I remember growing up a "haint" was a creepy/old/haunted house. Thats how I knew the answer to that one. lol IIRC though we used it to describe an evil type of ghost as well. I think like alot of words in the south we use the same one to describe things that are similar. A haint could be the house the ghost is in or the actual ghost itself.
FYI, "Haint" is an old school name for ghosts. My parents (both born in 1936) grew up in Northeast Tennessee and they said everyone was terrified of haints. They said the locals had no folklore about monsters (like Bigfoot or such), but countless ones about haints. I was dying laughing when that question came up because to me the answer was obvious, but I bet that's a word people rarely use anymore
The reason all the panelists knew some of these, but only a few knew others, is that some of these customs are very local, while others are known all over the South. For example, the “Haint blue” practice is strongest in the Savannah area and lowland South Carolina. Making “bottle trees” is a Mississippi custom, although it extends somewhat to the states bordering Mississippi. But eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is something the vast majority of Southerners do, or at least know about. My family (in Texas) isn’t much for following superstitions, but we never miss our New Year’s black-eyed-peas.
"you can eat stale bread, honey, I ain't gonna tell nobody, that's your business." 😂🤣😂🤣😂 This woman has me LOLing... She is like the EPITOME of a southern woman lol
I cackled when she said it. The hint she isn’t really southern though is that apparently in her world bread goes stale before it molds. In my world, I have 3 days max to enjoy fresh bread. And then it’s entirely covered in mold. Humidity sucks.
Even though I live in Ohio; I have some distant relatives in Kentucky and my mother gave me a tip that keeps me from wasting money on bread: keep it in the refrigerator.
The one my dad told me about was that my great grandmother would put a broom in front of the door anytime she heard a screech owl during the night. Apparently, the sound of the screech owl meant the devil was coming to get someone in the house (someone in the house would die) and the broom was to block his entry. She was concerned for her kids. They were from Mississippi.
@@esmeraldagreengate4354 you forgot about the blue paint and glass bottles, protection bags in corners, burying iron on all 4 corners, bells on the door, keeping the windows shut at night, covering mirrors, oh and salt poured over the thresholds...it's an anti haint cocktail....a Haint Julep if you will...😵💫
When we'd move into a new to us house mom would open the windows start sweeping And praying in tongues until she got to the front door. Then she'd take out her annouinting Oil and anoint the door and window openings.
Haint blue is actually a color in historical registries. It not only wards off evil spirits, but in the South, a lot of people use it on their porch ceilings because in addition to spirits, it’s supposed to attract flying insects up and away from you and your guests while y’all sit on the porch visitin’.
What I heard was that it would keep birds from nesting in the eaves under your porch roof. They perceive it as the sky and and will go somewhere else to nest.
Neither of these beliefs are true, but I've heard both...my back porch ceiling is sky blue, it doesn't get insects away from you, & I've gotta do away with bird nests every year...
This and don't give anybody a knife as a gift bc it cuts the friendship. Tried to give my grandpa a knife one year and he refused it. Very superstitious man.
@@samanthacable5966 my sweet little granny (she'll be 96 in May) always makes us give a penny if we get a knife as a gift as "payment to ward off severed ties"
@@downhomewithsarah7443 you know, now that I really think about it, I believe that's actually what he ended up doing!! He didn't want to hurt my feelings, but the superstition was too strong. Ha!! Yep, he gave me a penny and I never tried to give him another knife. Thank you for bringing that up!!
@@samanthacable5966 our family, if you give someone a knife they have to give you a coin for it so it's not a gift. My husband got irritated that I wouldn't close a knife if he handed it to me already opened. Now he wont close a knife someone else opened either.
Supposedly evil spirits can't travel through water. Haint blue is a shade that resembles water, and that is why they use it. People used to also put a glass of water , a clear bowl or vase full of flowers (and water) on the window ledges to keep spirits at bay.
My whole family on my dad's side were southern farmers...needless to say I knew all the superstitions. And the palm thing, the left hand is receiving and the right hand is giving wealth, any kind, not just monetary (abundant crops, family visits, giving to a neighbor in need, etc.). And the May thing, my granny washed her hair from the rain water she collected from said rain. She had the best hair I've ever seen on a 96 year old when she passed. 🤷♀️
Vendors in my country would receive money with their left and give you your change with the right...and just incase someone put a spell on you you won't lose your money. They would also put peas, corn and a lime in there too.
I'm from the mountains of North Carolina, and my granny always said, "If your right palm itches, you're going to shake hands with a stranger. If your left palm itches, you're going to get some money."
Love it!! Yes, glass bottles in the trees, specifically cobalt blue bottles in the trees, it attracts and traps the spirits inside the bottles before they can get into your house. You can also use pretty blown glass balls called witches balls for the same purpose, hang them in your windows or right outside your front door.
I keep black-eyed peas in the cupboard _year round_ just in case I don't get to the store for New Years. And the first bite is always while giving remembrance to my departed mother. You do not mess around with the power of the pea.
@@larrysouthern5098 What"s the three peas rule? It sounds like something I ought to be doing but nobody told me. Edit: Nevermind, I figured it out: If you don't like blackeyed peas just eat three. No problem for me, I like 'em.
I make sure to get some when I do holiday shopping in November, always have a can laying around and dried - Hubby likes them. My kids didn't like them and as an adult my daughter still doesn't, but rule of the house - ya gotta eat peaS , so eat 2 :)
I knew a lot of these and I’m from MD. Our family has always said seeing a bird means passed loved ones are saying hello. Technically, seeing a crow means impending death, but hummingbirds and sociable finches are more of a comforting visit thereof
I was only aware of one, of eating black-eyed peas and greens at New Year's. Here's one they didn't mention: my granny used to believe that if you swept the floor at night, you'd sweep all the good luck out the door. EDIT: Oops, forgot one. The aforementioned granny, when she gave my mom the family pecan pie recipe, said, "Now, there's a curse on this recipe--if you give it to someone outside the family, it will not come out right...." And you know what, folks? The curse works! When my mom gave the recipe to friends, the Karo syrup in the pie would always fail to set, and they'd end up with sticky-sweet soup. Every single time.
I remember my grandma had a rule about sweeping the floor but I couldn't remember why 👍 she said something about sweeping it over the threshold after dark.
My daughter and her fiancé, a New Yorker, moved to New Orleans and just bought a house. It was not quite finished when they first looked at it, but the porch ceiling was already painted Haint Blue!
That, Mobile, Biloxi, Bay St Louis is where the custom spread from into Dixie. It is a French Catholic custom. Haint Blue (light blue turquoise) is the color associated with The Virgin Mary. Inland south after 1780 not being Catholic, tends to forget or change "the reason" but keep the practice. In Pinocchio (original novel) the Blue Fairy was symbolic of Mary.
Haint blue is also thought to keep bugs away too. Supposably it reduces the amount of spiders and wasp around your porch. God knows you don't want any wasp around your porch.
Personally, I "negotiate" with the wasps to relocate. Wasps prey on caterpillars and other garden pests. They are a natural pest control, just better located away from where people frequent. Don't spray 'em; relocate 'em. Besides when you spray insecticide you will likely kill pollinators and they have enough problems.
Yellow Jackets... dead Hornets... dead Murder Hornets... burn down the house and call State Farm Mud Dobbers.... let 'em be Bees... friend of me Mason Bees.... stay away from my rose bushes. Carpenter Bees have always been harmless but scared the crap out of me as a kid.
It's true! You paint the inside roof of your porch haint blue and the bugs think it's the sky and don't build their nests there. We moved and I am currently midfight with my husband who refuses to paint our porch ceiling. No bad spirits, no wasps.
I grew up in the Northeast and my grandmother totally believed in the bird superstition. Though we learned it as “A bird in the house means death in the family”. Anytime we tried to rescue a bird, we had to keep in the garage or grandma would have a fit.
