Collectanea. 225
Yorkshire.
In the colliery district near Normanton, it is believed to be unlucky to meet a woman or anyone with a squint when going to work.^
In Craven it is unlucky to put up an umbrella in the house,^ or to put it on a table ; to put shoes on the table ; ^ to sit on a table ; *"' for one crow to be flying about ; or for a bird to enter a house suddenly^
In Craven it is lucky to hear a cricket whistling.
At Carleton-in-Craven, my grandmother and parents were quite convinced that at Christmas certain things must be done and others left undone, viz. — no greenery was to be brought into the house before Christmas Eve ; ^ no green was to be burnt ; ^ and a Yule log must be burnt both on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. My grandmother believed that on Old Christmas Day (January 6th) all oxen knelt down at a certain hour to do homage to the Saviour, and that a flower bloomed for a short time.
Coniston. Harriet M. Smith.^
The following items were collected in villages near Pontefract in 1909-10 : —
To spill milk is the sign of a birth.
A child must be christened before paying its first visit, or evil comes to the house visited. ^'^ On that visit it receives a present of an egg, salt, and silver.^^ The salt prevents trouble with the teeth, and in Knottingley the egg is to make a custard for the mother. Sometimes a match is given ; this is explained as intended to light
^Cf. vol. XX., p. 222 {Staffordshire).
^Cf. vol. XX., p. 345 {Worcestershire) ; ante, p. 89 {Argyllshire).
"Cf. ante, p. 89 {Argyllshire).
Cf. ante, p. 90 {Argyllshire) ; ante, p. 222 {Buckinghamshire).
®Cf. vol. XX., p. 343 {Worcestershire).
^Cf. vol. XX. p. 488-90 {Cheshire, Lincolnshire, and Staffordshire')', Henderson, op. cit., p. 119.
^^ Cf. Henderson, op. cit., p. 20.
"Cf. Henderson, op. cit., p. 20 (egg, salt, and white bread or cake). My grandmother, who died in 1882 at Huddersfield, used to give salt, a slice of cake, and a sixpence (A. R. Wright).
