ESOM ROOMWeek 3 of the Pagan Blog Project 2013 ... I love to research the history and lore from what our tools or traditions come from. I love to find the history that is the basis of our current traditions and beliefs. I found a great site that had a good history of the broom. I found a site that had a WEALTH of history and lore, how to feed and care for your broom and a few things for your book of Shadows. I have included the links, of course. Pictures found via Google...
The History Of The Broom
Shared from HERE
The Broom
The broom stick was an important fixture in ancient homes
through out Europe. Most homes were made of wood, straw and dirt floors. The
only way to keep a home clean was to sweep out the old.
This concept is even documented in the Bible.
In Isaiah 14:23 (KJV translation) I will sweep it with the
besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.
In Luke 15:8 "The Parable of the Lost Coin":
"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light
a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?"
One of the earliest forms of the broom is known as the Besom
Broom. They were made of twigs tied to a handle. The bristles can be made of
various materials such as straw, herbs, or twigs. The shaft is round to
represent the branch of a tree. This associates the broom with the Tree of Life
which was an important symbol in ancient pagan Europe. Traditionally a Besom
broom is made from hazel wood and the bristles are birch twigs.
These brooms were often found just inside a dwelling hanging
with bristles up to ward off evil spirits, negative energies and to protect the
home and all who dwell within it. It could also be found hanging over a door
with the bristles facing in the direction of opening of the door.
They were relatively inefficient as a cleaning implement and
needed constant repair or recreation. Today Besom Brooms are still crafted and
sold at garden centers as an outdoor broom. You can also find decorated and
scented versions (ie: cinnamon besom brooms) in craft stores for indoor
decorations.
The brooms relation to sweeping away negative energies and
use for protection makes it a wonderful tool for magikal practices and rituals.
Consequently it wasn't a big leap for European pagans to use the broom as a
tool.
The Witches Broom
The traditional Witch's Broom is made of an ash handle and
bristles from birch twigs. The twigs are tied onto the handle with thin pieces
of willow wood. There have been a few written accounts of early Witch's
decorating their brooms with flowers of the season tied on with some type of
decorative string or later using colored ribbon. A practice that is continued
today by modern Witches.
Early Celtic pagans associated the broom with Faeries,
possibly because of it's relation to the wood and a common belief in forest
sprites. Some stories tell of a Witch entering a forest and asking the Faeries
to lead her way to the perfect tree where she can collect a staff for a broom.
The idea is to enlist the help of the magikal folk and ensure the enchantment
of the broom once it has been fashioned.
The Witch's broom is one of the few tools that is seen as a
balance of Divine forces. It is both part of masculine energies (the phallic
handle) and female energies (the bristles). Because of this, the broom was and
still is commonly used in Handfasting rituals (marriage ceremonies). It is also
used as a gate or door before a ritual space. A witch would draw a magikal
circle, enter the circle and then place the broom over the doorway to keep out
unwanted energies or people as an example.
While being used for clearing an area for ritual work was
the earliest use for a broom, it became an important tool for Witch's during
The Burning Times of Europe. During this era Witches would use a broom to hide
one of their most important tools, the wand. It is also a tradition that brooms
have been used by some as receptacles to harbor a particular spirit
temporarily. This could be done to remove an unwanted spirit from one area and
then release it far away in another place. Or it could be used to utilize the
energy of a spirit for a specific spell when the broom is used as a wand.
A few ancient brooms have been discovered to have hidden
compartments in the handle. These small hidden places held combinations of
herbs, oils, feathers and a variety of other things thought to be part of a
ritualistic spell. The hidden concoctions added to the energy of the intent
that the broom was to be used for.
The Flying Broom
This early association of broom to tree also associates it
with the element of air and therefore has power over spirits. Thus it's common
use as a tool for flying. In both historical and modern images a female witch
can be found on a broom silhouetted by the full moon behind her.
Although most associate being a witch with women, it's a
label that applies to both sexes. The first 'official' record that documents
the claim of flying on a broom stick was recorded in 1453. The claim was made
in a confession by a male witch named Guillaume Edelin.
There have been earlier documents recanting stories of
Witches flying on a variety of sticks. Such as decorated walking sticks, limbs
from a tree complete with it's leaves, or just a stick alone. These stories
include details of magikal flying ointments being applied to these tools in
order to give them flight.
