South Wales Evening Post column, December 13, 2024

YOU’RE going to have to trust me on this one – it won’t be bad luck if you read this column today . . . honest . . . promise . . . cross my heart.

Yes, it’s Friday the 13^th (only the second Friday the 13^th in the 2024 calendar).

It’s a fair bet that if you survived the one in September, you’ll manage to get through today – even if I take a little bit of delight in reminding you just how superstitious us human beings can be.

There is a medical word for the fear of Friday the 13^th.

It is paraskevidekatriaphobia – a word which just sent my spell-checker into overdrive.

The word paraskevidekatriaphobia was devised by Dr Donald Dossey, a California-based clinical psychologist who had a sideline as a folklore historian.

Dr Dossey would tell suffering patients that they had paraskevidekatriaphobia – but he would cheerfully add, “when you learn to pronounce it, you’re cured!”

As it happens, Friday the 13^th doesn’t bother me that much, but I did take the precaution of writing this column on Thursday the 12^th.

Under questioning, I will admit to certain superstitions.

For example, I won’t walk under ladders, but I will salute solitary magpies.

Welsh superstitions and folklore do remain something of a fascination and I have a little black book where I collect snippets of folk beliefs down the years.

For example, here are a few I have jotted down over the years . . . 

·      To see several foxes together is unlucky, but to see a lone one means that good luck will attend you.

·      A greyhound with a white spot on its forehead will bring luck to the people of Gower.

·      If you find the first daffodil, you will have more gold than silver that year.

·      Black goats on a lonely bridle path mean that treasure is hidden.

·      Money washed in clear rainwater cannot be stolen.

·      If a person suffering from rheumatism creeps on hands and knees under, or through, a bramble bush three times with the sun (i.e. east to west), he will be cured.

·      If you clothe your right leg first (i.e. put your right stocking on first, and your right leg in your trousers first), you will never have a toothache.

·      To prevent drunkenness, take the lungs of a hog and roast them. If a man eats them after fasting all day, he will not get drunk the next day, no matter how much he drinks.

·      A man with leek or garlic on him will be victorious in any fight and will suffer no wound.

·      When an owl hoots among houses, a maiden will lose her chastity.

·      A silver sixpence in the bride’s shoe will ensure a happy and prosperous life.

·      It will bring bad luck to hang up mistletoe in the house before Christmas Eve.

·      A woman who wets her apron overmuch in washing will be cursed with a drunken husband.

·      A bunch of seaweed hanging in the back kitchen will keep away evil spirits.

Folklore? Superstitions? Make your own mind up.

But, if you are looking for me later today, I’m either at Billy Upton’s on Swansea Market, negotiating a price on the lungs of a hog, or I’m stuck in a bramble bush looking for a greyhound on Gower!

-----------------------------------------------

WE haven’t reached the point where I am losing sleep over it, but much of my brain’s declining capacity seems to be given over to the problem of holly berries this week.

Why are holly berries a problem?

Well, the problem is there aren’t any on the tree in my garden!

And a near neighbour reports a similar problem, so is there something of a holly berry crisis this Christmas?

Our tree usually provides a bumper crop of bright red berries, producing just the sort of decorative material for festive displays. In fact, we usually end up giving away bunches of the stuff to our neighbours.

This year, neighbours will have to look elsewhere for holly to decorate their Christmas wreathes and front doors.

Holly has, of course, long been associated with winter and Christmas celebrations. The evergreen leaves symbolise eternal life, while the red berries are said to represent the blood of Christ.

Druids believed holly possessed protective qualities and brought good luck (very necessary for today, Friday the 13^th). Holly was also associated with fertility and used as a charm against evil spirits.

There’s an old wives’ tale that suggests lots of berries on a holly tree indicate the arrival of a hard winter. So, does the absence of berries mean that this winter will be mild? Time will tell.

The berry issue continually crops up during conversations with my equally berry-less neighbour (yes, we have too much time on our hands, but it’s better than discussing geopolitics and the Middle East!).

Doing the research, we have discovered that holly trees are dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers grow on separate plants. Only female holly trees produce berries.

History has established that my neighbour and I both have ‘lady’ trees, as they have been full of berries in previous years.

We have ruled out the overnight sex change theory and are now investigating the fact that there must have been a male pollinator tree nearby to provide us with a crop of red berries.

The finger of suspicion is beginning to point at a newly-arrived neighbour who may have chopped down the male pollinator, without fully appreciating the consequences.

My berry-less neighbour says she has a log of chainsaw noises coming from nearby properties (trust me, Neighbourhood Watch and PC Plod are amateurs when compared to holly tree lovers).

I think she may be taking the matter too seriously, but there may be lots of searching questions in the street in the week before Christmas when neighbours start asking for their usual bunches of festive holly!