Superstitions connected with the body:--A twitching in the eyelid is lucky; but you must not say when it comes nor when it goes.
Right eye itching, a sign of laughter; but left over right, you'll cry before night.
Right cheek burning, some one praising you; left one, abusing (a knot tied in the apron-string will cause the slanderer to bite his or her tongue); but left or right are both good at night. "If the cheek burns, someone is talking scandal of you. I have often heard the lines spoken:--
Right cheek! left cheek! why do you burn? Cursed be she that doth me any harm; If she be a maid, let her be staid; If she be a widow, long let her mourn; But if it be my own true love--burn, cheek, burn!"--T. Q. Couch.
Nose itching, you will be kissed, cursed, or vexed; or shake hands with a fool.
Right hand itching, someone will pay or give you money; but the left you will be the payer. In regard to the former,
"If you rub it on wood, It will be sure to come good."
Sneeze on Sunday morning fasting, Enjoy your true love for everlasting.
On every other morning it is lucky to sneeze once before breakfast; but not twice.
Fire Superstitions:--A difficulty in kindling the fire in the mornings is a sign of anger; burning only on one side, of a separation in the family (some say of a wedding). A flake of smut on the bar of the grate shows that a stranger is coming to the house. Should the fire be burning brightly, he will bring good news; but if the contrary, bad. If after you poke the fire it burns up brightly, your sweetheart is in a good temper; but should it not improve he is in a bad one. A coal popping out of the fire is either a cradle or coffin, or a purse. It is allowed to cool and then examined to find out the shape; if pronounced to be a purse, it is shaken close to the ear, when should it jingle it is said to contain money. I once saw this done in a school by its mistress. It is unlucky to put a bellows on a table.
"Ladies' trees," small branches of dried seaweed, are sometimes hung up in chimneys to protect houses from fire; or a Passover biscuit suspended by a string from a nail in the wall.
A bright spark on a candle foretells a letter, but if pointed out it never arrives.
There are so many unlucky omens in Cornwall that to believe in them all would make life miserable, and to enumerate them would fill a volume. The major part of them too are silly and not worth transcribing; three or four of them as examples will, I am quite sure, amply suffice. "A work begun on Friday is never ended."