Old Wives' Tales

I recently had a very interesting conversation with my dad about old wives' tales in his family.  He shared two tales with me, one that his Grandma Coggins performed on him when he was young and one he has seen my Grandma Coggins (his mom) perform on other people. 

Great Granny's Tale: Lillian Stokes Coggins (If you get easily grossed out, you may want to skip to my Granny C's tale below.)
When my dad was 15 and playing basketball in high school, he had warts all over one of his hands.  It bothered him, but he didn't know how to get rid of them.  One day, his dad said "Son, do you want to get rid of those warts?"  Of course, my dad said "Yes."  So, his dad replied "Well, come with me son." They went over to my Great Granny's house where she blindfolded my dad and began to perform an old wives' tale on him.  She counted the warts on his hand and tied a knot in a thread for every wart on his hand.  She placed the thread in his hand with the warts and led him (still blindfolded) outside to dig a hole with his other hand.  My dad buried the knotty thread in the hole and left the yard.  When they were back inside, she took the blindfold off of him and told him not to bother the buried thread and just to forget about it.  She told him, "When the thread rots, your warts will be gone."  My dad swears that his hand was completely wart free in about two weeks (about the time it takes a thread to rot).  Kind of gross, but cool huh? My dad believes that this is a lost art in his family because Lillian was supposed to pass this practice down to my dad's dad (Leslie Coggins AKA Les or Bud) and ultimately down to him.  Unfortunately, she passed away before this art was passed along.

Granny C's Tale: Margie Elizabeth Pollard Coggins
This next old wives' tale involves a pencil, a sewing needle, and you guessed it, more thread!  My dad swears that Granny C could accurately predict the gender of a baby by completing the following steps.

1. Thread a sewing needle with some thread.  It doesn't have to be a lot, but perhaps around ten inches so when it is threaded it will be around 4 to 5 inches.
2. Stick the needle straight into the top of the eraser of a sharpened lead pencil.
3. Holding only the thread, dangle the pencil above the wrist (palm up) of a pregnant woman.
4. If the pencil swings parallel to her arm, she is having a boy.  If the pencil moves perpendicular to the arm, she is having a girl.

My dad says that Granny C correctly predicted his gender and the gender of his two brothers while she was pregnant and that he has seen her accurately perform this tale on others.  Oh how I wish she was still here to perform this tradition on me when the time comes.  I miss her.

My dad doesn't believe that this old wives' tale is one that has to be passed down from generation to generation.  So, if this one tickles your fancy and you or someone you know is pregnant (and you can actually find an old-school sharpened lead pencil), give it a whirl.  Let me know what happens!

Cheers to great family traditions - some lost and some cherished forever.