The Virginia negro thinks dancing wicked, but that the wickedness may be abated, if not neutralized, by dancing without crossing the legs. (Vouched for by a member.)
The Anne Arundel County negro thinks it bad luck to turn a chair round on one of its legs. The evil is averted by turning it back again.
It is bad luck to stump your toes, unless you "suck your thumbs."
Explanations of the reason for bad luck add much to the interest and value of the superstition. A teacher at the Normal School mentioned, as one of the strongest impressions of her childhood, her mother's objection to sewing on Ascension Day. Several of the papers tell us that the sin lies in the fact that "every stitch pierces the Saviour's side." If you sew on Sunday, the stitches pierce his heart, and the devil will make you rip them out with your nose.
Spitting has great influence. If a schoolgirl's dress turns up at the bottom, spitting on the hem will give her a new dress. If the skirt turns up going downstairs and she fails to spit on it, she will miss her lessons.
Every school paper says stepping on the car track, not over, is a sure sign you will miss your lessons.
The modern idea of the car-track suggests the influence of the door-sill or threshold in folk-lore. A new door-sill keeps out witches. A bride must step over the threshold. A broom at your door forces the witch to count all the straws before daylight, thus keeping her outside the threshold.
Shaking hands over a fence is unlucky.
Many superstitions dwell on the evil of shaking a cloth out of doors after dark, sweeping a room after dark, or throwing any débris outside at night. The crumbs from the cloth will fall into the Saviour's eyes; the sweepings will sweep away all your wealth.
Turning back after starting is bad, though ill luck may be averted by counting seven and then sitting down.
Anything done backwards is bad.
Don't get into bed backwards.
A man must not sit with his face to the back of his chair.
Don't walk backwards; to do so is to curse your parents.
But this unnatural way of doing things may give you power to work love-charms.
"Ef yo places de sho ub yo's right foot to-ward yo sweetheart's house, en de lef foot's sho to-ward de church dat she mostly tends, en den wolk backwords, en count de jyces dat ’s in de celin', en gets into bed backwords, yo 'll be shoah toe dream about her, ef she 's de wun yu 's gwineter marry."
Take your undergarment off at Halloween, wash it backwards,