My father says if you give someone a knife as a gift, you must also give some money (even a penny), or the knife will “cut your love in two” (I’m not sure what that means, but it must be bad). I suppose that must descend from some ancient practice of making an offering to the knife.
I got them all right so my Southern card is secure 😊 I was kind of surprised that people missed the haint blue question because my family is from rural Alabama and for us the word “haint” means ghost. So I could just guess based on the name. I’ve seen colored bottles hanging in trees lots of times. I don’t eat the ends of bread. Nasty.
Never place a hat on the bed. Its supposedly super bad luck. Not that a lot of people still wear hats, but if you do, keep it off the bed, unless you're trying to kill somebody.
In prison if you sweep someone’s feet it means they’ll come back... big NO NO!! Heard this from a friend. Lol!! If you’re walking with someone and you split a pole, pillar...etc you have to say “bread & butter”. Lol!!
I always thought that hain't meant is not , you know, like you hain't living. And we alls know that ain't isn't a word either. So nows we knows that if you ain't, are you really hain't? Just too confusing both hain't and ain't being words. Really? p.s., I always thought they were the same words. Just for fun, en Espenol, estes is to be just as etre is to be en Francais. Hain't is just another way of say "I was". Engleske is so conjugated that who can really make sense of it? Did she give me that "come hither" look and did her daddy really have a shotgun? Who knows? ;)
I thought it was that you had to touch wood near a graveyard. Often people also touched a button because sometimes they were made of wood. You hold your breath on i-10 going through the Wallace Tunnel in Mobile, Alabama, or honk your horn because it echoes.
I grew up in a large family. You learned to eat what others wouldn’t if you wanted to eat. The ends of the loaf are my favorites. My wife’s grandmother was beside herself when I married into the family because I ate them. It literally took her a year of Sunday dinners to realize and stop asking.
I'm from Western KY. You eat the ends of a loaf of bread when the rest of the bread is gone. The ends help protect the bread from spoiling. And spin the open end of the bread sack before you put the twist tie back on. Like you do a garbage sack.
My family is from Louisville (I live in Southern California) When newly married my husband observed that everyone in my family ate the loaf ends last, and that we twisted the wrapper; his family did not.
When I was young I heard that when you have looked all over your home for a favorite item and just can’t find it, say something out loud so that a deceased loved one will bring it back. For many years I didn’t even try this but finally when I couldn’t find a favorite ring, I thought ‘what harm can it do’? So when I was alone, I politely asked for the item back. The next day it was in plain view in its spot in the jewelry dresser drawer that I had emptied several times looking for it. By the way, when I told this to my husband, well..........he was very doubtful. Yet he tried it and got the same results, ha!!
Catholic friends tell me if you lose something, you can pray to Saint Anthony, and he’ll find it for you. Once you have recovered it, your end of the bargain is to make a donation to the church or give to the poor as a gesture of thanks.
@@censusgaryI heard a funny story about it. Someone was looking for something for a long time and got frustrated. She said, annoyed: FFS, St Anthony, will you let me find it or not and she tripped taking the next step. The thing she was looking for was under the bed. With one trip the punishment for cussing and the help was delivered…
I have even seen the blue bottles in yards in NH. Must be people who were from the south? I never understood it - just assumed they REALLY liked blue bottles.
Lord…we Texans use all of these! Y’all, southern pride is a real thing. Love it! Oh! I did GUESS on the hair washing question though. Got it right, so obviously my brain is VERY southern.
I swear I though I was the only one that knew about the dish cloth. My family also added that if you dropped the dish cloth, either lock or unlock the door for the guests, depending on whether or not the house was clean. 😂
Salt was a precious commodity all over the world (sugar too) and salt was locked up in a “Salt Cellar” (box). Masters & mistresses told servants that to spill salt was bad luck - that way the servants were afraid to spill it. Same with a broken mirror - seven years bad luck: only rich people could afford a “looking glass”.
I think also it depended on what direction the utensil fell was the direction you would receive a visitor from. Also never go out the door you came in.
When I was growing up, no-one wanted the ‘heels’ (begin and end pieces in the loaf) because they usually were the driest (mom had to shop at the store for what was called the day old bread and baked items). We ate a lot of dried beans/bean soup growing up and I liked those ‘heels’ of bread to dip into the beans (it softened them up).
Yes, my father-in-law told me that. Apparently, you’ll accidentally move some bad juju along with the broom. Also, when you sweep the floor, you aren’t supposed to throw the sweepings out the back door, or maybe it’s the front door. I guess you might throw out your good luck, or something like that. Som people say if you sweep a person with a broom, even accidentally, you’ll cause them bad luck.
Of course. You don't want your old house spirit hitching a ride. The old house won't have a spirit, and will fall apart, and the new house will be in chaos because house spirits don't get along. Makes perfect sense.
Don't know about the bird inside the house but when my dad died an owl flew up to a tree outside the house in the daytime. Same thing happened when my grandmother and grandfather passed. Big owl, in broad daylight in the tree.
Owls move between worlds like many other winged animals. When my dogs died, I saw butterflies fly around close to them on both separate days of their deaths. I know my dogs are in heaven.
Now we need a skit of all of these. I've heard the bird one with a variation. It's supposed to be a black bird (usually a crow or raven) as it would signify as the Grim Reaper entering your home to claim the soul it came for.
Yes, that is what I was told by relatives in Kentucky. Most people said that the black bird had to be a raven (that was why kids grew up fearing them).
My grandmother always tells us that if an owl hoots near a window of your home, there will be a death in the family. Birds are messengers because they can fly the closest to the sun and hear the secrets the creator whispers to them. Diff birds, diff meanings.
My parents looked at a house one time and there was a dead bird inside it. My mom decided if we moved in that we would all die because of the bird superstition so I can verify that is definitely a thing. I was surprised not more people on the panel knew it.
Don't forget the hog jowl to go with the black-eyed peas and greens. Black-eyed peas are for luck, greens are for money, and hog jowl is for a good year, health, and prosperity.
I completely forgot about the glass bottles in the tree until I saw the multi-choice answer and instantly remembered why they did that. Thank all y'all for reminding me of that
I am not superstitious; but I have heard these my whole life growing up in South Louisiana. We were told black eyed peas and cabbage. If your left hand was itching, you received money. If your right hand was itching, you had to give money. Or vice versa! People here make bottle trees on a post with pretty bottles. You paint the porch ceiling blue to help with flies. May Jesus continue to bless you and your family!
im kinda amazed that i knew the correct answer to every question even though i have not been back to the South for 25+ years. its amazing what impressions from your childhood that still hold up emember to this day. even though i move a long , long time ago from The South(region of the U.S.) i seem to still kept this(and other "lessons") in my mind no matter where i am or how its been since sat out on my back porch in a rocker having me some sweet tea, fanning ourselves to try to deal wit the humid hheat.
The only one I’d never heard of, after being born and bred in deep Appalachia, is the first rain of May thing. But I’m still sitting here happy on my haint blue porch watching the bottles in the tree.
From what I've read the Haint Blue comes from the Carolinas and the glass bottles are from further south, Southern Louisiana and Mississippi. The itching thing was what I grew up on definitely. The black eyed peas, greens and cornbread was a requirement for New Years. Also red brick dust on the door and window frames keep out evil spirits. So does salt. There is also dead snakes in trees is supposed to bring rain. Then there is a whole list of herb related superstitions.
You should write a book before these fascinating superstitions are lost to the ages. I believe there is some wisdom, lost knowledge, in all superstitions.
Benny Hill skit: Benny: "What does it mean when your palm itches?" Jackie: "It means you're going to have company." Benny: "What does it mean when your whole body itches?" Jackie: "It means they've shown up!"
