ancient roman superstitions

The Roman was by nature a very superstitious person. Emperors would tremble and even legions refuse to march if the omens were bad ones.

Didn’t eat at the dinner table in groups of 17 as this number is an unlucky.

One never mentioned fire at a banquet.

Morning’s Start

At first begin we it should seek,
For best passing through the day’s keep.

Through the prevent of bleakest dawn,
It may be got in heart to crown.

Its welcome holds us complete,
With foreign demands to greet.

Age’s advance yields to youth’s return,
While the own for it our soul does yearn.

Not happiness,
Not wealth,
Not beauty be want,
Once in joy the morning starts.

jpR

Superstitions

If the first butterfly you see in the year is white, you will have good luck all year. Three butterflies together mean good luck.

COUNTING CROWS
One's bad,
Two's luck,
Three's health,
Four's wealth,
Five's sickness,
Six is death


The number of Xs in the palm of your right hand is the number of children you will have.

Joy

Joy and happiness are not the same. The one does not place the other.

Happiness is had and dispelled by circumstance. It vacillates as does the weather’s foretell. The try to be happy may drive one to the extremity as with the collection of spouses in multiple marriages.

Joy transcends the material, the temporal. It cannot be purchased. It is immune to situation. Insult dims not joy’s presence in our core.

Joy is a gift! It is not purchasable but it may be found. The way to it is best shown with the view of another whose soul is joyous.

A yoke

A salesman is passing a farm house and sees a sign. ”Talking dog for sale.”
Stopping he asks “Can your dog really talk?”
The farmer answers “He’s tied out back …ask him yourself!”
The salesman walks behind the farmhouse finds a tethered black Labrador and asks,
“Can you speak?”
“Yes since I was a pup!” The dog answers.
The salesman, “Wow! How many people know you can hear and speak English?”
The dog, “Lots! I just retired from the CIA after serving years as a spy in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, and China.”
The salesman to the farmer, “I want that dog how much?”
The farmer, “Ten dollars!”
The salesman, “$10…why so cheap?”
The farmer, “Because he’s a big liar!”

prayer to the guardian angel

Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
to whom God's love commits me here,
ever this day,
be at my side
to light and guard,
to rule and guide.
Amen!

Dad

“A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty. “
~Author Unknown

“Father! - to God himself we cannot give a holier name.”
~William Wordsworth

“Love and fear. Everything the father of a family says must inspire one or the other. “
~Joseph Joubert

“The greatest gift I ever hadCame from God; I call him Dad!”
~Author Unknown

Children

“Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.”
--unknown

“My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.”
-- Clarence Budinton Kelland

“Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home.”
--Bill Cosby

“Every beetle is a gazelle in the eyes of its mother.”
-- Arab proverb

It is well with my soul

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
-- Horatio G. Spafford

yoke

Two bachelors talking:

The first: “I want a smart woman, a beautiful woman, and a woman that will just be good to me!”

The second: “Choose one! Cause ya can't have all three.”

more Goblin facts

.

One fabled origin for goblins is in Brittain. They then began to spread all through the UK from there they sneaked aboard ships. They have no homes, being nomadic, dwelling temporarily in mossy cracks in rocks and tree roots.

Scots call them Bogie…Bogiemen.

Witch facts

Dame Alice Kyteler ~1300, an Irish noblewoman was a wealthy and also a beautiful woman. She was accused of using Witchcraft to kill her wealthy husbands and get their properties. She was tried along with ten of her servants and her son William, but later she escaped to England.

In 1650’s Ireland, Florence Newton is also known as “the Witch of Youghal”. She was accused of bewitching people and causing them to have fits which led to them dying from frightful contortions. She was eventually tried and convicted of being a Witch.

Most witch hunters know that salt will melt any witch.

In Europe 85% of those executed for witchcraft were women.

A Turkey Joke

A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store, but couldn't find one big enough for her family. She asked the stock boy, 'Do these turkeys get any bigger?'

The stock boy answered, 'No ma'am, they're dead.'