In both ancient Witchcraft and Shamanistic practices the use
of these ointments was most probably what gave the impression of Witch flight.
Ointments and potions for flying were most likely a variety of hallucinogenics that assisted a Witch in visualizing a flight upon the broom. This is not
uncommon for early spiritual journeys. Using peyote and other hallucinogenics is well documented and utilized by Native American cultures for spiritual
travels.
These special 'trips' were controlled methods to quickly
reach a state of altered awareness. From there a Witch could astral project
with the image of flying on a broom to anywhere within their known Universe.
The use by witches of flying ointments was first described, according to known
sources, by Johannes Hartlieb in 1456. It was also described by the Spanish
theologist Alfonso Tostado in Super Genesis Commentaria (Venetia, 1507), whose
commentary tended to accredit the thesis of the reality of the Witches'
Sabbath.
Today using these types of potions and ointments are not
recommended or encouraged. Flying journeys instead are suggested through deep
meditation and astral projection. These methods are not just safer, but they
also provide the practitioner with more control and the ability to remember
more of the journey itself.
THE CARE
AND FEEDING OF THE WITCH BROOM
As Witches, we need to be aware of the Ancient Broom Lore that has been
passed down to us from those wonderful Crones of the past.
1- Never leave home for long periods of time without telling your
broom.
2- Treat your broom as you would any other member of your family, with
honor,
reverence and respect.
3- Magickal Brooms are not regular cleaning brooms and should not be
used for
such mundane tasks.
4- Never leave your Magickal Broom outside your cast circle.
5- Speak with your broom as you would speak to other members of your
family or coven.
6- Never leave your Magickal Broom outside in the weather unless you
ask the Broom.
7- Oil your broomstick with every turn of the wheel.
Brooms have long been known for their magickal ways, probably due to
it's shape, use in purification rites and kinship with magickal wands and
staffs.
The common household tool has been known to be so sacred that in many
parts of the world there are Broom Deities.
Sao Ching Niang - The lady with the broom who lives in the Broom Star. When
there is too much rain and the crops are threatened, it is not uncommon in
China to see pictures of Brooms hanging on the front door or fences to bring
clear and sunny weather to the field.
As this is invoking the Great Earth Goddess herself, the Broom Star is
the fertile womb of our Great Goddess, and thus she gives us life of the fields
that are represented by the Corn Fields. Hence the broom is brought into our
homes from the womb of the Goddess.
In Mexico, the Witch Goddess Tlazoiteotl is depicted riding on a
broom. This symbolizes the coming of the
night, the dark part of ourselves, the growing darkness of the winter.
The priests in South America hve been known to burn offerings of owls
and snakes. These were offered at the
dark moon. Through these offerings, the people were calling upon the Broom
Witch to sweep away their transgressions.
My grandmother was a Broom Witch. Here are some of the old magickal
things that can be done with a broom. On a hot summers day, I would watch her
go out on the front porch and swing the broom over her head. Grandma would just
tell me to be quiet, the rain was coming. And if fact she was right. A few
hours later we always had rain. So Granny would call the rain with her broom by
swinging it clockwise over her head.
In turn, if it was raining too much, she would go out and talk with her
broom for a while on the front porch. She would sing "Rain, rain, go away,
come again some other day". Then she would raise her broom and swing it
over her head counter-clockwise to stop the rain, and again, a few hours later
the rain would stop.
With some practice, I know have mastered this little broomlore spell. I
find it handy to tell the broom what I want it to do before I do it, then I say
my incantation and swing the broom.
THE CARE AND
FEEDING
OF A MAGICKAL BROOM
When you first get your broom, always greet it by rubbing your hand
over the entire staff of the broom.
Learn the body of your broom, inspect it's divets and curves. Use
anointing oil to open and activate your broom.
A good oil is made from rosemary, thyme, myrrh and lavender in base
oil. Make this oil by the full moon and then open your broom on the first day
of the new moon.
When getting a new broom, it's always good to talk with it awhile. I usually
carry mine along with me in my car, and I sleep with it by my bed.
Talk with your broom, it's amazing how much these magickal tools have to
say to us and how lonely they become when cast to the side.