History lesson here!! The reason we eat black eyed peas and collard has a sad story to it. During the war between the states the yankees came down and destroyed crops and homes. They left only the black eyed peas and collard cause they didn't know what they were. So for a year that's all the people had to eat. Hence we believe they bring good luck!!
Sherman's bummers left nothing! Sherman claimed that he did no harm to widows and single mothers but his bummers took or killed everything my widowed great-grandmother, her two toddlers, and my widowed great, great grandmother had on their poor farm in Brightsville, SC in April 1865. They were left with nothing! I can fully appreciate the story of having only dried black-eyed peas and greens for survival; many had less after Sherman waged his war on women, children, and the infirm. Those who in the South who had dried peas and fresh green on New Years 1866 were the fortunate few. No student of history should have any doubt why Sherman is to this day despised by Southerners of heritage!
@@rachelelizabethcharfauros847 Both my parents were born and raised in North GA (near Rome). I live in the northern most part of this state. Must be a northern thing. 🙄
Supersition: Once a loved one has passed onto heaven they will leave little trinkets for you when they are thinking/watching of you. Proof: For my family, it is dimes. Shortly after her mother's death, my grandmother, who was just a kid, found a single dime in her mother's purse, which hadn't been used in years. Fast forward to September 2020, my grandmother passed away. Shortly after, everyone in our family started to find dimes in the oddest places. I found one right behind a quilt box that used to be hers the night before I left my apartment to go home for the funeral. I am unsure if this is truly a Southern superstition or not, but I do believe it.
The same thing happens to me since my father passed away. The morning I was getting ready to leave for his funneral I put on high top tennis shoes and was packing my car when I realized something was in my shoe. I took my shoe off and there were three dimes in it, I am the oldest of three sisters. On the way from Iowa to Texas dimes just kept appearing in the oddest places, he has been gone almost 8 years and it still happens all the time. My dad collected dimes for years so I guess he had a collection to use on the other side.
My family's superstition on that (idk if it is more than my family) is that Robin's perching in your yard are people visiting you from the dead. And gender matches. Since my grandma passed away back in 2015 whenever a robin perches in my mom's yard for some reason it is always a female robin so she literally looks right at it and says "hi mom, how are you doing today" and has a little conversation with the robin. It is kinda sweet.
Never heard the bird one, but my grandmother would and still does tear into us if we ever even look like we’re about to set a hat down on the bed. She swears that invites death into the house.
I always ate (and still do) eat the ends of a loaf of bread. Used to freak my mom out and I had no idea why til I was older. I knew most of these superstitions and I wonder just how common they are with regional variations. (I guessed at the black eyed peas and greens). I have an Irish/Scottish ancestry. Along with a plethora of other superstitions we have 'First Footer' on New Year's Day. The first one to cross the threshold to come in on New Year's Day must be dark headed. My dad was a red head. My Gran would not let him in from New Years Eve parties until one of his brothers got home. Lot of chilly nights for him. There is one thing I know about palms itching that I didn't see mentioned. If your right palm itches it means money is coming in. If your left palm itches it means money is going out. That's one from my Scottish aunt.
My poor dad would bake fresh bread, and if I was over, I would eat Both end pieces. If he made two loaves, I ate them from both loaves. Poor dad would just have this look of astonishment that I had managed it in the few minutes they were in the counter.😅 I LUV the ends.... totally my favorite.
I'm from Southern Missouri and didn't think I was superstitious but I got every question right. And have abided most of them. Thank you Mom and Granny.
Some of y'all from Southern Missouri and the Northern Arkansas Ozarks might be interested in 'Ozark Magic and Folklore' and other books by Ozark folklorist Vance Randolph. Some of it's hilarious because he was getting fucked with and he just played along, like when farmers in Greene County told him something like it never rains on the second Tuesday of June in Greene County. Brandon Westin from Arkansas from Ozarks Healing Traditions and the Ozark Folk Center State Park also has some interesting stuff on Ozarks folklore and magic. It's derived from a mix of Hoodoo, hillbilly folk traditions and Pennsylvania Dutch Appalachians Pow Wow stuff, aka Braucherei. There is alot of weird Ozark folk stuff, like there were these guys called Power Doctors who were like christian based magic men who did Jesus/Bible based magic to "fight witchcraft" etc, pretty crazy stuff, there's also the Yarb Doctors (Yarb = Herb) who are folk herbalists types. Most of the hillbilly folk stuff from The Salem Plateau, Springfield Plateau, Boston Mountains region has died out with most the last of the real hillbillies. Another interesting group is the Ozark Society but that's environmental/nature stuff and not folklore stuff. They put out an interesting book titled 'Ozark Forest Forensics: The Science Behind the Scenery in our Regional Forests' that y'all might find interesting also.
My grandmother used to say if your left palm itches rub it on your left butt cheek to receive money. My theory on the left cheek is that is were many men kept/keep their wallet.
Ha! So fun to do this! I think that I may have scored an "A" on this one, as I have heard most of them growing up. The haint colored porches, glass bottles in the tree, New Years Day cuisine, itchy/ chilly body parts (itchy palms: coming into money, chills down your back: someone is walking over your grave). If you're wondering about the meaning of the New Year's Day food, here is what I was taught growing up in Tennessee: Greens: Cash Money Black-eyed peas: Coin money Golden Cornbread: Gold Ham: Wealth (since a cured meat product is a "value-added" food, and only the wealthy could afford it at one time, this was a "luxury". But, growing up in Tennessee, we had country hams coming out of our ears.)
I’ve heard all of them (except the haint blue paint) and many more. Tell Kevin that a bird in the house means death, but not necessarily his. It may be someone you know. Also, death usually comes in threes. Often when one person you know passes, there will be at two more in the near future.
All bad things in threes. And the bird thing actually kinda made sense when you figure in how many disease they carry and the fact that some of them travel way more than the average human
The bird thing is because people used to think they were what are called "psychopomps". Comes from a Greek belief originally. Since birds can fly, it was thought they would carry or shepherd newly departed souls to the afterlife.
I'm from the coast of GA and I didn't know all these, BUT some of these were so familiar. But the south is a big region. The best part though was hearing all the accents. Sounds like home!
I am from the Midwest. My southern family explained never show your wife $100 bills. Their magical powers will make them disappear. And never say a word.
Thanks to my Grandma from Mississippi, I knew almost all of these. And a wild bird flying into your house is supposed to be a harbinger of impending death for someone in the household. The bird does not cause the death, but is supposed to be a warning as I understand that superstition.
I just got chills! Not a week ago, I was driving home after dark and saw a woman sweeping her porch. I had no idea a why, but I said out loud, "No, girl! Get back in the house, now!" How did l know that superstition?
I got not only don't sweep porch at night but don't toss the inside sweepings outside at night cause it invites the devil in dump them the next morning
Question 6 - It's called a bottle tree! It's African in nature, and often called the African bottle tree (or blue bottle tree). The bottles are blue, this goes back to the blue porch thing! Basically what happens is the spirits think the light bouncing off the bottles is so pretty, they inside the bottle to look and get trapped.
It's not necessarily African. It's also Celtic. Definately country vs city. Interesting how different cultures have similar practices. I was always amazed how the Day of the Dead and All Hallow's Eve were so similar, yet the countries were so far apart.
@@sophierobinson2738 You're right! I forgot about that part! We had a couple of old timers used to have bottle trees in their yard. They didn't hang the bottles. They put them so the small branches would go in the opening in the neck of the bottle. Supposedly the evil spirits couldn't figure out to just double back to get out....they'd just keep heading forward.
Приколы
“Im not superstitious, but I am a little stitious” -Michael Scott
Could someone be "substitious"?
@@AccidentalNinja There ya go. Couldn't hurt to hedge your bets. I gonna use that
😂😂I'm going to try and remember to use that.
