Live From Appalachia #1
This series of articles will be about where I grew up. The old
sayings, superstitions, myths and legends are something we should not
lose, though those who know them best are aging. Here is a legend about
killing spiders.Appalachia is full of interesting stories and sayings. Some stories are half myth, half legend and whole history. A good example is the saying "Let a spider run away, come and play another day." If it sounds familiar, it is related to the rhyme "rain, rain go away..." perhaps more closely than you think.
At this point in history, the Red Campbells and the Black Campbells were fighting each other. A Red Campbell war leader had taken his men into battle six times, and had been beaten back six times. Now, they have taken shelter in a cave and the rain is pouring down outside.
The man is standing near the mouth of the cave, looking out. He notices a spider busily trying to build a web. Unfortunately, every time it got close to completion, a gust of wind would blow it apart. Patiently, the spider would begin again. On the seventh try, the web was built and held.
The leader took that as a sign from God, and attacked again...and won. From that day forward, the legend and saying has held. Don't kill the spiders. It has been passed down to my generation. I might not follow the rule (I'm allergic to them), I know the saying and the story. My grandmother did usually follow it...unless it was a threat, such as a black widow. If I weren't so afraid of them biting me, I would have been amused at the lengths she went to when getting them out of the house.
There are other sayings that I remember, but not the reasons behind them. For instance, we were always instructed not to rock a chair with nobody in it; it would bring bad luck. "A bird in the house means a death in the family" is another one. I'm not sure they counted pets like parakeets. They probably meant wild birds, which do fly into houses some of the time.
My love of Appalachia is part of what prompted me to study herbal remedies. You can visit my site at this address: http://healing-home-remedies.com/
to find information on remedies and the conditions they could help.
Some of the subjects include stress, back pain, the flu, gout, headaches
and diets. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at: mary@healing-home-remedies.com. Mary Bodel, MH
