Family rituals and superstitions

Kick off shoes/boots quickly when putting foot into the wrong shoe or boot-

pinch punch first day of the month, no returns of any kind!! You had to add the 'no returns of any kind or the other person would say pinch and a kick for being so quick!
on the first day of each new month of course. Still do this by phoning family!

janipans thanks that’s really interesting, it must be local then as it’s not far from Derby to Stoke- the mystery remains, who was Bill?

BBbevan - I'm off to buy a whistle!!!

I live in the Black Country and we use the same expression. I our neck of the woods it normally means there is a storm coming in from the East. Never realised the same expression was used in Derbyshire.x

It's used throughout the Midlands and also Yorkshire.
I've read somewhere that it is a reference to Shakespeare, but I find this questionable.

I believe it's a reference to william Shakespeares mothers house.
So it's looking black over Bill's mothers house would be weathers bad over where William Shakespeares mother lived.

I insist that we wear shoes to bring in the New Year and the first toast is Here's tae us whae's like us (all then respond ) damn few and they're aw deid ! My dad who has been dead32 years always did this

That’s really interesting, thanks everybody, I’ve learned something today which is always a good thing!

I’m intrigued by the family whistle, I’ve never heard of that one.

My Irish Mum had a lot of the superstitions already mentioned.

Some of her family superstitions were around death. Eg when we were in Ireland for my maternal grandmother’s funeral she was laid out in the house prior to the funeral. As soon as her coffin was carried outside all the chairs around the kitchen table were turned upside down on the table. This was said to ensure her spirit left the house and continued on her journey. It was also so that no unwelcome spirits would take up residence while the family were all out for the funeral.

To be extra sure on that one it was traditional for a neighbour to remain behind in the farmhouse till all the mourners returned.

I bought a new vibrant opal ring recently and mentioned to the jeweller that I have my grandmother’s light opal and ruby engagement ring. He asked her age - she was 20 in 1921 when she got engaged - and he explained that pale opals were the most popular choice for engagement rings in the 1910s and early 1920s but completely fell out of favour because so many young ladies lost their fiancés in the war and the stones were then seen as unlucky.

London 1950s on seeing an ambulance

Touch yer collar
Never swaller
Never catch the fever

Nothing about dogs.

Never wash clothes on Good Friday or New Year’s Day as you will “wash someone out of your life” .

Another superstition is not to thank to say thank you if you drop a glove and someone picks it up and gives it back to you.

This is a great thread.. my parents always said good morning mr magpie if a lone one seen before 12 oclock midday..if put somethingon inside out you could turn it if you could do so without completely taking it off..Turn silver and bow to the new moon and never see it through glass .If you break something immediately light and snap 2 matchsticks to stop a run of 3 things breaking...Always say white rabbit and rhyme pinch and apunch on first day of the month..riposte is apunch and kick (words only) for being so quick.No shoes on the table. No umbrellas open indoors. No red and white flowers together must be mixed with other colours..no green at a wedding..no mayblossom in the house or church..always bless a sneezing person..no walking under ladders..a black cat crossing the road in front of you is lucky..and never curse a person as it will come back to you.. purses bags must be given with money in side and knives always passed handle to person..and if giving a penknife or anything that cuts a v small coin must be given in return to avoid breaking a friendship. ..

My mother carried out most of these superstitions, and I follow them automatically, although I don't really believe them! I too say the phrase about 'Bill's mother's, but then I am from Derby!

The Bill's mother comment was used in Northamptonshire too, my family used it.

I think I remember red and white flowers together being the traditional colours to decorate churches at Whitsun, anyone else heard this?

My mother was Irish too and had many of these superstitions. She would never let us bring May blossom (hawthorn) into the houses and forbade bluebells because they scream when you pick them. I tested that one and there is a little squeak when you do! I think she just couldn't be bothered with the extra work flowers made when we brought them in. We didn't have a family whistle though. Her voice was quite loud enough!!!

I also remember her saying that if a picture fell off a wall it meant that a family member had died. In fact this did happen twice, but not for any other deaths that I remember.

Did any one else sing, 'Step on a line and you'll marry a swine,' or 'Stand on a crack and you'll break your back,'' when walking on pavements.

By the way I pretty much gave up on superstitions after my 13th birthday on Friday the 13th. I was clearly already doomed!