On God
Haint blue is supposed to be color of water, tricks the spirits, who can't cross water.
Have to say, though, that's some dumb spirits!
Must be why I have a deep desire for a baby blue colored car. The models I want are never that color.... gotta get MAACO I guess.
The Chinese have the same superstition; that evil spirits can't cross water, especially running water.
I remember growing up a "haint" was a creepy/old/haunted house. Thats how I knew the answer to that one. lol IIRC though we used it to describe an evil type of ghost as well. I think like alot of words in the south we use the same one to describe things that are similar. A haint could be the house the ghost is in or the actual ghost itself.
I learned about haint blue paint painted on the ceilings of outdoor porches in Key West because it confuses the spiders from building webs on porches.
FYI, "Haint" is an old school name for ghosts. My parents (both born in 1936) grew up in Northeast Tennessee and they said everyone was terrified of haints. They said the locals had no folklore about monsters (like Bigfoot or such), but countless ones about haints. I was dying laughing when that question came up because to me the answer was obvious, but I bet that's a word people rarely use anymore
Yup. And to paint your porch blue to deter them lol
Kill two birds with one stone also use that color that deters yellow jackets and wasp on the ceiling of your porch
@@cybersal7 noted lol
When we painted our front porch ceiling 15 years ago you bet it was haint blue. Why take a chance? ha
I heard that if you paint the inside of your garage blue it would keep mosquitoes away. So I guessed blue because mosquitoes are the devil, lol
The reason all the panelists knew some of these, but only a few knew others, is that some of these customs are very local, while others are known all over the South. For example, the “Haint blue” practice is strongest in the Savannah area and lowland South Carolina. Making “bottle trees” is a Mississippi custom, although it extends somewhat to the states bordering Mississippi. But eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is something the vast majority of Southerners do, or at least know about. My family (in Texas) isn’t much for following superstitions, but we never miss our New Year’s black-eyed-peas.
Haunt Blue is also very very common in Southeast Louisiana. I actually am at this moment looking across at 2 hasn’t blue houses lol.
Oh good I’m not a fake Southerner; I’m just Tennessean
Small correction ….. we call it the low country in South Carolina :)
I’ve seen glass bottles tree in NC too
@k yells
Probably someone from New Orleans
"you can eat stale bread, honey, I ain't gonna tell nobody, that's your business." 😂🤣😂🤣😂 This woman has me LOLing... She is like the EPITOME of a southern woman lol
I cackled when she said it. The hint she isn’t really southern though is that apparently in her world bread goes stale before it molds. In my world, I have 3 days max to enjoy fresh bread. And then it’s entirely covered in mold. Humidity sucks.
Amyqotd The humidity.
@@amyqotd5358 southern notsosecret, covered bread in fridge dries very well.
I love her personality!
Even though I live in Ohio; I have some distant relatives in Kentucky and my mother gave me a tip that keeps me from wasting money on bread: keep it in the refrigerator.
Many of the people in our neighborhood in Jackson, MS had glass bottles in their trees. I just thought it was an artsy thing. Lol.
Common in Louisiana
I’ve seen it in Alabama too. I thought it was decorative.🤣
@@tiffaninichole me too! i was like well that looks ignorant lol
I thought it was decorative too till a classmate in middle school said her family did it for ghosts
They for catchin haints!
The one my dad told me about was that my great grandmother would put a broom in front of the door anytime she heard a screech owl during the night. Apparently, the sound of the screech owl meant the devil was coming to get someone in the house (someone in the house would die) and the broom was to block his entry. She was concerned for her kids. They were from Mississippi.
Keeping your broom by your door is suppose to protect your house.
Yes, both to sweep away evil and to whack an intruder about the head and shoulders. ;)
All it takes is a broom? Some devil.
@@esmeraldagreengate4354 you forgot about the blue paint and glass bottles, protection bags in corners, burying iron on all 4 corners, bells on the door, keeping the windows shut at night, covering mirrors, oh and salt poured over the thresholds...it's an anti haint cocktail....a Haint Julep if you will...😵💫
When we'd move into a new to us house mom would open the windows start sweeping And praying in tongues until she got to the front door. Then she'd take out her annouinting Oil and anoint the door and window openings.
Haint blue is actually a color in historical registries. It not only wards off evil spirits, but in the South, a lot of people use it on their porch ceilings because in addition to spirits, it’s supposed to attract flying insects up and away from you and your guests while y’all sit on the porch visitin’.
What I heard was that it would keep birds from nesting in the eaves under your porch roof. They perceive it as the sky and and will go somewhere else to nest.
Neither of these beliefs are true, but I've heard both...my back porch ceiling is sky blue, it doesn't get insects away from you, & I've gotta do away with bird nests every year...
@@angelbulldog4934 I heard that about wasp's nests 🧐🧐
@@rjay7019 doesn't work on them either...
@@Road_Rash 😀 I guess I'm not going to be able to get the blue paint I want for my house. I have been using that as an excuse to paint it 👍
my dad always said that it was bad luck to close a knife another man opened
I've always been told it's bad luck to close another person's knife at all
This and don't give anybody a knife as a gift bc it cuts the friendship. Tried to give my grandpa a knife one year and he refused it. Very superstitious man.
@@samanthacable5966 my sweet little granny (she'll be 96 in May) always makes us give a penny if we get a knife as a gift as "payment to ward off severed ties"
@@downhomewithsarah7443 you know, now that I really think about it, I believe that's actually what he ended up doing!! He didn't want to hurt my feelings, but the superstition was too strong. Ha!! Yep, he gave me a penny and I never tried to give him another knife. Thank you for bringing that up!!
@@samanthacable5966 our family, if you give someone a knife they have to give you a coin for it so it's not a gift. My husband got irritated that I wouldn't close a knife if he handed it to me already opened. Now he wont close a knife someone else opened either.
Supposedly evil spirits can't travel through water. Haint blue is a shade that resembles water, and that is why they use it. People used to also put a glass of water , a clear bowl or vase full of flowers (and water) on the window ledges to keep spirits at bay.
I have noticed if you paint the ceiling of your porch and under the eves of your house a sky blue you will have fewer paper wasp making nests there.
Oh snap we do that in the Caribbean lol
Dagon was literally a water spirit (an evil one at that).
Supposedly if you paint the porch ceiling light blue bugs are not attracted.
Were people that stupid?
My whole family on my dad's side were southern farmers...needless to say I knew all the superstitions. And the palm thing, the left hand is receiving and the right hand is giving wealth, any kind, not just monetary (abundant crops, family visits, giving to a neighbor in need, etc.). And the May thing, my granny washed her hair from the rain water she collected from said rain. She had the best hair I've ever seen on a 96 year old when she passed. 🤷♀️
Thank you for this I always mix up which hand was doing what
Vendors in my country would receive money with their left and give you your change with the right...and just incase someone put a spell on you you won't lose your money. They would also put peas, corn and a lime in there too.
I’m born & raised NY/NJ & believe the itchy palms thing. Left you pay & right you receive $
In my family it was the opposite...right will receive and left will leave.
I'm from the mountains of North Carolina, and my granny always said, "If your right palm itches, you're going to shake hands with a stranger. If your left palm itches, you're going to get some money."
Love it!! Yes, glass bottles in the trees, specifically cobalt blue bottles in the trees, it attracts and traps the spirits inside the bottles before they can get into your house. You can also use pretty blown glass balls called witches balls for the same purpose, hang them in your windows or right outside your front door.
I keep black-eyed peas in the cupboard _year round_ just in case I don't get to the store for New Years. And the first bite is always while giving remembrance to my departed mother. You do not mess around with the power of the pea.
Yes ma'am!!!
Yes ma'am!!! Three peas rule too..
@@larrysouthern5098 What"s the three peas rule? It sounds like something I ought to be doing but nobody told me.
