Witches, Storms and Egg Shell Ships

[anteros_lmc]

Apropos of nothing...while making daughter's lunch today I was reminded of an odd superstition of my grandmother's, she used to tell us never to throw away egg shells without smashing them first. Otherwise witches would go to sea in them and stir up storms to sink the ships and drown the sailors. A rather odd story to tell kids over lunch, but there you go! Has anyone else come across this superstition or anything like it?

Comments

[lady-branwyn.livejournal.com]

I've never heard that one, though my mother used to say you could "whistle up a storm" which I believe is an old seafarers' supersition.

[n-e-star.livejournal.com]

This might be linked to the superstition about whistling in the theater.

Early theater rigging was run by ex-sailors, who would communicate orders with whistles. A random person whistling could cause havoc and possibly injury.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Ooh now that's fascinating! I know all about not whistling in boats but I didn't know it was taboo in theatres too and I certainly didn't know about sailors running theatre rigging, makes a lot of sense though!

[n-e-star.livejournal.com]

Oh, the whistling thing is huge, maybe even more then "Macbeth". I have seen a rehearsal stop in mid-song just because an office worker walked through the lobby whistling.

In the theater circle I worked in the offset to this was "SHIT" shouted as loud as possible.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! In was always taught not to whistle in boats in case it brought the wind up. That seems so be an almost global custom. I wonder what it's origins are?

[esmerelda-t.livejournal.com]

Interesting, I've heard it but I don't think at home. It sounds very Baba Iagaish.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I'd never thought about it like that, but it does rather sound like something from Baba Yaga! I don't think my granny was East European though...

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

My mother said that if you could sprinkle salt on a birds tail you could catch it-- which I suppose is true. If a bird was inclined to let you do that you could probably do anything.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Heh! Yes I suspect if you can get close enough to sprinkle salt on a bird's tails you're already half way there to catching it!

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

There's the same saying and/or joking advice in Polish - sprinkle salt on its tail to catch it. Only difference is that it's about a hare, not bird.

[elin-gregory.livejournal.com]

I heard that one. And I think I read somewhere [not sure whether fact or fiction] that having whole egg shells was used as proof once in a witch trial.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Hey! You're the first person to reply who has heard to this! Can I ask where in the country you came across this? I'm intrigued as to how widespread it is throughout the Uk.

[elin-gregory.livejournal.com]

Oh lor', I'm not sure. It was something I was told when I was small so that could be London or Herefordshire. That said, I can't remember who told me - we had friends from Scotland and Lancashire, both places with very strong and strident traditions of witchcraft paranoia.

[latin-cat.livejournal.com]

I heard that from one of my older female relatives - either my grandmother, my great grandmother or a great aunt perhaps. I can't remember who told me, but I remember being told and saying that it was silly. After all, why would a witch sail in a eggshell when it would be much easier (and more comfortable) to go in a boat? I think I had a very similar reaction to the 'The Jumblies' as well.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I heard that from one of my older female relatives - either my grandmother, my great grandmother or a great aunt perhaps.
Can I ask what part of the country they were from?

I remember being told and saying that it was silly.
Heh, that was my daughter's reaction too. She gave me that "mum, you're being stupid!" look :}

[latin-cat.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough I was actually discussing this with my housemates last night (we were making omlettes and scrambled eggs). They both come from Irish families and neither had been told that superstition, though one had read it in a book somewhere. The older female relative who told me would have been from the originally Scottish branch of my family, so maybe it's a Scottish superstition?

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I'd be interested to know if this tradition exists in Ireland, I'd expect it to, but haven't come across any Irish references to it.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Then there is the never leaving port on Friday thing, and certain boats consider women unlucky...

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Friday is the day boats normally return to port right?

My grandfather definitely did not approve of women in boats. I vaguely remember him muttering under his breath when my dad took us out in the boat. I was never sure if he was praying or cursing!

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I had a cousin who worked for a while fishing off of Georges Bank. He said that a lot of those old beliefs felt silly onshore, but they seemed quite different at sea.

I remember hearing somewhere that it was considered lucky to get a woman to pee on your nets!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

He said that a lot of those old beliefs felt silly onshore, but they seemed quite different at sea.
Oh yes. I can quite believe that!

I remember hearing somewhere that it was considered lucky to get a woman to pee on your nets!
Well. That's a new one on me!

[azdak.livejournal.com]

I've certainly heard - or rather read about - that particular superstition, but I can't remember where. I seem to remember you could also use eggshells to tell a changeling from a real baby - you used the eggshells to boil water in, at which the supposed "baby" would sit up and say something to the effect of "I've seen a lot of crazy shit in my time, but I've never seen anyone boil water in an eggshell." Clearly there's something rather magical about intact eggshells.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard the story about the changeling! There does seem to be something magical associated with egg shells, I wonder if anything's been written on the subject? Must do some digging... :}

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Let us know what you come up with!

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

Yep. We say that, too.

And if two people pour from the same teapot one will have ginger twins.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Did you pick this superstition up from your own family or from Mr Mylodons?

Ginger twins?! Yikes! Partner and I have our own teapots, perhaps that's why we only got one little ginger top?

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

LOL And no idea where we picked the tradition up.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Can I ask where your grandmothers came form? I'm curious as to how wide spread this superstition is in the UK.

not that I believe it, but, y'know, just in case...
No, no, I just smash the shells out of habit, no other reason ;)

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

I vaguely remember I met it once, but only as a read thing, not 'alive' superstition/tradition.

For whatever reason it reminds me Naglfar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naglfar), and - reportedly - the custom of cutting a dying person's or corpse's nails, to not give the building material.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Well! I have never heard of the Naglfar before. What a horrible creepy idea! Interesting though, I'm sure I have heard of other superstitions associated with the hair and nails of the deceased.

[naomi1642.livejournal.com]

Another eggshell smasher here. After eating soft-boiled eggs, we'd always smash through the bottom of the shell so, as my Mum said, 'witches couldn't use them as boats'. I still do it, as does the rest of the family. I'm a Plymothian and know of other locals who have the same superstition. I'd always assumed it was a widespread thing because nobody down here has ever questioned why I do it.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Hurray! We now have eggshell smashers from the length and breadth of the country - from the Outer Hebrides to Plymouth :) So it's definitely a much more widespread tradition than I expected. I'm surprised that it doesn't seem to have crossed the Atlantic though.