Part 25 (1/2)
647. If you spill salt, throw some over your left shoulder, and then crawl under one side of the table and come out on the other, to prevent bad luck.
_Bucks Co., Pa._
648. Spilling salt at table is ill luck to the one towards whom it is spilled.
_Iowa._
649. If you spill salt, you will have a whipping.
_New England and Canada._
SWEEPING.
650. If the broom is moved with the rest of the household furniture, you will not be successful. The broom should be burned while standing in the corner, being watched meanwhile, to prevent the house from taking fire.
651. Never sweep the floor after sunset; it is bad luck.
_Alabama._
652. Carrying ashes out of the house after sunset is bad luck.
_Virginia._
653. It is ill luck to sweep dirt out of doors after sunset.
_Virginia._
654. Dirt must not be swept out of doors after dark, or it will bring disaster to the master of the house. This belief is common among negroes and superst.i.tious whites.
_Chestertown, Md._
655. Sailors are unwilling that their friends should sweep after dark, because in that case their wages will be swept away by sickness or otherwise.
_Westport, Ma.s.s._
TURNING BACK.
656. It is unlucky to turn back for anything after you have set out to go anywhere.
_Prince Edward Island._
657. Returning to the house for something and starting again without sitting down is bad luck.
_Virginia._
658. It will prove unlucky if you return for a forgotten article after you have left the house; but if you seat yourself before leaving the house again, the misfortune will be averted.
_New York._
659. To avert ill luck or disappointment that will come if a person comes back to a house for something forgotten, he must sit down a minute.
_General in New England._
660. To go back into the house for something after starting on a journey is unpropitious. To have it brought out is all right.
_Iowa._
661. If you have to go back to the house after something forgotten, you must not sit down, but stand a moment or two, or else it is bad luck.
_Cape Breton._
662. If you start anywhere and go back, it is bad luck unless you make a cross-mark and spit in it.