Edit: Nevermind, I figured it out: If you don't like blackeyed peas just eat three. No problem for me, I like 'em.
I make sure to get some when I do holiday shopping in November, always have a can laying around and dried - Hubby likes them.
My kids didn't like them and as an adult my daughter still doesn't, but rule of the house - ya gotta eat peaS , so eat 2 :)
👏🏼👏🏼 POWER OF THE PEA! 😄
My Texan mom says if your right palm itches you’re going to meet someone new; if it’s the left palm then it’s money🤷🏻♀️
This Texan agrees that this is our version of the superstition.
Southern Indiana family said that right palm money COMING IN....itchy left palm money is GOING OUT.
No wonder my left palm never itches...
@@user-jy3zl2vp4b I could never remember which palm was which, but that's what my mom would say too (her side of family's from the south).
@@user-jy3zl2vp4b it’s the same in southern IL...right palm coming into money and left palm losing money!
I knew a lot of these and I’m from MD. Our family has always said seeing a bird means passed loved ones are saying hello. Technically, seeing a crow means impending death, but hummingbirds and sociable finches are more of a comforting visit thereof
I was only aware of one, of eating black-eyed peas and greens at New Year's. Here's one they didn't mention: my granny used to believe that if you swept the floor at night, you'd sweep all the good luck out the door.
EDIT: Oops, forgot one. The aforementioned granny, when she gave my mom the family pecan pie recipe, said, "Now, there's a curse on this recipe--if you give it to someone outside the family, it will not come out right...."
And you know what, folks? The curse works! When my mom gave the recipe to friends, the Karo syrup in the pie would always fail to set, and they'd end up with sticky-sweet soup. Every single time.
I remember my grandma had a rule about sweeping the floor but I couldn't remember why 👍 she said something about sweeping it over the threshold after dark.
I never sweep after the sun goes down. I always heard it would bring bad luck to the house as well.
My daughter and her fiancé, a New Yorker, moved to New Orleans and just bought a house. It was not quite finished when they first looked at it, but the porch ceiling was already painted Haint Blue!
There are more spirts in New Orleans than living people. Haint Blue keeps them out of your house and hanging bottles keeps them out of your yard.
That, Mobile, Biloxi, Bay St Louis is where the custom spread from into Dixie. It is a French Catholic custom. Haint Blue (light blue turquoise) is the color associated with The Virgin Mary. Inland south after 1780 not being Catholic, tends to forget or change "the reason" but keep the practice.
In Pinocchio (original novel) the Blue Fairy was symbolic of Mary.
But what they miss in this video is:
Porch ceilings are painted light blue or aqua
to keep the mosquitoes from gathering underneath.
@@bubbeartist7710 Does that really work?
Learned this in Key West - that ghosts can't cross water and having the porch ceiling the color of water is supposed to confuse ghosts.
Haint blue is also thought to keep bugs away too. Supposably it reduces the amount of spiders and wasp around your porch. God knows you don't want any wasp around your porch.
Forget evil spirits, ain’t nobody want any wasps on the porch!
Personally, I "negotiate" with the wasps to relocate. Wasps prey on caterpillars and other garden pests. They are a natural pest control, just better located away from where people frequent. Don't spray 'em; relocate 'em. Besides when you spray insecticide you will likely kill pollinators and they have enough problems.
If only that were true 😄
Yellow Jackets... dead
Hornets... dead Murder Hornets... burn down the house and call State Farm
Mud Dobbers.... let 'em be
Bees... friend of me
Mason Bees.... stay away from my rose bushes.
Carpenter Bees have always been harmless but scared the crap out of me as a kid.
It's true! You paint the inside roof of your porch haint blue and the bugs think it's the sky and don't build their nests there. We moved and I am currently midfight with my husband who refuses to paint our porch ceiling. No bad spirits, no wasps.
I grew up in the Northeast and my grandmother totally believed in the bird superstition. Though we learned it as “A bird in the house means death in the family”. Anytime we tried to rescue a bird, we had to keep in the garage or grandma would have a fit.
Also, don’t give an empty wallet as a gift…you have to put money in it (or it will always be empty)
That's a good one
My father says if you give someone a knife as a gift, you must also give some money (even a penny), or the knife will “cut your love in two” (I’m not sure what that means, but it must be bad).
I suppose that must descend from some ancient practice of making an offering to the knife.
My grandma used to say, “My nose itches, I smell peaches, somebody’s coming with a hole in their britches”.
lol
Mine too!!!
Mine too
I've always heard if your nose itching YOU'RE going to 💋 a fool
@@carlasuannelockett1694 that's what my grandma always said too
It's bad luck to walk under a ladder. And OSHA agrees.
So many superstitions are just common sense. The rest are BS.
I walk under ladders because I like to play with danger. 😅😈
That’s a superstition in other areas. Not just the South.
I'm really short, I walk under ladders all the time. Don't tell OSHA.
And never go up the ladder with just one nail.
I got them all right so my Southern card is secure 😊
I was kind of surprised that people missed the haint blue question because my family is from rural Alabama and for us the word “haint” means ghost. So I could just guess based on the name. I’ve seen colored bottles hanging in trees lots of times. I don’t eat the ends of bread. Nasty.
"you should be able to eat an entire pie because this is America." I'm dying!!!!
Bad luck to sweep someone’s feet with a broom, you have to pat there back to reverse it.
And it’s bad luck to open an umbrella inside the house.
The umbrella superstition is everywhere, not just in the South.
No, someone sweeps your feet with a broom it means you’re going to marry a rich man!
Never place a hat on the bed. Its supposedly super bad luck. Not that a lot of people still wear hats, but if you do, keep it off the bed, unless you're trying to kill somebody.
In prison if you sweep someone’s feet it means they’ll come back... big NO NO!! Heard this from a friend. Lol!! If you’re walking with someone and you split a pole, pillar...etc you have to say “bread & butter”. Lol!!
I worked with a woman who threatened to quit if I swept her area bc she was extremely superstitious.
Y’all! Haint means spirit or ghost! Y’all let me down.
Fun fact: LBJ’s childhood (? I think) home in TX is painted haint blue on the porch.
I always thought that hain't meant is not , you know, like you hain't living. And we alls know that ain't isn't a word either. So nows we knows that if you ain't, are you really hain't? Just too confusing both hain't and ain't being words. Really? p.s., I always thought they were the same words. Just for fun, en Espenol, estes is to be just as etre is to be en Francais. Hain't is just another way of say "I was". Engleske is so conjugated that who can really make sense of it? Did she give me that "come hither" look and did her daddy really have a shotgun? Who knows? ;)
Thank you!! I was willing them to realize that! It's actually a version of "haunt," isn't it?
@@jennasink8743 yeah I think so. Haints haunt. So haint is the noun of the verb haunt. Makes sense to me!
Yea, haint tales are storys of ghosts in Appalachia.
@@jennasink8743 yes honey it is.
"If I got home and a bird was in my house, that's the bird's house now." That's the best!🤣🤣
I really love your videos, and so funny also I can learn the southern accent and enjoy growing up.
“That’s the bird’s house now” girl, I get this!’
Oh, mylanta! My gran had a neighbor that had glass bottles hanging in her trees. We just assumed she was an eccentric older lady. 🤷🏼♀️
Hahaha, where I live you see those colorful glass bottles hanging in people's trees everywhere.
I always just thought they were for decoration.
A lot of older people have metal trees made out of rebar and out glass bottles on them, also fancy glass bottle chandeliers for outside
I had 2 glass growlers hanging in a tree when I got my property..
I wonder if it has worked ?🤔
I'll find out now, I took them down last week...😂😂
@@wayneeddy3261 I'm coming
Ya'll are so Cute! You take me back to the good old days!!