After your broom has been chosen and spoken to, then start using it to
call in your circle. I point the broom in the direction that I'm casting and
use this to focalize the energy.
Once the circle is cast, then I lay the broom across the east to guard
the entrance until my magickal work is done. I also sprinkle salt in the east
over the broom to strengthen the seal, especially if I find myself doing some
intense spell casting.
Once I'm done with casting my magickal work, I thank my broom and lift
it from east and dismiss the quarters. A broom can also be used to cast a
circle in a hurry, much the same way a staff can be used. If I know I need
immediate protection, I point my broom to east and cast a circle with my broom
pointed to the earth, moving in a clockwise direction. This really works if you
are in a hurry and need to have some sacred space like NOW.
I also oil my broom handle with my anointing oil 4 times a year during
each turn of the wheel. This helps recharge the broom and helps you reconnect
with it. It likes to be stroked and caressed. Your broom is a sensuous creature
and likes to be part of the Divine Feminine.
BROOM
SPELLS
The
"Come to Me" Broom Spell
On a warm night (or turn the heater up), put on some Goddess clothing
(loose and feminine), put on some soothing music that makes you want to dance.
Now take your broom as if it were your beloved and dance with the broom
until you are flying into the arms of your beloved. Whisper this four times to yourself....
By night's light we shine bright
By sun light we are right
By days end we are together by sacred
rite.
Now cast your circle by laying your broom in each quarter.
Lay the broom in the east and jump clockwise over it. Lay the broom in
the south and jump clockwise
over it. Lay the broom in the west and jump clockwise over it. Then lay
it in the north and jump over it. Once you have completed your circle, your beloved will come to you within 24 hours. Use this
spell to mend fights, or if you don't have a mate, use this to call a mate to
you.
SWEEPING
SPELLS AND LORE
If you feel your life is in chaos, take a look around at your front
porch and front walkway. If the front walk is cluttered with leaves and dirt,
then sweep your walkway and front porch clean with your magickal broom and
envision that your life is in order and that all that comes to your will be
clean and cleared.
When you move from one house to another, it's always good to change
your workaday broom. Either burn your old one, or make sure that it is buried
with honor. Always bring a new broom into the new house, but sweep some dirt
from the outside in before you sweep the dirt from the inside out. This is to bring in good luck from the
beginning and not push your luck out the door.
Always hang a broom by the front door for protection. Brooms will keep
the bad things out and the good things in. I have a broom at every door of my
home. I keep it in the corner. Always stand a broom on end with the brush
facing up. This helps the wear and tear on the brush and it's also said to bring love from the
earth through the broomstick and given up to the heavens through the brush.
If your broom falls from your hand while you are sweeping or doing
other work, make a wish before you pick it up. It's also said that if a broom
falls from it's kept place, company is coming and it's not good news.
When you pick up your broom after something like this happens, sweep
the energy out the
door and bid it adue not to return again.
If you or your kin are having recurrent nightmares or night hauntings,
sweep the room clockwise while stating that all that lies between here and the
other world be gone and back whence you came.
Hither, hither, hither gone.
Hither, hither, hither gone
Hither, hither, thither gone
So Mote It Be.
Now stand the broom outside the bedroom door and place a piece of
garlic under the bed.
HANDFASTING AND
MARRIAGE BROOM LORE
As a Priestess and Wiccan Minister, I perform several. Handfasting
Rites per year. One of the main things I encourage Wiccan engaged couples
to do is to find a broom together. This is the symbol of hearth and home.
Once the broom has been found, then it is anointed as I stated above,
then some of the broom brush is
pulled from the stem. That brush is then woven together and placed upon
the wedding altar. The broom is present during our counseling sessions and then
the wife-to-be is usually the keeper of the broom until the wedding. This
represents that she is the keeper of the home and keeps peace and harmony while
the man goes out to work. It also means that she is the keeper of the Magickal
power of
the home. As it seems in these modern times that this is wrong to have
such sexed roles, this is celtic lore from more than 600 years ago.
