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We had been sitting exterior within the solar, on the broad steps of Sydney’s new fish market, when a chook flew overhead and launched an enormous poo on the younger girl sitting in entrance of us. The “dropping” was enormously correct and voluminous, overlaying all of her left hand, a part of her left arm and far of her gown.
Keen to make her really feel higher, I instructed her: “They say it brings good luck.”
Her boyfriend turned with a smile. “In that case,” he says, “she’s in for a lot of good luck. Heaps of it.” At which level he started serving to with the laborious clean-up.
What are the origins of those superstitions? Who was the primary individual to see somebody cop a flying splodge of chook poo, after which say: “They say it brings good luck”?
I perceive the precept: one thing unlucky has occurred, so that you need to make the individual really feel higher. But why chook poo? We don’t supply this comfort after different misfortunes. If somebody smacks their head right into a low-lying department, we don’t say: “Lucky dog! You better buy a lottery ticket.” If you get mugged, the thief pushing you to the bottom and stealing your cellphone, the subsequent individual alongside doesn’t provide help to to your toes with the cheery remark: “Well, there’s nothing like a violent mugging to bring a bit of good luck.”
Most superstitions make no sense. Why does a rabbit foot deliver nice fortune? It actually didn’t work for the rabbit from which it was eliminated. And what’s so unhealthy a few black cat? You wouldn’t dream of judging an individual in keeping with the color of their pores and skin, however apparently cats are honest sport.
It’s true my technology didn’t have YouTube or Netflix, however frankly we had been flat-out holding the satan at bay.
When I used to be rising up, we lived in a world of superstitions. We had been instructed to not step on the cracks within the pavement, to keep away from the quantity 13, and to by no means open an umbrella when indoors.
Saying one thing constructive about oneself or hopeful concerning the future was typically frowned upon. But in case you insisted – “hopefully I’ll pass my exams”, “no way will I crash my bike” – you needed to instantly say “knock on wood” after which discover some wooden on which to knock. Since most Nineteen Seventies homes had been constructed from a mixture of fibro, brown linoleum and orange Laminex, this was typically arduous to attain.
Also, each time somebody sneezed you needed to say “bless you”, which apparently stopped the satan from utilizing that second of inattention to enter their soul. If you spilt salt, you additionally needed to throw some over your left shoulder (utilizing your proper arm) which had the wonderful impact of blinding the satan as he hovered at your shoulder. It’s true my technology didn’t have YouTube or Netflix, however frankly we had been flat-out holding the satan at bay.
Special events resembling birthdays had been marked by a dinner of roast rooster, the climax of which concerned two folks greedy the “wish bone” and tearing it in two, success going to the one who ended up with the bigger little bit of bone. The rooster, already having been throttled, plucked and baked, might need puzzled concerning the objective of this remaining indignity, but it was not doable to eat a rooster whereas leaving its furcula alone.
At Christmas, in the meantime, a silver sixpence can be baked into the Christmas pudding, able to deliver good luck to whoever discovered it. Or unhealthy luck in case you had been a seven-year-old and ended up with it caught in your windpipe, a number one reason for Christmas hospitalisations.
The identical coin, ought to it’s positioned within the pudding or returned later by the surgeon, might then be provided as fee for a kitchen knife do you have to want to give a knife as a gift. It was unhealthy luck to present knives as items – it will “cut” the friendship – so the present needed to be changed into a purchase order.
We had been additionally instructed we might eliminate warts by “washing our hands in moonlight”, or rubbing them with a bit of meat which you’d then bury within the yard. If you’ve ever discovered an previous chop bone in your yard, it was buried there by some warty child.
You might imagine this was a charmingly enchanted world, but it surely did add lots of fuss to the only of duties, as we had been continuously pressured to leap over cracks, throw salt over our shoulders, and seek for wooden to knock upon. In hay fever season, you’d bless extra folks than the native priest.
Did any of the superstitions make sense? Perhaps a pair. I nonetheless keep away from strolling beneath a ladder, based mostly on the sensible consideration {that a} bucket of paint could be up there someplace, able to fall on my head. I additionally consider that it’s unhealthy luck to place footwear on a desk – the unhealthy luck being the transmission of some nasty bug, picked up off the ground of a Sydney bus.
As for these low-flying birds on the Sydney Fish Market, I’m betting they did deliver good luck. That younger girl’s boyfriend was so solicitous, tenderly dabbing her with napkins. It was in all probability the affirmation for which she’d been hoping: this one was a keeper.
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