As a Southerner, I knew glass bottles in a tree because of "Because of Winn-Dixie" 😹
If you had to take a shot everytime you heard Momma Pam, you would be fall down drunk!
*Wheezing*
A shot of apple juice right
I'm replaying this video with my bottle of Tequila!
Hold your breath by the graveyard. Don’t move your old broom to your new house or you bring trouble with you.
I thought it was that you had to touch wood near a graveyard. Often people also touched a button because sometimes they were made of wood.
You hold your breath on i-10 going through the Wallace Tunnel in Mobile, Alabama, or honk your horn because it echoes.
I grew up in a large family. You learned to eat what others wouldn’t if you wanted to eat. The ends of the loaf are my favorites. My wife’s grandmother was beside herself when I married into the family because I ate them. It literally took her a year of Sunday dinners to realize and stop asking.
I'm from Western KY. You eat the ends of a loaf of bread when the rest of the bread is gone. The ends help protect the bread from spoiling. And spin the open end of the bread sack before you put the twist tie back on. Like you do a garbage sack.
My family is from Louisville (I live in Southern California) When newly married my husband observed that everyone in my family ate the loaf ends last, and that we twisted the wrapper; his family did not.
I live in Indiana and I knew most of these. We have a lot of southerners that moved here especially in the 70's.
When I was young I heard that when you have looked all over your home for a favorite item and just can’t find it, say something out loud so that a deceased loved one will bring it back. For many years I didn’t even try this but finally when I couldn’t find a favorite ring, I thought ‘what harm can it do’? So when I was alone, I politely asked for the item back. The next day it was in plain view in its spot in the jewelry dresser drawer that I had emptied several times looking for it. By the way, when I told this to my husband, well..........he was very doubtful. Yet he tried it and got the same results, ha!!
Catholic friends tell me if you lose something, you can pray to Saint Anthony, and he’ll find it for you. Once you have recovered it, your end of the bargain is to make a donation to the church or give to the poor as a gesture of thanks.
Thank St. Anthony!
@@censusgaryI heard a funny story about it. Someone was looking for something for a long time and got frustrated. She said, annoyed: FFS, St Anthony, will you let me find it or not and she tripped taking the next step. The thing she was looking for was under the bed. With one trip the punishment for cussing and the help was delivered…
@@censusgary Praying for the soul of St. Anthony's mother is a traditional gesture of gratitude too.
I grew up in the country in MS. Bottle trees were all over in the 50's and 60's. Old people swore by them.
They still are down on the coast
To be effective the bottles must be blue.
It’s always shown in typical movies showing everyone in MS as poor, uneducated, and believes in some sort of voodoo.
@@seanriley1603 They do love their stereotypes.
I have even seen the blue bottles in yards in NH. Must be people who were from the south? I never understood it - just assumed they REALLY liked blue bottles.
Lord…we Texans use all of these! Y’all, southern pride is a real thing. Love it! Oh! I did GUESS on the hair washing question though. Got it right, so obviously my brain is VERY southern.
I've always loved "Hoppin' John" on New Year's Day!
If you drop a dish towel, you'll get a visitor. If you spill salt, you have to throw it over your left shoulder and into the Devil's eyes.
If you drop a fork on the floor, a visitor is coming- from the direction the fork is pointing when it lands.
Yes. We had the salt thing. People up here in the North thought I was nuts.
I swear I though I was the only one that knew about the dish cloth.
My family also added that if you dropped the dish cloth, either lock or unlock the door for the guests, depending on whether or not the house was clean. 😂
Salt was a precious commodity all over the world (sugar too) and salt was locked up in a “Salt Cellar” (box). Masters & mistresses told servants that to spill salt was bad luck - that way the servants were afraid to spill it. Same with a broken mirror - seven years bad luck: only rich people could afford a “looking glass”.
In South Louisiana: drop a knife, expect a male visitor. Drop a spoon, expect a child visitor. Drop a fork, expect a female visitor.
Heard from my mom drop a spoon a woman comes, fork a male, butter knife a couple, a sharp knife a couple but they are sharply dressed.
Single guys be like 🍴 🤚 🤷♂️
A few months ago I dropped my whole silver drawer, no one came, stinkin 2020 ;)
I think also it depended on what direction the utensil fell was the direction you would receive a visitor from. Also never go out the door you came in.
I’m a single man who just threw a bunch of forks on the floor!
I got these, and I loved this video! Tennessee native here :)
That was so fun! From Florida🎉
The two ends of a loaf of bread are great for PB&J sandwiches because the jelly won't soak through the bread.
That's the best piece in the loaf
They make great toast too!
A'ight this is no time for jokes... let's all pray for Leann's soul.
I like them with pimento cheese, or as butter bread
When I was growing up, no-one wanted the ‘heels’ (begin and end pieces in the loaf) because they usually were the driest (mom had to shop at the store for what was called the day old bread and baked items). We ate a lot of dried beans/bean soup growing up and I liked those ‘heels’ of bread to dip into the beans (it softened them up).
One I remember is you don't move your broom to a new house. You're supposed to throw the old one out and get a new one when you move.
Yes, my father-in-law told me that. Apparently, you’ll accidentally move some bad juju along with the broom.
Also, when you sweep the floor, you aren’t supposed to throw the sweepings out the back door, or maybe it’s the front door. I guess you might throw out your good luck, or something like that.
Som people say if you sweep a person with a broom, even accidentally, you’ll cause them bad luck.
Of course. You don't want your old house spirit hitching a ride. The old house won't have a spirit, and will fall apart, and the new house will be in chaos because house spirits don't get along. Makes perfect sense.
That is really interesting!
Always take a new broom to a new house, New broom sweeps clean.
Never heard that but it somehow makes sense.
"You can eat stale bread honey! I ain't gonna tell nobody!" LOL!
“Look what y’all did” 😂
With the black eyed pea luck
Don't know about the bird inside the house but when my dad died an owl flew up to a tree outside the house in the daytime. Same thing happened when my grandmother and grandfather passed. Big owl, in broad daylight in the tree.
I've heard that one about owls too. Or a variation: if you hear an owl hoot in the daytime
My husbands great grandmother, grandma and nearby friend all had owls land in trees in day time hooting and within days passed.
Owls move between worlds like many other winged animals. When my dogs died, I saw butterflies fly around close to them on both separate days of their deaths. I know my dogs are in heaven.
We always heard that if you hear an owl call close by in the day then someone soon would pass away.
See, that is strange for an owl to do that. Gives me the chills just thinking about it.
Now we need a skit of all of these.
I've heard the bird one with a variation. It's supposed to be a black bird (usually a crow or raven) as it would signify as the Grim Reaper entering your home to claim the soul it came for.
Yes, that is what I was told by relatives in Kentucky. Most people said that the black bird had to be a raven (that was why kids grew up fearing them).
Crows usually are indicative of being messengers.....death but not necessarily dying but a change of life....owls on the other hand 🤪
My grandmother always tells us that if an owl hoots near a window of your home, there will be a death in the family. Birds are messengers because they can fly the closest to the sun and hear the secrets the creator whispers to them. Diff birds, diff meanings.
A gathering of 3 or more crows is referred to as a "murder" of crows. 2 crows next to each other is an "attempted murder" 😜 (not really).
I feed the crows in my yard
My parents looked at a house one time and there was a dead bird inside it. My mom decided if we moved in that we would all die because of the bird superstition so I can verify that is definitely a thing. I was surprised not more people on the panel knew it.
"If I come home, and there's a bird in the house, that's the bird's house now"🤣💀
Don't forget the hog jowl to go with the black-eyed peas and greens. Black-eyed peas are for luck, greens are for money, and hog jowl is for a good year, health, and prosperity.
that's how my Momma made it!
Eating high on the hog
Sounds good!
