For a while know I have been interested in Myth and Magic in the Fens especially with lucky superstitions/ traditions.
These ‘Lucky house’ salt pigs are a result of some of the research.
Many of the insights came from the words of Enid Porter, the curator of the Museum of Cambridge (1947 -1976).
Below are a few…
1.It is widely believed house martins which build on a house bring good fortune to the occupants.
2. Fen people, however, encouraged robins to build in the roof thatch, believing that the birds would bring good luck.
3. Wrens (Trogloclites parvulus)
To hear a wren singing in a hedge was, to old Fenmen of the last century, a sign of coming good fortune. It was particularly lucky for a bride to hear the same sound on her way to her wedding.
4. To have a cricket or two behind old-fashioned kitchen ranges was thought, by many old Cambridgeshire people, to bring good luck to the house.
5. 'It's very lucky to see a dragonfly skimming over a pool of water,'
6. Butterflies -To see three white butterflies together is lucky.
7. Toads
Many Cambridgeshire people believe still that it is lucky to have a toad in the garden.
8.Lucky cats -
It was because cats so often gave warning of coming floods that they were so popular with Fenland people.
Cats were valued, too, as being able to forecast approaching death. When a person lay seriously ill at home and the family cat refused to stay indoors, then it was certain that the sick person would soon die.
Fishermen relied on cats to tell the whereabouts of fish in the river. It was believed that the animals could, as they sat on the bank, hear a shoal of roach or bream swimming, invisible, far below the surface.
9. Holly (Ilex aquifolium)
Holly was considered in the Fens to provide a protection against witchcraft.
(Salt was so valuable in ancient Rome that soldiers were sometimes paid with it. In fact, the word “salary” comes from the Latin word sal, for salt. When a soldier was doing a lousy job, his paycheck might be cut, which is how we got the expression “not worth his salt.”)
Stoneware and glaze hand built, hand painted and one-of-a-kind.
Material:
stoneware, underglaze, and glaze.
Dimensions:
7cms x 8cms x 10cms
UK postage and packaging included.