Counting Beens

Been on time.........mostly,
Been prepared........routinely,
Been respectful......hopefully,
Been clean...........eventually,
Been foolish.........eternally,
Been hopeful.........initially,
Been honest..........faithfully,
Been joyful..........perpetually,
Been appreciative....properly,
Been loving..........appropriately,
Been generous........suitably,
Been faithful........truly,
Been industrious.....habitually,
Been forgiving.......slowly.


Been hurt...........deeply,
Been evicted........undeservedly,
Been deceived.......trustingly,
Been unimportant....spousally,
Been sued...........unexpectedly,
Been broke..........oftenly,
Been worn...........daily.


The sum indicates a life that has been busy!!!!


-- jpR

Halloween Facts

Jack o’ Lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday.

The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween night. They began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human.

Bobbing for apples is thought to have originated from the roman harvest festival that honors Pamona, the goddess of fruit trees.

From Erma Bombeck

“Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.”

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me.”

“I haven't trusted polls since I read that 62% of women had affairs during their lunch hour. I've never met a woman in my life who would give up lunch for sex.”

Apple Facts

Some 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States, while 7,500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world.

Apples are fat, sodium, and cholesterol free. A medium apple is about 80 calories. One apple has five grams of fiber.

The apple tree originated in an area between the Caspian and the Black Sea. Apples were the favorite fruit of ancient Greeks and Romans.

Archeologists have found evidence that humans have been enjoying apples since at least 6500 B.C

Art Linkletter

Linkletter recalls interviewing a little girl:

“I said, ‘What’s the most fun you have at your house?’ ‘I get to wake up my little brother; I take the cat down, open the door and throw the cat in.’

“I asked, ‘How is that funny?’

‘He sleeps with the dog.’”

Leafs

Man's life is like a drop of dew on a leaf.”
-- Socrates

“The fall of a leaf is a whisper to the living”
- - Russian proverb

Apple Cider

When the Romans arrived in England in 55BC, they were reported to have found the local Kentish villagers drinking a delicious cider-like beverage made from apples. It has been recorded that the Romans and in particular their leader, Julius Caesar, embraced the pleasant pursuit with enthusiasm

Facts about Wales

Technically, Wales is a principality. This means that it is ruled by a prince. Traditionally the Prince of Wales is the eldest son of the English monarch.

Wales is known for its great actors - Richard Burton, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta Jones.

Some traditional dishes include the world popular Welsh Rarebit

a joke

A young married couple is to soon celebrate their 12th year anniversary.
The wife asks him, "Take me some place I've never been.”
So he took her to the kitchen!

Facts about the Isle of Man

Land Area: 572 sq. km/ 221 square miles.

Location: The centre of the Irish Sea - 50 km (31 miles) from Ireland and 50 km (31 miles) from the U.K.

Languages: English and Manx Gaelic

Very popular setting for the British film industry.

Facts about Scotland

Edinburgh was the first city in the world which had its own fire-brigade.

Edinburgh – the capital of Scotland, like Rome, was built on seven hills.

The border between Scotland and England stretches for 108 miles (174 kilometres) between the Solway Firth along the Cheviot Hills and the river Tweed, to the North Sea. Hadrian's Wall, built by the Romans, ran further south than this, from Carlisle on the river Eden to the river Tyne in the east.

Leap Year
It is said that in the 11th century Queen Margaret of Scotland introduced the custom of allowing girls to ask the boy to marry her on 29 February in a leap year. It evolved later that if the boy refused, he had to buy her a dress and kid gloves instead!

October's Bright Blue Weather

O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October's bright blue weather;

When loud the bumblebee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And goldenrod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When gentians roll their fingers tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October's bright blue weather.

O sun and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October's bright blue weather.

-- Helen Hunt Jackson

Early Irish Law

Early Irish Law" was often, although not universally, referred to within the law texts as "Fenechas", the law of the Feni, or the freemen of Ireland. They are also referred to as "Brehon Law". The word "Brehon" is a derivation of breitheamh the Irish word for a judge.

The laws were a civil rather than a criminal code. These laws are of great antiquity.

Under Brehon Law women were equal to men with regard to education and property. Woman stood emancipated from the remotest time. Women in ancient Ireland were often eligible for the professions, and for rank and fame. They were druidesses, poets, physicians, sages, and lawgivers.