I'm from Pittsburgh. And every year that I lived there EVERYONE made and ate sauerkraut on new years day. Lol...
I completely forgot about the glass bottles in the tree until I saw the multi-choice answer and instantly remembered why they did that. Thank all y'all for reminding me of that
I rock at multiple choice. I have never even visited the south and I nailed this quiz.
The house I grew up in was trimmed in Haint Blue and I never knew it. Kept me alive, evidently...
Blackeyed peas, greens... and cornbread. I can't believe y'all forgot the cornbread. I don't even know y'all any more.
I agree!! I always heard the cornbread was to receive gold in the next year.
@@angelao6711 Right. Cornbread for wealth, greens for health, blackeyed peas for the luck to get them.
That’s a given.
Hog jowl too.
@@ronniejohnson317 yeah, I noticed they didn't mention any kind of pork.
Right palm itching, money coming in. Left palm itching, money going out... I learned this from my Mother who was born in Detroit. Its universal.
My granny used to say "if you got an itchy nose, you're supposed to kiss a fool." 😂
New Years: blackeye peas for luck and cabbage for money
Hog jowl in the black eyed peas is for prosperity.
@O P Shacknasty in the blackeyed peas too
Peas for luck, greens or cabbage for money and ham hocks or hog jawls for health was what my great grandmother and grandmother always said.
Cornbread for gold/wealth
Yep. Raised with that. Peas for coins and cabbage for "folding money"!
I am not superstitious; but I have heard these my whole life growing up in South Louisiana. We were told black eyed peas and cabbage. If your left hand was itching, you received money. If your right hand was itching, you had to give money. Or vice versa! People here make bottle trees on a post with pretty bottles. You paint the porch ceiling blue to help with flies.
May Jesus continue to bless you and your family!
Me too!
Laplace here! What city do you live?
This was fun! Thanks
im kinda amazed that i knew the correct answer to every question even though i have not been back to the South for 25+ years. its amazing what impressions from your childhood that still hold up
emember to this day. even though i move a long , long time ago from The South(region of the U.S.) i seem to still kept this(and other "lessons") in my mind no matter where i am or how its been since sat out on my back porch in a rocker having me some sweet tea, fanning ourselves to try to deal wit the humid hheat.
My neighbors and I have "bottle trees" in our yards . We are in the PNW .
But I am a proud product of The South .
Love my Southern Heritage.❤
The bird in the house question.
A. Good stuff
B. Good stuff
C. Death
Well, that escalated quickly...
In my household, we usually give the ends of the loaf of bread to the dog! 😂
2021 deserved double servings of hoppin' John!!
Yum
Where are you from? South Carolina? Louisiana?
Haven't heard of quite a few of them..it's a wonder my southern card hasn't been revoked.
Same 😩
Better knock on wood
Well, you get assigned a bad Monogram before that...then...then revocation.
Jesus Saves Love God✝️
@@SaharaiMar Jesus Saves Love God✝️
I never heard more superstitions till I started working in a casino.
The only one I’d never heard of, after being born and bred in deep Appalachia, is the first rain of May thing. But I’m still sitting here happy on my haint blue porch watching the bottles in the tree.
Am I the only one that eats the "heels" , "ends" because you feel sorry that no one else wants them? No, just me? Ok, cool 🤣 I like them.
No. I eat them too. They're the last pieces in the bag, but they're not great.
As a home baker, I have to say the heels are the best. The middle slices are pretty good too.
I eat the heels as well
You can have mine!
That loaf of bread cost me hard earned money... I ain't gonna waste a single bit!
From what I've read the Haint Blue comes from the Carolinas and the glass bottles are from further south, Southern Louisiana and Mississippi. The itching thing was what I grew up on definitely. The black eyed peas, greens and cornbread was a requirement for New Years. Also red brick dust on the door and window frames keep out evil spirits. So does salt. There is also dead snakes in trees is supposed to bring rain. Then there is a whole list of herb related superstitions.
I've seen glass bottles in the Carolinas and Kentucky.
Circling your house in salt keeps evil spirits out.
I've seen all and heard of all except the hair in may thing
You should write a book before these fascinating superstitions are lost to the ages. I believe there is some wisdom, lost knowledge, in all superstitions.
Nigi
when our broom fell over my grandma used to say companies coming lol
Benny Hill skit:
Benny: "What does it mean when your palm itches?"
Jackie: "It means you're going to have company."
Benny: "What does it mean when your whole body itches?"
Jackie: "It means they've shown up!"
History lesson here!!
The reason we eat black eyed peas and collard has a sad story to it. During the war between the states the yankees came down and destroyed crops and homes. They left only the black eyed peas and collard cause they didn't know what they were. So for a year that's all the people had to eat.
Hence we believe they bring good luck!!
Sherman's bummers left nothing! Sherman claimed that he did no harm to widows and single mothers but his bummers took or killed everything my widowed great-grandmother, her two toddlers, and my widowed great, great grandmother had on their poor farm in Brightsville, SC in April 1865. They were left with nothing! I can fully appreciate the story of having only dried black-eyed peas and greens for survival; many had less after Sherman waged his war on women, children, and the infirm. Those who in the South who had dried peas and fresh green on New Years 1866 were the fortunate few. No student of history should have any doubt why Sherman is to this day despised by Southerners of heritage!
Amazing what you eat when you’re starving. Also Southerners didn’t eat black eyed peas before the civil war because they were used for hog slop.
I heard the same from my grand parents
Wow great history
@UC6p2S01II-6I2j46qVXnHXg Democrats, the party of slavery.
But for some odd reason, they're all up North now.
Pea-Kahns are a pie ingredient. Pee-Cans are used in cars for long road trips a half century ago.
@ skip h, 😂😂🤣🤣🤣
Exactly 💯
But we don't pee on khans either: puh-khans 😑😅
😆
Nope 👎 I am born and raised in South GA and we say pee cans for the nut 🥜
@@rachelelizabethcharfauros847 Both my parents were born and raised in North GA (near Rome). I live in the northern most part of this state. Must be a northern thing. 🙄
I’m 43 years old and never heard of haint blue. I love learning new things
Supersition: Once a loved one has passed onto heaven they will leave little trinkets for you when they are thinking/watching of you.
Proof: For my family, it is dimes. Shortly after her mother's death, my grandmother, who was just a kid, found a single dime in her mother's purse, which hadn't been used in years.
Fast forward to September 2020, my grandmother passed away. Shortly after, everyone in our family started to find dimes in the oddest places. I found one right behind a quilt box that used to be hers the night before I left my apartment to go home for the funeral.
I am unsure if this is truly a Southern superstition or not, but I do believe it.
I have always delighted to find dimes in parking lots ,quarters are great too but something about a found dime makes me feel rich
@morgan tischler It's the same with my family except my grandmother used to collect coins & dimes were her favorite.
The same thing happens to me since my father passed away. The morning I was getting ready to leave for his funneral I put on high top tennis shoes and was packing my car when I realized something was in my shoe. I took my shoe off and there were three dimes in it, I am the oldest of three sisters. On the way from Iowa to Texas dimes just kept appearing in the oddest places, he has been gone almost 8 years and it still happens all the time. My dad collected dimes for years so I guess he had a collection to use on the other side.
My family's superstition on that (idk if it is more than my family) is that Robin's perching in your yard are people visiting you from the dead. And gender matches. Since my grandma passed away back in 2015 whenever a robin perches in my mom's yard for some reason it is always a female robin so she literally looks right at it and says "hi mom, how are you doing today" and has a little conversation with the robin. It is kinda sweet.
Find a penny, pick it up, the rest of the day you'll have good luck
I say this every time I find money when I'm out and about 😊😊😊
Got’em all. I’m not actually superstitious, but I enjoy knowing them all and playing along.
It cain't hurt, can it?
