Good site to learn about January 6 is http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/3kings.htm Being from the South I thought everyone was like me....in particular like my mother who was the most superstitious person I now know ever lived on the earth. In reading a history of Cherokee County, I learned that the area was settled by Germans and by the Irish. My mother coming from the latter! * Christmas trees down before January 1 * No hats on the bed * No open umbrellas in the house * If I stepped on her heel, she stopped until I patted her on the back 3 times * If she found a pin, she stood on one leg, poked her backside with the pin, and waved her other hand in front of her...said something but I never knew what. * Marking babies by looking at someone. * Don't raise your arms when you're pregnant.. it'll wrap chord around the baby's neck. * She knew the fire healing saying but couldn't share it with me because I was a female. Male could tell female and vice-versa. Many, many more but just wondered if anyone else had these instances occuring in their homes!? (I think I turned out nearly normal ...LOL) Don't give up. Enjoy the journey. WHITE SANDERS DORMAN LATHAM DESTAFFINO DAVIS RAY LONG WILSON RAMSEY Visit my site ...Shaking My Family Tree http://members.aol.com/CampCP/index1.html Priscilla White Perry SCSand99@aol.com

Thanks for sharing this with the list. > Being from the South I thought everyone was like me....in particular like my > mother who was the most superstitious person I now know ever lived on the > earth. I remember some of these from when I was growing up. > * No open umbrellas in the > * Marking babies by looking at someone. (While pregnant, marking your baby by looking at something ugly or vile.) > * Don't raise your arms when you're pregnant.. it'll wrap chord around the > baby's neck. > * She knew the fire healing saying but couldn't share it with me because I > was a female. Male could tell female and vice-versa. My dad knew this one but would not share it with me either. He said it had to be passed only to a stranger and if he told me the saying that it would not work for either one of us. I can add to the list: * When visiting someone you must leave by the same door that you entered or you will have bad luck. * Never wash clothes on New Years Day or there will be a death in the family. * Of course, if you break a mirror it will bring you 7 years of bad luck. * Deaths always come in threes. * Eat black eyed peas on New Years Day for good luck all year. Any others? Bob.

My grandmother used to say that if a man was the first person (non-resident) to enter your house on New Year's Day, all your chickens, hatched in that year, would be roosters. She and her sister used to get up at first light on January 1, and meet in the middle going to each other's houses so the first entrant would be female. She always made a New Years Cake and put a dried bean in it. Whoever got the bean would be lucky all year. I understand that some folks used a dime but we sometimes didn't have one. Luckily, we always had dried beans. And what was the thing about the horseshoe over the door? It had to be pointing upward so the luck couldn't run out? Or something like that. She also said that if you got into bed while singing, you would wake up crying. Lord, she had a million. And she believed them so sincerely! Otherwise she was perfectly sane. Happy New Year, Listers! Your list mom, Mickey Mildred "Mickey" Fournier PO Box 1967, Lake City, FL 32056 mailto:mfournier@atlantic.net