The night before the wedding, the couple will dress the broom by
weaving 3 strand of colored ribbon around the handle. What this represents is
the inter-twining of their lives and they themselves are no longer individuals
but are part of each other. The broom is then placed either standing by the altar
or placed lying under the altar during the ceremony as the vows are said, the promises
made, that hands fasted. They are pronounced husband and wife and the broom is
then put before them as the final test of love. The couple either steps, or in
old tradition, jumps, over the broom. This is the final end of the ceremony.
Then it is recommended that the couple takes the broom home and makes love with
the broom under the bed. This seals the marriage.
Your broom can be your best friend and your magickal ally. Treat your
broom with honor, reverence and respect and you will have a life-long companion and ritual tool.
And then there is this.......
The Broomstick
The traditional companion of the witches was the enchanted broomstick,
used for their wild and unholy flights through the night and probably to some
distant Witches' Sabbat. This is one of the first images you get to see as a
child and this was doubtlessly believed by the prominent rulers of Europe. The
number of actual confessions of witches doing so is remarkably small. Usually
confessions state that they went to the Sabbat on foot or on horseback.
Legends of witches flying on brooms goes back as far as the beginning
of the Common Era. The earliest known confession of a Witch flying on a broom
was in 1453, when Guillaume Edelin of St. Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, stated
that he had done so. In 1563, Martin Tulouff of Guernsey said to have seen his
aged mother straddle a broomstick and whisk up the chimney and out of the house
on it, saying "Go in the name of the Devil and Lucifer over rocks and
thorns". In 1598 Claudine Boban and her mother, witches of the province of
Franche-Comt, in eastern France, also spoke of flying up the chimney of a
stick. The belief of flying off though the chimney became firmly embedded in
popular tradition, although only a few people ever mentioned doing so. It has
been suggested that this idea was connected with the old custom of pushing a
broom up the chimney to indicate the absence of the housewife. The Germanic
Goddess Holda or Holle is also connected with the chimney.
Other indications that lead to the popular belief that witches actually
flew on broomsticks can be found in an old custom of dancing with a broom
between the legs, leaping high in the air. In Reginald Scot's book, The
Discoverie of Witchcraft, published in 1584, we find a similar description: "At
these magical assemblies, the witches never failed to dance; and in their dance
they sing these words, 'Har, har, divell divell, dance here dance here, plaie
here plaie here, Sabbath, Sabbath'. And whiles they sing and dance, ever one
hath a broom in her hand, and holdeth it up aloft." Scot quoted these
descriptions of Witch rites from a French demonologist, Jean Bodin, who made
observations of a kind of jumping dance, riding on staffs. These customs might
have contributed to the popular picture of broomstick-riding witches through
the air.
In 1665, from the confession of Julian Cox, one of the Somerset coven,
mentioned "that one evening she walks out about a Mile from her own House
and there came riding towards her three persons upon three Broom-staves, born
up about a years and a half from the ground. Two of them she formerly knew,
which was a Witch and a Wizard".
History
Some authors claim that the oldest known source of witches flying on
broomsticks is a manuscript called Le Champion des Dames by Martin Lefranc,
1440. This might be one of the oldest images representing a hag on a
broomstick, but it is certainly not the first. A wall painting from the 12th
century in Schlesswig Cathedral (Germany) shows the Norse deity Frigg riding
her staff.
If we really dig a bit deeper into history, we'll find that from the
Roman world there are reports that mention witches flying on broomsticks as
well as having used ointments, as early as the first century. They were called
Straigae (Barnowl) and the Lamiae from Greek culture had similar
characteristics. Later in Roman history, the goddess Diana was the leader of
the Wild Hunt:
"It is also not to be
omitted that some wicked women, perverted by the Devil, seduced by illusions
and phantasm of demons, believe and profess themselves in the hours of the
night to ride upon certain beasts with Diana, the goddess of pagans, and an
innumerable multitude of women, and in the silence of the dead of the night to
traverse great spaces of earth, and to obey her commands as of their mistress,
and to be summoned to her service on certain nights". (See: Canon
Episcopi).
Similar beliefs existed in many parts of Europe. From Norse mythology,
we know that the army of women, lead by Odin (Wodan), called the Valkyries, was
said to ride through the skies on horses, collecting the souls of the dead. In
continental Germanic areas, the goddess Holda or Holle was also said to lead
the Wild Hunt and is connected to chimneys and witchcraft. Berchta or Perchta,
another Germanic goddess, which can be identified with Holda, has similar
characteristics.
