Some of the most prevalent Saxon superstitions are as follows:
1. Whoever can blow back the flame into a candle which has just been extinguished will become pastor.
2. In going into a new-built house one must throw in a dog or a cat before entering, otherwise one of the family will soon die.
3. If a swallow fly under a cow straightway the milk will become bloody.
4. Whoever enters a strange house should sit down, were it only for a second, otherwise he will deprive the inhabitants of their sleep.
5. Whoever has been robbed of anything and wants to discover the thief, must select a black hen, and for nine consecutive Fridays must, as well as the hen, abstain from all food. The thief will then either die or bring back the stolen goods. (This is called taking up the black fast against a person.)
6. It is not good to point with the finger at an approaching thunderstorm; likewise, whoever stands over-long gazing at the summer lightning will go mad.
7. A person ill with the fever should be covered up with nine articles of clothing, each of a different colour and material: he will then recover.
8. Another way to get rid of the fever is to go into an inn or public-house, and after having drunk a glass of wine to go out again without speaking or paying, but leaving behind some article of clothing which is of greater value than the wine drunk.
9. Drinking out of seven different wells is likewise good for the fever.
10. Or else go into the garden when no one is looking, shake a young fruit tree and return to the house without looking back; the fever will then have passed into the tree.
11. Any article purposely dropped on the ground when out walking will convey the fever to whoever finds it. This method is, however, to be distrusted (we are told by village authorities), for the finder may avert the illness by thrice spitting on the thing in question. Spitting on all and every occasion is in general very efficacious for averting spells and other evils.
12. A hailstorm may sometimes be stopped by a knife stuck into the ground in front of the house.
13. A new servant must be allowed to eat freely the first day he or she enters service, otherwise their hunger will never be stilled.
14. It is bad luck to rock an empty cradle.