Never heard the bird one, but my grandmother would and still does tear into us if we ever even look like we’re about to set a hat down on the bed. She swears that invites death into the house.
I always ate (and still do) eat the ends of a loaf of bread. Used to freak my mom out and I had no idea why til I was older.
I knew most of these superstitions and I wonder just how common they are with regional variations. (I guessed at the black eyed peas and greens). I have an Irish/Scottish ancestry. Along with a plethora of other superstitions we have 'First Footer' on New Year's Day. The first one to cross the threshold to come in on New Year's Day must be dark headed. My dad was a red head. My Gran would not let him in from New Years Eve parties until one of his brothers got home. Lot of chilly nights for him. There is one thing I know about palms itching that I didn't see mentioned. If your right palm itches it means money is coming in. If your left palm itches it means money is going out. That's one from my Scottish aunt.
My poor dad would bake fresh bread, and if I was over, I would eat Both end pieces. If he made two loaves, I ate them from both loaves. Poor dad would just have this look of astonishment that I had managed it in the few minutes they were in the counter.😅 I LUV the ends.... totally my favorite.
My mama is superstitious and we eat black eyed peas, cabbage or greens, and ham, on New Year’s Day. It’s for love luck and money in the new year!
Ours is sourkrowt and sausage plus black eyed peas and collard greenss
I'm from Southern Missouri and didn't think I was superstitious but I got every question right. And have abided most of them. Thank you Mom and Granny.
Some of y'all from Southern Missouri and the Northern Arkansas Ozarks might be interested in 'Ozark Magic and Folklore' and other books by Ozark folklorist Vance Randolph. Some of it's hilarious because he was getting fucked with and he just played along, like when farmers in Greene County told him something like it never rains on the second Tuesday of June in Greene County.
Brandon Westin from Arkansas from Ozarks Healing Traditions and the Ozark Folk Center State Park also has some interesting stuff on Ozarks folklore and magic. It's derived from a mix of Hoodoo, hillbilly folk traditions and Pennsylvania Dutch Appalachians Pow Wow stuff, aka Braucherei. There is alot of weird Ozark folk stuff, like there were these guys called Power Doctors who were like christian based magic men who did Jesus/Bible based magic to "fight witchcraft" etc, pretty crazy stuff, there's also the Yarb Doctors (Yarb = Herb) who are folk herbalists types. Most of the hillbilly folk stuff from The Salem Plateau, Springfield Plateau, Boston Mountains region has died out with most the last of the real hillbillies.
Another interesting group is the Ozark Society but that's environmental/nature stuff and not folklore stuff. They put out an interesting book titled 'Ozark Forest Forensics: The Science Behind the Scenery in our Regional Forests' that y'all might find interesting also.
Marylander ✋, I got most of these right 😀We're honorary southerners in MD 🤣
0:27 watching this on New Year's day as a southerner is hilarious because I can smell it cooking right now
Right palm itching you're going to meet somebody, left palm you're coming into some money
I came into the comments to say this, glad I checked to see if anyone else said it already! :)
Southern Indiana family said that right palm money COMING IN....itchy left palm money is GOING OUT. (eg LEFT is money LEAVING)
We have this one in greece too, only if your right palm is itching you are gonna spend money, if your left palm is itching you are gonna get money
My grandmother used to say if your left palm itches rub it on your left butt cheek to receive money.
My theory on the left cheek is that is were many men kept/keep their wallet.
I know my ma and grandma always said "If your left hand itches, you're going to get money, if your right hand itches, you're going to kiss a fool"
Glass bottle in the tree, learned that from the movie Because of Winn Dixie 😘
I knew about the glass bottles in the trees from ‘Because of Winn-Dixie’
Ha! So fun to do this!
I think that I may have scored an "A" on this one, as I have heard most of them growing up. The haint colored porches, glass bottles in the tree, New Years Day cuisine, itchy/ chilly body parts (itchy palms: coming into money, chills down your back: someone is walking over your grave).
If you're wondering about the meaning of the New Year's Day food, here is what I was taught growing up in Tennessee:
Greens: Cash Money
Black-eyed peas: Coin money
Golden Cornbread: Gold
Ham: Wealth (since a cured meat product is a "value-added" food, and only the wealthy could afford it at one time, this was a "luxury". But, growing up in Tennessee, we had country hams coming out of our ears.)
I always heard if your ears were burning someone was talking about you.
Ours was if the inner ear itches or there is a burning sensation, someone was saying bad things about you.
Yep left woman & right man 😊
@O P Shacknasty did not know that
I was always told if your ears are ringing, someones talking about you.
@@eas8381 ears ringing or itchy nose up in the Northeast.
I’ve heard all of them (except the haint blue paint) and many more. Tell Kevin that a bird in the house means death, but not necessarily his. It may be someone you know. Also, death usually comes in threes. Often when one person you know passes, there will be at two more in the near future.
Yes about the birds implying death, but not necessarily you. Troubling times when my cat would bring live birds thru the pet door.
Yes, family member. and death in threes.
All bad things in threes. And the bird thing actually kinda made sense when you figure in how many disease they carry and the fact that some of them travel way more than the average human
You’re right about the death coming in threes. My two aunts passed away within a year of each other followed by my grandpa Richard shortly after.
The bird thing is because people used to think they were what are called "psychopomps". Comes from a Greek belief originally. Since birds can fly, it was thought they would carry or shepherd newly departed souls to the afterlife.
I'm from the coast of GA and I didn't know all these, BUT some of these were so familiar. But the south is a big region. The best part though was hearing all the accents. Sounds like home!
the question wasn’t even finished and i was yelling HAINT!! HAINT BLUE!!
People forget the glass bottles also need to be blue which is the reason I knew the porch should be painted blue.
I am from the Midwest. My southern family explained never show your wife $100 bills. Their magical powers will make them disappear. And never say a word.
You make that sound like a bad thing!
They'll be back. They took those hundreds and went shopping.
LOL *magical powers* LOLOL
I knew about the bottles from Because of Winn Dixie! 😄🐶
Thanks to my Grandma from Mississippi, I knew almost all of these. And a wild bird flying into your house is supposed to be a harbinger of impending death for someone in the household. The bird does not cause the death, but is supposed to be a warning as I understand that superstition.
When I tried to sweep the porch after sundown, Granny flipped out and started naming people who had died from it.
I just got chills! Not a week ago, I was driving home after dark and saw a woman sweeping her porch. I had no idea a why, but I said out loud, "No, girl! Get back in the house, now!" How did l know that superstition?
NEVER sweep after sundown LOLOL. Bless your heart. Bet you think twice now, don't you? It's rough keeping to it in the winter though.
I got not only don't sweep porch at night but don't toss the inside sweepings outside at night cause it invites the devil in dump them the next morning
It’s always good when Grannies can cite case histories.
Question 6 - It's called a bottle tree! It's African in nature, and often called the African bottle tree (or blue bottle tree). The bottles are blue, this goes back to the blue porch thing!
Basically what happens is the spirits think the light bouncing off the bottles is so pretty, they inside the bottle to look and get trapped.
It's not necessarily African. It's also Celtic. Definately country vs city. Interesting how different cultures have similar practices. I was always amazed how the Day of the Dead and All Hallow's Eve were so similar, yet the countries were so far apart.
They also supposedly melt when the sun comes up and heats the bottles.
@@sophierobinson2738 You're right! I forgot about that part! We had a couple of old timers used to have bottle trees in their yard. They didn't hang the bottles. They put them so the small branches would go in the opening in the neck of the bottle. Supposedly the evil spirits couldn't figure out to just double back to get out....they'd just keep heading forward.
@@sophierobinson2738 I did not know that!
@@queenbunnyfoofoo6112 It could definitely be both! The reason I say African is because for that area, it was said to be brought up from Africa.