Again in Celtic Traditions, the Horned God Cernunnos, and/or Herne the
Hunter was leader of the Wild Hunt and the Scottish Witch Goddess Nicneven was
also said to fly through the night with her followers. Eastern Europe sources
also have a wealth of folklore about witches flying through the air. So flying
through the air, evidently, was a deeply rooted mythological theme, associated
with the free roaming of the spirit, the separation of soul and body.
Symbolism
The broomstick is a female and male symbol, "the rod which penetrated
the bush". Its symbolism and interpretation is therefore purely sexual.
RITUAL USE
There are hints of its use as an artificial penis or dildo. In a
curious old book, A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon and Cant, by Albert BarrSre and
Charles Godfrey Leland (1897-1899), we are told that the slang term in those
days for a dildo or artificial penis was "a broom-handle", and the
female genitals were known vulgarly as "the broom". To "have a
brush" was to have sexual intercourse. Noteworthy is the evidence from Witch
trials mentioning the "cold hard member of the Devil himself". In
1662, Isabel Gowdie, accused of witchcraft, made a confession which could
suggest that some sort of artificial phallus of horn or leather may have been
used:
"His members are exceeding great and long; no man's members are so
long and big as they are….(he is) a meikle, black, rough man, very cold, and I
found his nature as cold within me as spring-well water…He is abler for us that
way than any man can be, only he is heavy like a malt-sack, a huge nature, very
cold, as ice.
Besom Chant
Besom, besom long and lithe
made from ash and willow withe
Tied with thongs of willow bark
in running stream at moonset
dark.
With a pentagram indighted
as the ritual fire is lighted
Sweep ye circle, deosil,
Sweep out evil, sweep out ill,
Make the round of the ground
Where we do the Lady's will.
Besom, besom, Lady's broom
Sweep out darkness, sweep out
doom
Rid ye Lady's hallowed ground
Of demons, imps and Hell's red
hound;
Then set ye down on Her green
earth
By running stream or Mistress'
hearth,
'Till called once more on Sabbath
night
To cleans once more the dancing
site.
The
Broomstick Or Besom
The broomstick has come to be the traditional companion to the witch,
and the enchanted steed for her wild and unholy night-flights through the air.
Even Walt Disney paid tribute to its legendary magical character, in his film
"Fantasia", when he drew Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's Apprentice,
with a bewitched broomstick that did its work only too well.
However, the broomstick was only one of the means witches were supposed
to use for the purpose of flight. Its frequent occurrence in folklore points to
the fact that it possessed some special significance.
This significance is in fact a phallic one. In Yorkshire folk-belief,
it was unlucky for an unmarried girl to step over a broomstick, because it
meant that she would be a mother before she was a wife. Is Sussex, the
May-Pole, which was itself a phallic symbol, used to be topped with a large birch
broom. A 'besom' is a dialect term for a shameless, immoral female.
'To marry over the broomstick'. 'jump the besom', was an old-time form
of irregular marriage, in which both parties jumped over a broomstick, to
signify that they were joined in common-law union. At gypsy wedding ceremonies,
the bride and groom jump backwards and forwards over a broomstick; further
evidence of the broom's connection with sex and fertility.
In a curious and interesting old book, "A Dictionary of Slang,
Jargon, and Chant", by Albert Barrere and Charles Godfrey Leland (London,
1899 and 1897, also Gale Research,
Detroit, 1889), we are told that a slang term in those days for a
'dildo' or artificial penis was 'a broom handle'; and the female genitals were
known vulgarly as 'the broom'. To 'have a brush' was to have sexual
intercourse. This throws considerable light on the real significance of the
broomstick in witch rituals, and in old folk-dances, in which it often plays a
part.
The original household broom was a bunch of the actual broom
plant,"Planta genista", tied round a stick. "Broom! Green
broom!" was old street cry, used by vendors of broom-bunches for this
purpose. The "Planta genista" was the badge of the
"Plantagenet" family, who derived their name from it. They were rumored
to favor the Old Religion.
At one time of the year, the broom plant was unlucky. The old saying
goes: "If you sweep he house with blossomed broom in May, you will sweep
the head of the house away." This could perhaps have some connection with
old sacrificial rites at the commencement of summer.
