors too i don't know nobody's ain't really over the years and never walk under a standing ladder that's an old common one for bad luck and find a pity if you find a penny heads up it's good luck pick it up and if it's heads down that's bad luck leave it late but i've done both ways and it really don't matter a penny's a penny that's good luck just finding one silver's even better and bad luck usually comes in threes bad things happen in threes or death in the family over the years and threes if people's noticed that and when somebody dies in the home they would cover their mirrors in the house that would keep spirit from being trapped in the house so that was an old saying that was an old tail and they carried that on for many years and probably still goes on today in some places don't open an umbrella in a house that's bad luck that's an old saying and never had a door in a place of a window in a house that's bad luck grandmother was real keen on that one and never give a knife as a housewarming present gift to someone they may become your enemy later that's an old saying and finally on this list never take an old broom to a new house throw it away and buy a new one it's bad luck to take a whole broom to a new house that was an old saying in these mountains so that's just some of the common superstition around the home so we'll move on now here's some superstition around animals the things they do what it stands for what the old mountain people claimed it done first off if animals have a heavier coat of hair in the fall in this late summer it's a sign of a bad winter coming and if you see a red cardinal it means angels are near that's an old science don't kill a cricket in the house the old farmers would say the cow would go dry that was an old saying and no saying everybody's heard it the snapping terrible someone it would not turn loose until the sun goes down and if a bird flies in the house that's a sign of somebody will die seeing cattle laying down means the fish won't bite that day and cattle laying upright severe weather is not far away and if you see buzzards circling overhead that usually meant old signs like this the old saying one flying is a sign of sorrow two flying is the sign of joy and three blind is a sign of a boy and here in a dub three mornings in a row cooing someone and family will die and crow circling around your house is a sign of bad luck the black cat crosses your path if it crosses to the left it's bad luck if it crosses to the right it's good luck that's an old saying and a cat with white paws crosses your path you'll receive money and this is just some of the old animal superstitions it goes on and on so that's just to highlight some of the animals i hear some superstition of just people itself general superstition of all the old mountain people now first up on the list if you bite your tongue while eating you've recently told a lie i didn't know that one and if you drop a fork that means companies coming and if your ears are burning and i'm saying is somebody's talking about you and if your noses is someone's coming with a hole in their britches somebody's coming it's bad luck to whistle indoors i've always heard that one and if your right hand itches you will receive money and if your left hand itches that means you'll lose money and sudden cold shivers means that someone's stepping on your grave or someone close to you knock on wood is an old saying to keep things from happening that you're just talking about never wear new shoes on easter that's an old saying them said it was bad luck never take a man's hat off his head that's bad love being frightened by an animal while you're pregnant will mark a child in the womb that's an old saying i've heard eating black-eyed peas on new year's day will bring you good luck all year long and no heavy work on christmas day january 6 that is extremely bad luck my grandmother really expressed that one to all of us so there's just some general ones of people that it just goes on and on there's so many superstitions and traditions so we'll move on [Music] but finally up is superstitions of death and dreams now this is one i really don't care much about a lot of old people believe in these seriously and the first on the list is to dream of muddy water is a sign of death if a picture falls in the house someone will die and if a clock gone with no for no apparent reason it's a sign of death if you have a dream of birth they will be a death and when your ears are ringing it'll last for a few several days that's a sign of a death is to be expected in the family [Music] if you dream of a death they will be a bird and if a baby talks before it learns to walk it will die dreaming of a fall and not waking up and hitting the bottom you will die never cut a baby's hair before it's a year old that's bad luck it will die if you sweep under a bed with someone in it they will get sick and another thing is if you sweep under a bed of a sick person they will die and if you sweep your floors on new year's day you will sweep away your family and for every frog you kill makes your life shorter now these are just some of the old legends and old myths superstitions it goes on and on these mountain people it just you could you could fill a book 500 pages or nothing for superstitions and some of them are just myth wise tales but some of them are true and some of them do happen so i thought i would share this with you hope you enjoyed this this is a deep subject to get into but a lot of these mountain people and southern people and across the country believe in these traditions and these old superstitions so i hope you enjoyed and i want to thank you for watching and i'll see you next time [Music] do [Music] you

Channel: DONNIE LAWS

Views: 338,934

Rating: 4.9326048 out of 5

Keywords: Mountain superstitions of Appalachia, Wives Tales and Signs, Superstitions, Stories of Appalachia, Old wives tales, Signs of nature, Predicting weather, Appalachian culture, Appalachia myths, Appalachian Tradition, Appalachian beliefs, Old sayings

Id: R50HzbGn__o

Length: 18min 8sec (1088 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 21 2021