My mother's family were Irish, and she believed in the banshee, she also believed that when a person was on their deathbed (sorry to bring this up) a loved one who was deceased would come to guide them. She insisted that this had happened to her mother and that her late husband had come for her; interestingly it was her second husband she apparently saw.

The thing about not bringing lilac or hawthorn blossom into the house was also rigorously enforced. Turning your purse over at the new moon and curtseying to the moon was done to bring luck although we had precious little of that.
We couldn't play cards on Sundays not even snap, and for some reason the 4 of clubs was called the devil's corner stone.
As I say she was the most superstitious person I have ever met.

My parents never followed any superstitions except always putting a coin in a purse if you gave one as a present.

I once read in one of those humorous magazine articles that there always seemed to be a teaspoon in the bottom of the wasing up bowl when you emptied it and we noticed that this really was true and we always laughed about it. My Dad called it "Jacky's teaspoon'"

The family whistle is a sedate 6 notes through the lips, never with fingers in the mouth ?, far too common my mum would have said.

My DGSs have a £1 put under their pillow when they lose a tooth, it used to be 6d for me in the 1950s.

‘Rabbits, rabbits, rabbits, carrots, carrots, carrots’, on the first of the month.

Do any of you say ‘Gordon Bennett’ as an expletive?

I couldn't pick up my own glove if I dropped it. Mum had lots of these weird and wonderful superstitions which I think was inbred from her birth place the IOM where you have to acknowledge the fairies when you drive/walk over their bridge.

Back door was left ajar during a thunderstorm. No new shoes on the table. New pyjamas every Christmas so that you looked respectable for Father Christmas. Bits of sparkly sprinkled here and there to denote that he'd " been ". Mince pie and a carrot along with a small glass of whisky, was a ritual every year-----I was 11 before I found out otherwise !

Spilled salt went over the shoulder. No hawthorn flowers in the house. Inside out clothes left as they were.
See a pin and pick it up------Magpies, there had to be more than one.

It's a miracle I'm not neurotic

My parents moved into their Council Flat in Hackney, East London in the early 1950's. There was a communal area where washing lines could be hung, but they were told firmly, that NO washing could be hung there on Sundays. Difficult as my Mum worked during the week, was jewish, so was reluctant to hang washing out on (Shabosh), Saturdays!!!!

When my children were small, we were a very tight budget with a large familyj, all of the time. My husband used to be given Luncheon Vouchers at his work. He used to take sandwiches from home so would save those up all year. On Christmas Eve, we would use those in one big spend. The two eldest children would accompany him whilst he got a take-a-way Chinese meal, whilst youngster children got the table ready at home. Only time each year we ever had a takeaway - so became a very special occasion and part of the build-up for Xmas.

One of my daughters has continued this tradition, even though her children are so much more used to eating in restaurants, and having takeaways, that Christmas Eve chinese takeaway is still so special (although not paid for with Luncheon Vouchers!!!).

NanKate

The family whistle is a sedate 6 notes through the lips, never with fingers in the mouth ?, far too common my mum would have said.

My DGSs have a £1 put under their pillow when they lose a tooth, it used to be 6d for me in the 1950s.

‘Rabbits, rabbits, rabbits, carrots, carrots, carrots’, on the first of the month.

Do any of you say ‘Gordon Bennett’ as an expletive?

Yes I say Gordon Bennet along with my Giddy aunt. No Idea why.
My Nan always said no shoes on the table or you'll never get married. No green in the house although for some strange reason this did not include houseplants !!!
Clothing put on the wrong way had to stay that way unless you could change it without taking it off.
If we saw an ambulance we were meant to hold our collar until we saw a policeman - walking or in a car. Be holding it all day now around here!!
First of the month you are meant to say White rabbits three times before you spoke to anyone else to bring you luck.
Spill any salt and you throw a pinch over your left shoulder to get rid of the devil. The salt was meant to go in his eyes.
We say it dark over Bills mothers' but we used to live in Buckinghamshire where it was said a lot. People now look at me as if I am mad when I say it.
Never do washing on New Years day or you'll end up doing washing for others all year! ( I believe my Nan meant to earn money)

Every Friday, we visited my maternal grandmother and my mothers many sisters would sit around the fire smoking and reading cards. The reading of cards came from my grandfather, who was a bit of a mystery man. He foretold his own death and told my grandmother she would be left with 11 children. On Sundays, we visited my paternal grandmother and there was no nonsense there!
My grandmother used to say “If you look in that mirror long enough, you’ll see the Devil”.