Sometimes the broomstick was regarded as having power to repel witches;
perhaps with the idea of turning their own magic against them. At any rate, a
broomstick placed across the threshold of a house was supposed to keep witches
out.
A broomstick could also be a luck symbol. When alterations were being
made to an old house at Blandford in Dorset in 1930, a broomstick was found
walled up in the structure. It was recognized as having been put there for
luck, and it was allowed to remain in its hiding-place.
These additional meanings of the broomstick are in accord with its
phallic significance. Things which are sex symbols are life symbols, and hence
luck bringers and protectors against the Evil Eye.
In Reginald Scot's "Discoverie of Witchcraft" (London, 1584,
and edited by Hugh Ross Williamson, Centaur, Southern Illinois University
Press, 1964), he says of the witches' Sabbats:" At these magicall
assemblies, the witches never faile to danse; and in their danse they sing
these words, Har, har, divell divell, danse here danse here, plaoe here plaie
here, Sabbath, sabbath. And whiles they sing and danse, everie one hath a broom
in hir hand, and holdeth it up aloft." He was quoting from the
descriptions of witch rites given by a French demonologist, Jean Bodin. It
appears from the other old description that witches also performed a kind of
jumping dance, riding on staffs; and if broomsticks were used for this purpose,
too, it is easy to see how this dance, combined with the witches' experience of
wild visions and dreams of flying while in a stage of magical trance, gave rise
to the popular picture of broomstick-rising witches in flight through the air.
When broomsticks or besoms began to be made of more durable materials
than the broom plant, the usual combination of woods for them was birch twigs
for the brush, and ashen stake for the handle, and osier willow for the
binding. However, in the Wyre Forest area of Worcestershire, the traditional
woods are oak twigs for the sprays, which is the makers' term for the broom
part; hazel for the staff; and birch for the binding. All of these trees are
full of magical meanings of their own, and feature in the old Druidic tree
alphabets of Ancient Britain. The ash is a sacred and magical tree; the oak is
the king of the woods; the hazel is the tree of wisdom; the willow is a tree of
moon-magic; and the birch is a symbol of purification.
More
Broomlore
There are many beliefs based on the Broom as it made its genesis from
medicine staff to symbol of Rebirth. The wedding broom represents a joining of
souls working together as they jump over the Broom into their new life
together. When a bride and groom moved into a new house, a new broom was be
used to sweep a little dust into the door. Then this swept dust was placed onto
the hearthstone to retain blessings.
Here is some of the folklore surrounding the Broom:
1) Never step over a broom laying on the floor, if you do & are
unmarried you will stay that way.
2) When moving into a new home, a loaf of bread & a new broom
should be sent in first for good luck.
3) It is bad luck to take a broom across water.
4) Never lean a broom against a bed.
5) To keep a ghost out, lean a broom against the door jam.
6) To drop a broom means company is coming.
7) To give away a used broom is bad luck.
8) A broom should never be used to sweep dust out of the front door,
because it sweeps the luck out with it.
9) Never sweep a house at night. It is an insult to the faeries &
the spirits of the dead.
10) A broom standing outside the front door says that the lady of the
house is away & the men of the house are at liberty to entertain guests.
Evan MORE Broom Lore......
BROOM LORE:
A broom dropping in front of the door means company before the day is
over.
Always pick up, for luck, a broom that is lying on the floor or ground.
Always sweep dirt out the back door or you will sweep away your best
friend.
Bad luck will befall you
all year, if you sweep on New Year's
Day.
Burn up the rubbish when you
sweep on New Year's Day and you will
have money throughout the new year.
Carry a broom under your arm for luck.
Carrying a broom over your shoulder will give you bad luck.
Do not sweep immediately after the departure of a guest or you will
sweep him bad luck.
Dropping a broom while sweeping is the sign of a new carpet.
Hitting someone with a broom means that he will go to jail before a
week has passed.
If a broom falls as you are passing it, you will have bad luck.
If a broom falls in front of you and you step over it before picking it
up, you will have a "bed of sickness."
If dirt is swept out a door before sunrise, you may expect bad luck.
If dirt is swept out of the house on Friday, the house will burn.
