Charles Platt by Popular Superstitions

Author:Popular Superstitions
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-12-21T13:56:57+00:00

It refers to the Hawthorn—the wild May of our Hedgerows, which, like the Mulberry tree, is a splendid judge of weather!

CHAPTER VI

COLOURS

MANKIND has always been attracted by colour, and without question it makes a strong appeal to many animals and insects also. Experiments have been made with bees which prove that they possess a sense of colour.

On the other hand we must not overlook the fact that many people are born, even in the present century, without any colour sense at all—to them, the world appears a uniform grey tint. At any rate, that is how they themselves describe it, but having no sense of colour, their so-called “grey” may be anything. In all probability it is a dull lifeless slatey shade of green.

But the fact that our sense of colour need not be inherited proves that for a very long period Man must have lacked this wonderful addition to Life’s pleasures. At that early period, animal life was, no doubt, similar to the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and alligator in colour, while vegetation consisted of huge ferns and grasses. Probably there was no blue sky even, for the temperature was higher and the atmosphere would be misty above the salty brackish marshes.

We may assume that the sky cleared first of all—for Man has always held that Blue was the most fortunate of all colours, though White has invariably been the sacred one—if I may call it a colour for the sake of simplicity.

During the period of night, if that be one of rest, Nature does a lot of repairing. Hence no doubt the curative value of black in all old superstitions. If the tail of a black cat be rubbed over the eye, it will cure a sty. Again, if some wool from a black sheep be placed in the ear it will cure earache; and so on in many other ways with black horses, black dogs, crows and other birds.

A black horse was supposed to be able to see fairies and other mystical folk invisible to mortal eyes—the crow, however, has always been associated with black magic and sorcery, perhaps for a similar reason, that it could see its master’s “Familiars.” The gipsies still believe that a black horse has second sight.

It is interesting to note that the Hindu Bazaar shopkeepers will not sell anything white or black after dark—apparently the idea is that evil spirits would have some hold on the purchasers, and the shopkeeper did not wish to be mixed up in anything uncanny. There is in everyone of us a strongly noted dislike to be associated with anything tragic or unpleasant—hence the dislike for haunted houses, or for sleeping in a room where a recent death has taken place. Many people will not travel on a train that carries a corpse, and the railway companies insist that the coffin must be delivered to them well in advance of starting time.

There is also a strong dislike felt in connection with removing a body from water—a reward is

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