Bone Wishes

I have been struggling for a few days with writing these letters and then I struggled with why I was struggling and that spiraled into a churning chasm of despair and panic. The panic was over “What if I can never think of a quirky, irrational word to write about ever again?”

This morning during my devotional study the subject of old wives tales concerning food came up. The study is about to discuss that part of the Lord’s Prayer that says “Give us this day our daily Bread.” This is curious as I have never heard of any food superstitions so, let’s explore.

Garlic wards off Vampires – we all know this

Crush the eggshells after you crack open eggs or witches will gather them, create boats and sail out into the sea and create huge storms

If you spill salt- pick some of the spilt salt up with your right hand and toss it over your left shoulder to blind the devil. Legends indicate that the devil will lurk behind you to the left.

Before baking a loaf of bread you should cut a cross into the top to prevent the devil from sitting on top of it and ruining it while it bakes.

If you are served a cup of hot tea – never put the milk in before the sugar or you will never get married

If there are bubbles floating on your coffee catch them in a spoon and eat them and you will receive some unexpected money

Never hand a friend a hot pepper it will bring discord and strife to the friendship, instead lay the pepper down and ask them to pick it up

Eating a peanut during a race, card game or other gambling type of event brings bad luck

Sticking pins into an onion and placing it on your kitchen window sill will keep out bad spirits

Never bring bananas on a boat – you will never catch any fish

After eating a boiled egg create a whole in the shell to let out the devil – apparently he likes the sulfurous smell of eggs as it reminds him of hell

Planting rosemary by your doors will keep witches out of your home

I will end this with the practice of breaking the wishbone since it is a popular Thanksgiving tradition and has been practiced in my home for as long as I can remember and was also practiced by my grandmother who learned it when she was little so it goes back even farther. 

After the meal is over the wishbone is brought out and two people each take a bone piece and pull it apart while making a wish. The person that ends up with the longest piece receives their wish. This practice is well over 2000 years old and is based on the bones of chickens being lucky.  Ancient Etruscans would dry out the wishbone or furcula of a chicken which were revered as sacred birds and the people would touch it and make a wish. The Romans caught hold of this tradition and would also hold the bones of chickens as reverent and make wishes with them as part of their feasting tradition. As in the case with many parties involving warriors the tender caressing of the bones turned into a duel between comrades and the goal changed to whoever ended up with the largest piece of bone after breaking it together would have their wish granted. The easiest piece of the bone for two people to grab and break with fairness was the furcula bones found in chickens, geese, ducks and later as the English moved to America where turkeys were abundant, our Thanksgiving day turkey.

Enjoy the tradition and Good Luck!