Who were the ‘Old Wives’? I can imagine a collection of fifty women living in an English village knitting furiously on rocking chairs. Or are they a group of glamorous witches like Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica-Parker in Hocus Pocus? You pick. The answer is nobody knows. Who cares anyway because it’s their stories that live on for centuries and have been moulding our lives since childhood, whether we choose to believe them or not.
The roots of their fables hark back to medieval times as a verbal tradition of women, handed down from an older generation, often scaring children with home ‘truths’ about life’s challenges. The stories provided a survival mechanism, rather than an opiate for the masses, in the days without Google, Alexa or Siri. Aesop is one of the earliest recorded fabulists, and fairy tales such as The Brothers Grimm are all based on these early legends.
In the King James Bible, Timothy 1, it says, ‘But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself (rather) unto godliness’. Christians believed these Old Wives’ tales to be witchy and from bad sources.
The most prolific tale is the one foreboding that Friday 13th is a day of bad luck. Even now, this day is the bane of all businesses, especially retailers, who loose trillions of pounds each year on this auspicious day. On Friday 13th, customers refrain from going about their normal day-to-day activities. This legend originated in Spain, but it was not Friday 13th that was the problem, it was Tuesday. Now they tell us! Tuesday is spelt ‘Martes’ which signifies the Roman god of war, Mars. Mars represents excessive bloodshed, battles, doom and gloom, and notably death. As Spain repeatedly lost battles on this day, this day became doomed for all.
How about this one? Pull out a grey hair and two will grow back in its place. I must say that I believed this to be true, until very recently. Trichologists would be laughing in their salons. There is no evidence for this and Randy Schueller, a cosmetic scientist, claims that ‘there is no harm in plucking out a grey hair’. The action won’t affect it’s neighbours – ‘phew!’ I hear you cry.
Another totally wacky tale, tells us that swinging a ring in front of a pregnant tummy will determine the gender of the baby. If the ring swings in circles, the baby is a girl and if the ring swings as a pendulum back and forth, then it’s a boy. We have all tried it, and it is utter nonsense. The hospital radiologists would be bent double in hysterical giggles at our attempts at their job using just a ring and some string – it is mind-bogglingly embarrassing.
One of my favourite tales, is the legend that eating carrots makes you see in the dark. How useful would that be if it was true? I did try that at home, when I was about six, maybe we all have, or it was just my mother trying to force us to eat Mr McGregor’s wares. Carrots are full of vitamin A and this is beneficial to eye health, so there is some truth after all.
The carrot story stems from World War II when a Royal Air Force fighter pilot, Captain Joe Cunningham, was the first person to shoot down an enemy plane using automatic radar targeting. Worried that Germany would discover our new radar, an effective rumour was spun that Joe had eaten carrots which gave him this x-ray night-time vision, like Superman. We all bought into this ridiculous story. Whoever conjured up that idea, was a genius. The British Ministry of Food soon adopted this propaganda, with posters everywhere of ‘Dr Carrot- the children’s best friend’.
An apple a day doesn’t keep the doctor away necessarily, it’s the impossibility of getting a doctor’s appointment and the long waiting lists on the NHS that does. Apples are certainly packed with plenty of vitamins, some of which can apparently ward off cancer.
Have you tried this one? The myth that spilling salt brings bad luck. This tale originates from Leonardo di Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ where Judas Iscariot is depicted next to a pile of salt, signifying the traitor. If you throw salt over your left arm as an antidote, then it wards off the Devil who is meant to live on your left shoulder and you will blind him. We all tried this at school, but it would be rather embarrassing to do this nowadays in more senior life. For example, it would not be the ‘done thing’ to chuck salt over your shoulder in a restaurant and target a travelling waiter- although maybe some people are so superstitious that they still do. Maybe waiters are used to it?
If your ears are ringing, then people are not talking about you. This originates from the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder who had tinnitus. Picking up a penny will bring good luck all day, stems from metals being a sign of gifts from gods. Corpses were often buried with a coin on their tongue to pay the boatman on the River Styx.
Fancy being a meteorologist? Well then you are halfway there with this one:
"Red sky at night, shepherds’ delight,
Red sky in the morning, shepherds’ warning."
This one is true. Hurrah at last. Who needs Michael Fish?
In a world of scientific discovery and innovation, these old wives are slowly losing their kudos as we discover the truths. The Old Wives are SO last season. Will generations pass these tales on, or will they get lost in innovation? We don’t need to look up at the red sky, if we have a weather app on our phone. If a child doesn’t believe us, they can ask Alexa and she will tell them.
I hope these legends continue for perseverance of tradition and for starters, it’s about the only way that I can get my children to eat carrots, and yet the tales are mostly very dishonest. As times move on, we become less gullible, as we live in a more truthful world. The days when people would believe a spaghetti tree on television, have long gone. Everyone has access to the internet, and we no longer have to rely on rumour, unless of course we are fed ‘fake news’.
There is a beauty in innocence, but as we go about our daily lives surrounded by the Old Wives' untrue myths, dodging ladders and saying, ‘good morning, Mr. Magpie’, it’s a little wonder we would achieve anything at all, if we were to believe all these stories to be true.
