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28 results for Superstition
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Record #:
8222
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Many North Carolina traditions and superstitions are observed during the Christmas season. Proctor highlights several of these folktales. Included are holiday charms such as using the previous year's Christmas Yule log, stepping into a house with your right foot, wearing a new suit, tasting plum pudding, and eating mince pie. It is a good omen if Christmas falls on Sunday but bad if it falls on Saturday. Included also are actions that will result in bad luck such as pruning evergreens, having a loaf of bread break while cutting it, and crossing your knife and fork while they are on a table. Superstitions surround not only Christmas but New Years as well. For example, if a dark-haired man comes to your house New Year's morning, it is a good sign, but if a woman or a light-haired man comes the following year will not go well.
Source:
The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 52 Issue 7, Dec 1984, p7-9, il
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Record #:
14471
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Some of the superstitious beliefs of our ancestors in the Old North State may seem senseless impractical to us today but they were widespread during the early days of the Colony.
Source:
The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 15 Issue 44, Apr 1948, p6, 26
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Record #:
14995
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Although many have rejected the world of the occult, many in North Carolina still abide by superstitions that deal with death, sickness, good and bad luck, marriage, weather, and success.
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The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 10 Issue 37, Feb 1943, p7
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Record #:
16339
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The folk belief, \"If you have a mole on your neck, you will be hanged,\" was heard around the turn of the century and before, when hanging was a common form of execution. Charles Waddell Chesnutt uses this belief from the folklore of southern African Americans as an important tool to develop the theme of social strangulation in The Marrow of Tradition, first published in 1901.
Record #:
16360
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Customs surrounding death and burial are considered rites of passage, those rituals observed at a person's passing from one stage of life to another. The people of Franklin County observe a unique set of death and burial customs that include stopping clocks, the bathing of the deceased, and the honoring of certain objects.
Record #:
16374
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Maley presents a list of North Carolina superstitions about animals and the weather. For example, pure white cats are good luck, if a bird gets loose in your house it is a sign of death, red sails at night, sailors delight, and large berry crops on hollies is a sign of a cold winter.
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Record #:
16445
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Clark presents 1683 entries of popular belief and superstition widespread across North Carolina and gathered from magazines, monographs, newspapers, and other texts. The beliefs are divided between such entries as birth, infancy, and childhood; human body; domestic pursuits; economic and social relations; travel; love; death; witchcraft; seasons; weather; animals; and plants.
Record #:
16459
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This article provides a compilation of North Carolina superstitions gathered by Joseph D. Clark since 1955 during his career at North Carolina State University. The superstitions relate to many areas such as birth, death, the human body, and more.
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Record #:
16499
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Barker presents a list of anatomical superstitions found in BLUM'S ALMANAC.
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Record #:
16515
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Walker provides a sampling of folklore from Rutherford County that includes superstitions, descriptions of the practice of folk medicine, a modern account of the practice of witchcraft, African American words and expressions, a ghost tale, a family anecdote, and a Christmas story.
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Record #:
34619
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Folklore has often cast the black cat, screech owl, and doodlebug in a bad light. In Frank C. Brown’s books “The Folklore of North Carolina”, he postulates that these creatures are omens of bad luck. This article explores these native North Carolina species, how they got reputations as bad omens, and where to find them in the state.
Source:
North Carolina Naturalist (NoCar QH 76.5 N8 N68), Vol. 25 Issue 4, Fall 2017, p2-3, il
Record #:
35048
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A short story about the superstitions that a screech owl could foretell a death.
Record #:
35053
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A story told to a boy about if a tree was named after someone and any harm came to the tree, then harm would come to the person as well.
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Record #:
35101
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The author debates what makes people, and potentially herself, part of the ‘folk.’ She mentions many folk medicines and superstitions that were common in her area, but that she herself half doubted, half believed.
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