Статья о периоде правления королевы Виктории

Folklore.

Superstitions in Britain in Queen Victoria’s epoch

      In the Victorian era, the interest in folklore gained new features. Because of

Industrialization there remained less untouched corners where there were kept

original customs and where  could magical creatures be found, as old men claimed, once populated Britain and  Ireland. Surrounded by red brick walls and clouds of coal smoke, the British missed the green colour, the childhood, the magic.

A sense of loss forced the Victorians to save and increase the remnants of the

traditional culture.

    Thus, the peasants and slightly less of urban workers were creators and carriers of folklore. They were the ones who put a red-hot poker into the churn, protecting oil from witches and treated  themselves naturally, because they could not pay for the services of a qualified doctor. The variety in the opinion to the popular beliefs and rites of the middle class was very large. The farmers, for example, did not neglect protection from evil.

 But in the family of a wealthy banker at the mention of  the house spirits, gentlemen contemptuously shrug their shoulders, considering  their stories about them as the tales of ignorant maids.  However, it was possible that in the same family at  weekends spiritualistic séances  were spent because some superstitions were more prestigious  than others.

     In their striving for finding out more about the future groom, the  English women were not  much different from unmarried girls all over the world. The favourite way was fortune-telling. The future husband was seen in a dream, his reflection  flashed in the mirror. Fortune-telling was preferred on certain dates, mostly on the eve of religious holidays. The night before Christmas was perfect for this purpose. On Christmas eve, the girl knocked on the door of the chicken coop, if the chicken clucked the first, the fortune teller’s eyes filled with tears. Clucking  meant that the girl was not destined to marry, and in fact the fate of the old maid in Victorian England was unenviable. She will have to work a century in the family of the brother caring for his offspring.  

    The more pleasant  is to hear the clucking of the rooster because that promised a wedding  during  the year.

    Chickens in divination could be used differently: a raw egg was poured into a glass with water and left overnight. By the morning, the yolk had taken a shape, one way or another associated with the craft of her future husband. If the yolk was like a pair of scissors  the husband will be a tailor, a staff-a shepherd,  a shoe-a shoemaker, a hammer –a bricklayer, a lancet-a doctor, a pen-a writer, etc.

     Cook-girls were  interested in divination with a  “dumb cake”. An odd number of participants took part in it: three, five or seven. Every girl scooped up a handful of flour and poured it out  on a large sheet of paper.

     As only her hand touched the flour, the girl paused and was silent until the end

of the ritual. Thus the name a "dumb pie" appeared. The salt and  enough water were added  to the flour  to knead the dough. It was kneaded by all the participants

silently. Having rolled out the dough in a thin layer, the girls left  their initials on it.The cake was put into the oven and baked. All this happened in complete silence. On the stroke of midnight the invisible spirit approached  the oven  and pressed on the initials of one of the girls. The one who got a noticeable dent, was destined to be the first to marry.

   So, I think you can see if the British were really superstitious.

red hot poker – раскалённая кочерга,

churn – маслобойка,

chicken coop – курятник,

cluck – кудахтанье,

offspring – отпрыск,

divination – гадание,

yolk – желток,

bricklayer – каменщик,

scoop – зачерпнуть,

knead the dough – замесить тесто,

dent - вмятина.