Death and Burial in the Mountains: Superstitions, Customs, Practices

Lonely Grave 8 DEATH AND BURIAL IN THE MOUNTAINS: SUPERSTITIONS, CUSTOMS, PRACTICES Superstitions by Judy Stewart Throughout the ages, man has had an insatiable curiosity about death. In every civilization, attempts have been made to explain the inevitable end of aV. life. The mountaineer, in his practices and superstitions, those brought to the new country by his ancestors and those created here as an explanation for his own morality, found his answers. The superstitions can be grouped into two major categories. First, there are those which concern themselves with the approach of death, then those which apply to the events which follow death. Most of the practices show a deep concern for the deceased, often more than was shown while the person lived. I Death being the most uncertain part of human life, many activities were to he avoided if the inevitable were to be postponed. There were numerous superstitions about household activities that if practiced would keep death away, at least temporarily. Some of those were: Never cut out a garment on Friday unless it can be completed that same day; otherwise, the person for whom it was intended will not live to wear it. If fire pops out on the garment you are making, you will die before it is finished. Knots in the thread are a death warning. You will die before the garment being made wears out. Sewing your clothes while wearing them brings bad luck or death. Monday will be the day of your death if you sew on Sunday. A person beginning a quilt on Friday will die before it is finished. Someone in the family will die if a line of quilting is omitted. Washing clothes on New Year's Day washes away the life of a friend. Sweeping before Sunday breakfast assures the death of a friend or relative during that week. 9 A member of the family will be carried out the door as a corpse if dirt is swept out of the house at night. If one sweeps under the bed of one who is ill, death will come. Moving, building a new house, and remodeling an old one were also sources for other superstitions about the coming of death. Never move into a new house as soon as it is built. One of the family will die. When moving to a new house, never take an old broom for death will follow . Death will come to the family who builds a new house on the site of an old one. Cracks in the stone steps of a new house announce an early death in the family. A warped board in the porch heralds death in the family. There will be a death in the family if a new door or window is cut in the house. Other beliefs which center around the home include: If scissors are dropped on the floor and the points stick in the floor during an illness, tibe patient will not recover. To carry a peacock feather into a house is a sign of death. Carrying a farm implement, such as a hoe or an axe, through the house brings death in unless the tool is taken out through the same door it was brought in (It is thought the person who brings the instrument inside will be buried before the year ends). Still another group concentrated on the table and meals. You will die if you drink coffee at five o'clock. The accidental setting of two forks by one's dinner plate means the person will attend a funeral or a wedding. Death is foretold by the small lines in the coffee grounds in the bottom of the cup if they form a coffin. Sneezes were also prognosticators of Death. Sneezing before breakfast on Sunday indicates the announcement of the death of an acquaintance before Saturday night. Death is assured if one sneezes at the table when his mouth is full of food. Sneezing at the table means a death in the family. (Especially if it is a baby who sneezes). 10 Mirrors are often the subject for superstitious beliefs. They have been thought of as doors through which the soul frees itself...