When I was a kid, I took many superstitions seriously. I always put on my left shoe first (good luck), I never stepped on a crack (and my mother's back thanks me), I never rooted for the home team (jinx), and my constant personal challenges (if I don't catch this ball 10 times in a row before the next car goes by, I'll fail the math test) bordered on obsessive compulsive. I wonder if kids today believe in any superstitions or if the age of information has wiped those clean. That would be a shame.
I found this turn-of-the-last-century Halloween postcard at an estate sale this past year. I was surprised to find it as it was mixed in with a lot of other travel postcards not nearly as old. Plus it was priced the same as the others at $1. It shows a popular superstition of the era: If you take a candle and look in a mirror at midnight on Halloween, you will see the reflection of your future spouse. What he's doing in your bedroom at Midnight is none of my business.
The writing on the back isn't English and I'm not sure what language it is. Maybe one of you out there can identify and possibly translate.
Here are some more postcard renditions of this popular superstition I've gleaned from the internet.
***Update***
I stand corrected. I recently saw this male version of this postcard on Vintage Halloween Facebook group:
great collection! i wonder why everyone thought the ghosts and ghoulies cared so much about mortal future spouses. and nice shoutout to American Werewolf In London. i just watched that recently, and really, it's still such a good movie. i was happily surprised to recognize Rik Mayall in the pub scene in the beginning -- i didn't even know who he was at the time the movie came out.
ReplyDelete@FrankO: I had no idea Rik was in American Werewolf. *AND* I had no idea he had passed away! :(
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you have a copy or not, but either way, he's in the Slaughtered Lamb in the beginning. It's a non-speaking part, but it's clearly him. I looked at the Wikipedia page for the movie afterwards, and there's a *lot* of people in there who are probably more recognized in britain than in the u.s.!
ReplyDeleteyeah, it was a sad thing when he died. I saw lots of accolades from fellow comedians going out about him.
RIP the People's Poet : (
So Cool
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