If someone comes in to see you and you pick up a broom and go to
sweeping in front of them, that is the sign they are not wanted and you want
them to go home.
If you go to someone's house and have to step over a broom, it shows
that the mistress of that household is an untidy housekeeper.
If you hand a broom through a window to someone, you may expect bad
luck.
If you hit a person with a broom just before he starts
"uptown," he will have trouble before returning.
If you let a broom fall and do not step back over it immediately,
someone dirtier than you will come.
If you must borrow a broom, take it without the owner's knowledge,
and you will not have bad luck.
If you must sweep on New Year's Day, you can avert bad luck by not
taking up the dirt and leaving it in a pile on the floor.
If you must sweep your kitchen after sunset, you can avert bad luck by
burning the dirt.
If you step over a broom you will be arrested.
If you sweep after dark/ You will bring sorrow to your heart.
If you sweep after dark, you will sweep out the money made that day.
If you sweep in front of someone, you are sweeping them off the earth.
If you sweep under someone while he is sitting on a chair, you are
giving him bad luck.
It causes bad luck to sweep a porch after dark.
It is a sign of good luck to have a broom drop in front of you.
It is a sign of misfortune, to lay a broom on the bed.
It is unlucky to borrow a broom.
It is unlucky to sweep dirt out a door at any time. Pick up the dirt
and carry it outdoors for luck.
It is unlucky to sweep on Monday.
It means bad luck when a broom falls across the derail
It signifies bad luck, if you sweep under a bed on which someone is
lying.
It signifies bad luck, to carry a broom through the house from the
front door to the back door.
Keep the corners of your broom square or even for luck.
Lean a broom against a bed and you will be unlucky.
Lending a broom will cause you bad luck.
Let the broom rest with the straws up and you will be lucky.
Letting the sweeping edge of a broom wear off at the two corners will
bring you bad luck.
Never burn up a broom; it will bring you bad luck.
Never sweep dirt out the front door; it will bring you bad luck.
Never sweep the kitchen after supper, whether daylight or dark, or you
will sweep out all your money.
Never sweep your kitchen early in the morning before sunrise, or you
will be unlucky.
Stand a broom on its handle and you will always be poor.
Step over a broom and you will break
your mother's back.
Stepping over a broom is a sign of slovenliness.
Stepping over a broom will bring sorrow to your heart.
Stumbling over a brook handle will bring you good luck.
Sweep after dark and you will never be rich.
Sweep dirt out of the house on Friday and it will cause you bad luck.
Sweep on the third day after Easter and you will have bugs in the
house.
Sweep the top of a bed and you will have bad luck.
Sweep under a person's feet while he is sitting in a chair and he will
not grow any more.
Sweeping after dark means you will lose a friend.
Sweeping dirt over a doorstep after six o'clock in the evening will
bring bad luck.
Sweeping on New Year's Day means that you will sweep out the money made
during the coming year.
Sweeping under chair upon which someone is sitting will make you
unlucky.
The child who steps over a broom will get a whipping.
The one who is hit by a broom will soon be arrested.
The person under whose feet you sweep will always be poor.
The person who is hit on the top of the head with a broom will be
arrested.
To avert bad luck after you have walked over a fallen broom, step
backwards across the broom.
To brush your boot with the broom while your are sweeping will give you
bad luck for a week.
To have good luck, place the broom on its handle in a corner.
To set a broom in the corner with the brush up shows that you are an untidy
housekeeper.
To step over a broom will start a quarrel in the house.
To sweep after dark will bring trouble to the house.
To sweep dirt out the door is a sign of a slovenly housekeeper.
Touching anyone with a broom while you are sweeping causes bad luck.
Walking over a fallen broom will cause you bad luck.
When a broom falls across the door, it indicates that you will walk on
strange ground.
When a small child takes a broom and begins to sweep, company is
coming.
When someone is hit with a broom, he should spit on the broom and take
ten steps backwards so he will neither have bad luck or be arrested.
When you sweep after dark, you sweep away your friends and let enemies
in.
You sweep away your best friend by sweeping after dark.
You will be unlucky, if you do not pick up a fallen broom at once.
Your luck will be swept away, if you sweep your kitchen after sunset.
I also found this SITE with some history and lore on it ... and a few chants ...
No comments:
Post a Comment