Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for P546 returned 1346 results.
Tale of Kate Elshender
A woman in the highlands, Named Kate Elshender, went to
a quarry hole to wash her clothes. As she passed the
village shop, she went in and bought a half pound of
soap and proceeded to wash; the soap slipped from her
hands, and she went back and bought another half pound.
The shopkeeper warned her to be careful, remembering the
old superstition...(when soap slips from your hand it
means death)...It slipped from her hands once again and
she returned for a third half pound of soap. This time
the shopkeeper was thoroughly frightened and begged her
not to go back again, but Kate went. Shortly after the
shopkeeper went to the quarry to find no one there. She
gave the alarm, and Kate Elshender was discovered drowned
at the bottom of the quarry hole.
Where learned: ENGLAND ; LONDON
Keyword(s): BAD LUCK
| Subject headings: | Observation PROSE NARRATIVE -- Still water Small body. Lake, pond.... BELIEF -- P447 BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Measure of time Working |
Date learned: 00-00-1991
Happy is she who married the son of a dead mother.
Submitter comment:
Her mother-in-law used to tell her that whenever
she could tell she was annoying her.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; GROSSE ILE
Keyword(s): mother-in-law, nag
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial PROVERB -- Proverbial Apothegm Maxim |
Date learned: 00001940S
So long as time goes on, death continues.
But Jews believe that the spirit of man lives
long after his body has died. Death will end
only with the coming of the kingdom of God.
Submitter comment: Jewish belief, learned and believed until death.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; Sterling Heights
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: 00001970S
IN THE PHILIPPINES MANY PEOPLE BELIEVE IT BAD LUCK TO EAT MEAT
WITHIN TWO DAYS OF A LOVED ONE'S DEATH. THIS IS SO IN CASE THE
PERSON HAS BEEN REINCARNATED INTO A PIG OR A COW.
Where learned: PHILIPPINES
| Subject headings: | 686 Seconds / Twice / Two CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Death Funeral Burial Food Drink -- Meat Food Drink -- Meat Bred animal BELIEF -- Mammal BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
IF YOU WANT A LOVED ONE TO BE HAPPY AND FULFILLED IN THE
AFTER LIFE, YOU MUST BE HAPPY AND THROW A PARTY OF CELEBRATION ON
THE LOVED ONE'S FUNERAL OR RESTING DAY.
Submitter comment: MY INFORMANT LEARNED THIS BELIEF WHILE IN THE ORIENT.
Where learned: ORIENT
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: 00-00-1975
Don't ever laugh when a hearse goes by.
Or you may be the next to die.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; SOUTHFIELD
Keyword(s): DEATH
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: 00001970S
It is believed in much of Greece that if one sleeps in a bed
which faces east-west with the head of the bed on the west side, that
person is to die an early death. It is not specified, however, when
that person is to die. It could take from one night to ten nights to
one year (and so forth) for that person to die after he or she has
slept in the bed. This superstition is based on the fact that all
dead are placed on their "death bed" lying east-west with their head
on the west side.
Where learned: GREECE
James Callow Keyword(s): POSITION, DIRECTION
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Measure of time |
Date learned: 00001943CA
In some small towns of Greece, it is believed that if an owl
appears at a house at night and "sings" someone in that house will
die.
Submitter comment:
My informant holds this superstition above all other
superstitions she believes in because when she was twelve she saw an
owl in her yard at some point in the evening and some weeks later her
mother became deathly ill. One year after that it is said that an owl
was seen on their rooftop and some months later her father passed
away.
Where learned: GREECE
Keyword(s): MYSTERIOUS ; unexplained
| Subject headings: | Observation Favorites BELIEF -- Ghost Spirit Phantom Specter BELIEF -- Bird BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: 00001946CA
From the ages when the gods were said to live on Mt. Olympus, the
Greeks believed the owl to be the symbol of wisdom and the foreshadow
of death.
Where learned: GREECE
| Subject headings: | Observation BELIEF -- Gods BELIEF -- Bird BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: 00001946CA
Funeral Superstition
One should never count the number of cars in the line of a
funeral procession. For every car which one counts, he/she will
lose a year of his/her life.
Submitter comment:
My grandmother, who is Italian, told me of this superstition
when I was five years old. The reason that she told me of this
particular belief is that I had just learned to count and I began
to count all of the objects that I looked at. For example,
railroad cars were a favorite of mine to count. Therefore, she
believed that if she told me of this belief, I would have a long
and prosperous life.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; KALAMAZOO
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Measure of time Year BELIEF -- Number Counting beliefs BELIEF -- Use of Object |
Date learned: 00-00-1975
Bad luck to point at funeral procession.
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Bad luck |
Date learned: 00001970S
There was never a fear of ghosts since they would only come
back to warn you if another family member was in peril and to make
sure you either called or wrote to make sure everyone was okay. It
was the only thing that the ghost could do was to stand there but
if you were afraid and ran the ghost would float until it caught
up with you and ride your back to where you were going, then
disappear.
Where learned: MISSISSIPPI ; Aberdeen
| Subject headings: | Favorites BELIEF -- Ghost Spirit Phantom Specter BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Never do laundry on New Year's Day or you will wash someone out
of the family. My mother did it once, two loads of colored clothes
and one load of white clothes. Two of the darker family members died
and the lightest also passed.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | Favorites CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- January 1 New Year's BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Measure of time Year BELIEF -- Measure of time Working BELIEF -- Color |
Date learned: 00-00-1982
Death by suicide leaves the soul forever at unrest.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Ghost Spirit Phantom Specter BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: 00-00-1991
Death Owl
There's an old belief down South that when a person has been
gravely ill for a period of time or near death, an owl would come
to call for their spirit. The owl would perch on the ill person's
porch, window sill, or tree near the person's home. Exactly one
day later, the ill person would die. The owl was called a squench
Owl, because of the sound that he made during his visit. He would
appear in the late evening. No one knew where he came from or when
he left. People would try to run the owl away to keep the person
from dying and the owl from taking their love one's spirit, but the
owl would only move to another spot and continue to make squenching
sounds and leave like he came. The people were very afraid of this
owl because he brought death.
Submitter comment:
My friend was really adamant about this story because she had
exactly experienced this during her years growing up in Rome,
Georgia.
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Ghost Spirit Phantom Specter BELIEF -- Bird BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour |
Date learned: 00001944CA
Do not wash clothes on New Year's Day because you'll wash a
person out of your family. The informant's mother died on January
15, 1982 right after the oldest sister washed clothes on January 1,
1982. The informant's mother was very upset because she was very
sick and she did die.
Date learned: 00-00-1955
It is said when a dog howls in the middle of the night, was a
sign of death, a day or two later a person in the neighborhood
would die.
| Subject headings: | Observation BELIEF -- Mammal BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour |
Date learned: 00-00-1955
When a person hears a bell ringing in the ear, particurally a
short quick ring, means a person is going to die. The ringing
noise is called a death bell.
| Subject headings: | 842 Ringing ears / buzzing / hot, burning BELIEF -- Body part Senses Ears, noise in ear BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: 00-00-1955
When passing a funeral home, you were told not to point at it,
because if you did you would die. You would have to bite your
finger and then put it under your foot to keep death away. It
would reverse the curse of death.
James Callow Keyword(s): CONVERSION
Date learned: 00-00-1955
Two people were not allowed to comb on your head at the same
time; if they did the younger of the two would die.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; RIVER ROUGE
| Subject headings: | 686 Seconds / Twice / Two BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: 00-00-1955