Unexplainable things. Such as witchcraft, myth and mythology. A talk I went to on Saturday, and which I escaped from in the break, about Luck, reminded me that viewing history from my perspective cannot even adjust to how people thought in the medieval ages.
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| Rather an elegant hand, think this is the Whitby hand. Wiki photo |
You see the Glory Hand above, which you can find in Whitby Museum in Pannett Park. The hand of a thief and murder as a protective force against burglars. I am 'sinister' handed, yes I am left handed, though the nuns in nursery tried to cure me of this 'fault', but it would probably have haunted me in olden times and led to claims of me being a witch. The barbaric nature of hanging a felon then cutting his hand off and making a candle out of the fat of his body is gross, but this is the way things happened.
The only thing I got out of the talk was an 'Anarchic Head' rather than 'Celtic Head', which I will look up today. But the lecturer asked the audience what they did for luck? Throwing salt over one's shoulder, touching wood for luck is probably my two luck charms. Superstitous nonsense maybe? On long car journeys, my brother and I, would look out for white horses (three to be precise) and a red haired woman (normally my stepmother who had red hair) and combination complete would spit over our fingers. Completely made up of course.
Yesterday through F/B, I came across from a 'Folklore' society the following photo of a 'witches stairs' made out of a twig and feathers, weird it was, you can read how its story came into being here.
The macabre is still with us today of course, films abound, my daughter is off next Saturday to see a horror comedy at a Manchester theatre. The truth of the matter, like burning Fawkes at the bonfire is just a deep rooted need to say - there but for the grace of God go I.
An elderly client of mine had a Hand of Glory on his desk. He kept paperclips in it.
ReplyDeleteThat is so weird! It is the sort of thing that nightmares are made of, or you are making it up Tom ;)
DeleteI have never heard of 'the hand of glory' but like you, I am fascinated by old superstitions (I read on the blog of another that someone mentioned they were not super 'stitious, but admitted to being slightly 'stitious.) We do/did a lot of renovation work on old houses. We found interesting things in the wall, a hand blown bottle, old shoes. We never would have guessed that they were anything but forgotten relics that were accidently walled up. However, reading up on them led us to a wealth of information about how people protected their homes from witches and evil spirits.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of skeletons of cats behind walls in medieval houses, and probably on the entrance to the house, the Romans went into it as well. But I think like the 'luck' my brother and I created, there was also such creations by seamen before they went out to sea to stop them from drowning. Of course it didn't.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that you left the talk during the break. That's bound to bring you a ton of bad luck. Personally, I have never done anything to bring me good luck. No touching of wood, no rabbit feet, no salt and I make a point of walking under ladders. I have been in Whitby Museum - there's so much to see, read and learn that it makes your head swim.
ReplyDeleteWell logically walking under scaffolding or ladders increases the chance of something falling on your head. Whitby Museum is a magical trove in itself. The Victorian jet jewellery whilst macabre is beautiful and the Captain Cook section a wealth of knowledge.
DeleteI have always been someone who avoids all of those rituals to keep one safe. If the evil or whatever is truly powerful, a silly ritual just wastes your time.
ReplyDeleteBut Tabor there is also fun in it. I am wondering whether to go and help the person who runs the mythology, magic group. I definitely don't believe in fairies but the veil of superstition is a fascinating realm.
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