Current Superstitions


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(2.9 stars; 4 reviews)

No matter how enlightened, chances are you've been raised around superstitious lore of one kind or another. Fanny Dickerson Bergen was one of the original researchers of North American oral traditions relating to such key life events and experiences as babyhood and childhood, marriage, wishes and dreams, luck, warts and cures, death omens and mortuary customs, and "such truck," as Huck Finn would say.

You'll be surprised at how many of these old saws you'll know. Here's a quote from Chapter One, Babyhood:

Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is sour and sad,
Thursday’s child is merry and glad,
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child must work for a living;
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is blithe and bonny, good and gay.
--Baldwinsville, N. Y.

All of these readings are as short as 5 minutes and no longer than 15 minutes, with plenty of pithy one-liners in the form of proverbs, always given with the locale they came from in Canada or the United States (with clear influences in British tradition). (summary by Denny Sayers) (4 hr 36 min)

Chapters

Babyhood 14:08 Read by Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
Childhood 10:30 Read by roolynninms
Physical Characteristics 10:34 Read by Caitlin Kelly
Projects 34:06 Read by Caitlin Kelly
Halloween and Other Festivals 7:36 Read by Claire Goget
Love and Marriage 16:15 Read by Caitlin Kelly
Wishes 6:11 Read by Silver
Dreams 17:34 Read by Silver
Luck 18:26 Read by Andrew Lebrun
Money 4:12 Read by Scherzando
Visitors 10:20 Read by Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
Cures 13:49 Read by Kelli Robinson
Warts 10:42 Read by Kelli Robinson
Weather 21:06 Read by Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
Moon 16:16 Read by Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
Sun 5:15 Read by Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
Death 15:37 Read by Michael Corley
Mortuary Customs 7:27 Read by Kelli Robinson
Misc.: Actions 13:54 Read by Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
Misc.: Bodily Affections & Apparel 9:37 Read by Kelli Robinson
Misc.: Customs, Days, Domestic Life & Various 12:51 Read by Kelli Robinson

Reviews

Another gem from wonderful LibriVox volunteers


(5 stars)

so there were superstition researchers who traveled and collected as did folksong researchers ? Check it out history and sociology buffs!!