Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/277

Superstitions from Central Georgia. 265 54. When birds come in numbers around the house, it is a sign of freezing weather.

55. When an alligator bellows, it is a sign of rain within twenty-four hours.

56. A rainbow is a sign of no more rain on that day.

57. When a storm is coming, buzzards fly high to get above it.

58. To hear fire make a noise like a woman walking in snow is a sign of snow.

SEASONS.

59. All things that grow out of the ground, such as peas, corn, and the like, must be planted in the increase of the moon, from new to full; all things that mature in the ground, like potatoes, must be planted in the decrease or waste of the moon, from full to new.

60. Plant watermelons when the Zodiac points to the heart, as the best of the melon is the heart.

61. To castrate animals, the sign of the Zodiac must be in the knee or feet.

62. If you kill a hog in the waste of the moon and cook the meat, it will go away in grease. If in the make of the moon, it will swell up when you boil it.

63. Negroes never begin any work for themselves on Friday that cannot be finished the same day.

64. It is bad luck to lose Monday by not working; the loss will bring bad luck all the week.

65. Never start work on Friday you can't finish on that day.

66. To have good luck all the year, eat a piece of boiled meat on the first day of January.

MEMBERS OF THE BODY.

67. When the left ear burns, it is a sign that some one is talking about you ; when the right ear burns, that he is talking evil. You must pull the ear and say : —