Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 February 1912 — Superstitions About Salt [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Superstitions About Salt

By F. C EVANS.

If you happen to spill any salt there is going to be a quarrel. At least to say superstitious folk, who straightway throw some of the spilt salt over the left shoulder to break the spell. Up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, it is also necessary to crawl under tbs

table and come out the opposite side, while in New England you must throw the spilt particles into the fire to thor- ’ oughly neutralize the bad luck. Bishop Hall of Exeter, wrote, Inj 1627, that when salt fell towards a superstitious guest at dinner, be was want to exhibit signs of mental aglta- - tijin, and refused to be comforted until one of the waiters bad poured wine in his lap. As salt is believed to remove wine stains from the table cloth, xperhajts this person may haye thought that the rule worked both ways and ■ wine removed salt stains from bis luck. i The Germans have a raying, “Whoever spills salt arouses enmity," and j in some places the overturning of a I salt cellar ie thought to be the direct! act of the Devil, the peace-disturbed.; The superqtitutious Parisian is of the j same opinion and tosses a little of tbe i spilled salt behind him in order. If j! possible, to hit the invisible and la-; terferlng fiend In the eye. .The ancient Romans exclaimed, ; “May the gods avert the omen! ”; when salt was spilled at table, and amoilg the Greeks the overturning of the salt cellar was one of the meet! ominous events that could occur in a house. This would indicate that superstitions regarding the spilling of salt are far older than the commonly be* ' i lleved explanation of the nation; ; which is, that It is due to the factthat in Leonardo da Vinci’s picture of the Last Supper, Judas Iscariot 1b represented as just having split the salt. Some observers, moreover, have failed to make out any salt cellar at alii In the original Cenacolo on the re- . factory wall at Milan, thiough It la clearly delineated in tbe well known engraving Raffaello Morgben. If Leonardo did Insert this detail, he most likely did It to take advantage of the popular belief and indicate the ill luck shortly to befall the false apostle. Salt is extremely distasteful to evil spirits in the opinion. of Richalmus, abbot of Schonthal, in Frimconla in the twelfth century-, and a great many people seem to agree wflth him to. this day. Richalmus was very muchtormented by devils, wtuom he observed In operation everywhere. He even considered flea-bites to be of is-

fernal origin and' prescribed the sign of the cross for their alevlatton. When he was at dinner and the fiend had maliciously taken away his appetite, he simply tasted a little salt and his appetite returned at once. The worthy Abbot wrote a book about his expert* ences, which Is very queer residing. In the pronvlnce of Quebec, French Canadians sometimes < scatter salt about the doors of their stables to prevent those mischievous little Imps called lutins from entering and teas* Ini the horses by sticking burrs in their manes and tails. G. Pitre in his hook on the customs of Sicily tells os that if that island, a horse entering a new stqU is believed to be liable to fairies. A Ut tie aaft is therefore sprinkled cm his book in order to bring their .eo*tK* IHM to naught.