To this day, some New Englanders hold fast to the old superstitions. Spit on your bait for good luck fishing.Rock an empty chair and you will have bad luck.
Two lucky bones from the head of the same fish will make your luck doubly sure. The bone is from a codfish head, three-quarters of an inch, narrow, notched and pearly white.
He lists some ways New Englanders dealt with that mysterious thing called luck, such as: The open end was always up otherwise, luck will run out.Ĭlifton Johnson collected old New England superstitious beliefs in his 1896 book, What They Say in New England: A Book of Signs, Sayings and Superstitions. They hung horseshoes over an outer entrance to ward off witches or to bring good luck. The Puritans’ beliefs about luck came down through the ages. A superstitious New Englander’s view of improper horseshoe management.