Bridget was not only the name of the ancient Irish goddess who represented poetry and wisdom, and of the later saint who helped to spread Christianity throughout Ireland, but was also the name of an Irish lawgiver, Brigid Brethra, or Brigid of the Judgments, who lived about the time of Christ. It is this Brigid who is responsible for granting the right to women to inherit the land from their fathers in the absence of sons.


Comment; This Briget was probably responsible for the marriage law applied in Teltown, County Meath

Important Irish Fairies

The name Lepracaunis from the Irish leith brog. The Lepracaun makes shoes continually, and has grown very rich.

The Cluricaun, (Clobhair-ceann, makes himself drunk in gentlemen's cellars.

The Far Darrig (fear dearg], which means the Red Man, for he wears a red cap and coat, busies himself with practical joking.

The Fear-Gorta (Man of Hunger) is an emaciated phantom that goes through the land in famine time, begging an alms and bringing good luck to the giver.

The Dallahan, or headless phanto...seen in the street on dark nights.

a joke

Three missionaries are set to be cooked in a stew by Cannibals.
The chief cannibal asks the first missionary, “Where is your home?"
The first missionary answers, "England!"
The chief orders, "Into the stew!"

The chief cannibal asks the second missionary, “Where is your home?"
The second missionary answers, "Scotland!"
The chief orders, "Into the stew!"


The chief cannibal asks the third missionary, “Where is your home?"
The third missionary answers, "Ireland!"
The chief orders, "Get out of here!"

The English missionary asks, "Why did you let the Irishman go?"
The chief answers, "The last Irishman to go into the stew ate all the potatoes."

Facts about Ireland

Couples in Ireland could marry legally on St. Brigid's Day (February 1st) in Teltown, County Meath, as recently as the 1920’s by simply walking towards each other. If the marriage failed, they could "divorce'" by walking away from each other at the same spot, on St. Brigid’s day the following year. The custom was a holdover from old Irish Brehon laws, which allowed temporary marriage contracts.

Medieval laws in Ireland allowed a man to divorce his wife if she damaged his honor through infidelity, thieving or “making a mess of everything.”

The original Guinness Brewery in Dublin has a 9,000 year lease on it's property, at a perpetual rate of 45 Irish pounds per year.

The longest place name in Ireland is Muckanaghederdauhaulia, in County Galway.

Pogue Mahone translates into "kiss my a**" in Gaelic.

The Newgrange passage tomb in County Meath was constructed around 3200 BC, making it more than 600 years older than the Giza Pyramids in Egypt, and 1,000 years older than Stonehenge.

Saint Brendan is said to have discovered America 1,000 years before Columbus.

Irish Goblins

They are war-goddesses or battle-furies. All are malignant beings, delighting in battle and slaughter. They are a class of phantoms that sometimes appear before battles bent on mischief. At any battle the war-furies would shriek and howl with delight both in the midst of the carnage and far off in a lonely haunt.

Little Orphan Annie

Little Orphan Annie's come to my house to stay.
To wash the cups and saucers up and brush the crumbs away.
To shoo the chickens from the porch and dust the hearth and sweep,
and make the fire and bake the bread to earn her board and keep.
While all us other children, when the supper things is done,
we sit around the kitchen fire and has the mostest fun,
a listening to the witch tales that Annie tells about
and the goblins will get ya if ya don't watch out!

Once there was a little boy who wouldn't say his prayers,
and when he went to bed at night away up stairs,
his mammy heard him holler and his daddy heard him bawl,
and when they turned the covers down,
he wasn't there at all!
They searched him in the attic room
and cubby hole and press
and even up the chimney flu and every wheres, I guess,
but all they ever found of him was just his pants and round-abouts
and the goblins will get ya if ya don't watch out!!


Once there was a little girl who always laughed and grinned
and made fun of everyone, of all her blood and kin,
and once when there was company and old folks was there,
she mocked them and she shocked them and said, she didn't care.
And just as she turned on her heels and to go and run and hide,
there was two great big black things a standing by her side.
They snatched her through the ceiling fore she knew what shes about,
and the goblins will get ya if ya don't watch out!!

-- James Whitcomb Riley


Comment: A bedtime poem for children?