Omens

Today is my anniversary - two years since my stage IV diagnosis and still stable and on the same treatment regimen! YAY!  I almost hate to type that out--don't want to jinx myself.  Not that I believe in omens...


When I went for my first Catscan and nuclear bone scan two years ago,  I was happy it was my niece's birthday--that had to be a good omen. Unfortunately, not so.  I remember the technician coming back in and saying he needed one more view on the side and I took that as a bad sign. Yes, it was, but most likely it would have been a bad scan with or without that final side view.


Totally irrational to believe in good luck, omens, superstitions, and yet.. we all at least give them lip service. Do you have that lucky shirt, penny, charm, number, four leaf clover, rabbit's foot? Do you avoid black cats, the number 13, walking under ladders?


Is belief in omens just another thing we can blame on our parents? How many times did I hear the following when I was growing up:

• happy the bride the sun shines on; happy the corpse the rain falls on
• hat on a table means a fight
• two forks means a fight 
• itchy nose means a fight (hmm, seem to be a lot on fighting)
• two spoons--honeymoon soon
• dropped silverware means unexpected company is coming
• if the palm of your hand itches you will be coming into money. 
• If your ear itches and it is red and hot, someone is speaking bad of you.
• if a woman is the first to bring in the New Year, it's bad luck. (I remember my father once walked around the house just after midnight to assure that a male brought in the New Year and he always got on the phone first on New Year's Day to talk to my grandmother)
• if you have turkey or chicken for New Year dinner, you'll be scratching all year. Better to have a nice fatty roast for a prosperous year. (before we worried about cholesterol)
• if you get a chill up your back or goosebumps, it means that someone is walking over your grave. 
• it is bad luck to kill a ladybug, let milk boil over, open an umbrella inside the house, or give someone a new wallet or pocketbook with no money inside.
• it is good luck if a bird poops on you, you put your clothes on inside out or you have one of the aforementioned lucky charms
• a wish made upon seeing the first robin in spring will come true - but only if you complete the wish before the robin flies away.

and my all time favorites:

• laugh before supper, cry before bed.  (said to a child who was overtired and laughing a little too hysterically, but could also be interpreted as bad luck to be too happy?)
• good luck to see a hay wagon or a carful of nuns --according to my Grandma Connell (not too likely today!)
• good luck if you rubbed my brother's new crewcut haircut according to our laundryman, who bet on pigeon races.  (Yes, it was a different era--my mom sent out the shirts and sheets and the laundryman would pick up and deliver)

I took a spin around the internet and found quite a few other interesting ones. Birds are popular in all cultures as good or bad omens:

Arab:

On the way to a business endeavor, find a bird: if bird flies to the right, it is good luck. To the left is bad luck.

Irish:

A crowing hen, a whistling girl, and a black cat are considered very unlucky. Beware of them in a house.

If a rooster comes to your threshold and crows, you may expect visitors.

While on a trip if you see three magpies on your left it is unlucky; but two on the right is a good omen. (this assumes you can identify a magpie--think Hekyl and Jekyl)

If you hear a cuckoo on your right you will have good luck for a year. (I thought they only lived in clocks)

Whoever kills a robin redbreast will never have good luck, even if they lived to be a thousand years old. (that's harsh)

A water wagtail near the house means bad news is on its way to you. (again, get out the Peterson's Guide. hint: a water wagtail is the same as a pied wagtail--does that help?!)

Italian:

Birds in the household are considered bad luck, and certain types of feathers are considered bad luck as well.

Polish:

Constructing of stork nest in a particular household is believed to bring its owner good luck and prosperity. It is also believed to protect a house from thunder strikes. 

Russian:

If a bird hits the window, someone will die.

So, I don't know about you, but the next time I need good luck, I'm going to wait until the birds are flying to the right, hope one will poop on me, look for a child with a crewcut,  put my shirt on inside out, stick my lucky penny in my pocket and head out to the countryside to find a hay wagon.  Yeah, that should cover it for now---until you send me your own prescriptions for good or bad luck.  

Top o' the Morning to you...

Never mind that the phrase is not Irish at all, but a Hollywood creation or that it's Friday at 11 am and I've just stumbled out of bed. No, not a heavy night of Irish imbibing, (Mayor Bloomberg, take note), but I did treat myself to a trip to the city yesterday. I had a late morning appointment in Murray Hill, so took the bus into Port Authority and then walked down Fifth Avenue. Beautiful day and the crowds were already surging up the street--young, green, carrying suspicious looking Gatorade bottles, but at this point energetic and exuberant. A nice feeling of happiness and well being on the city.Today's Bergen Record had a picture of a bare chested reveler with the Irish flag colors painted on his body and my first thought was "I saw that guy!"  (Do you think there was more than one?)


After my meeting, I continued south, subway to Chambers Street and searched for the Irish Famine Memorial, commemorating the Irish Potato Famine or the Great Hunger (an Gorta Mor in Irish) from 1847-1852. It's not labeled, but when you see the distinctive rock fences, the waving grasses and heather and an abandoned stone cottage, you think "Gee, that looks like the Irish countryside, plunked down right here by the river and the financial buildings."  It's pretty cool.  


You enter through a tunnel marked with quotes from literature and the newspapers of 1840's and there is a voiceover about world hunger.  You emerge on the hillside through the deteriorating stone house and take the short walk up to the viewpoint overlooking the river with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island off to the south. Spectacular, quiet setting and evocative memorial but under the influence of my son the historic interpreter, I was mentally making notes on where they could add a kiosk, more signage, some interpretation of the event that, while caused by nature, was exploited by the Brits and launched a migration of up to two million Irish and the death of another million in Ireland, reducing the population by 25%.  Under the landlord-tenant farming economy, the rural poor were particularly dependent on the potato crop for survival, as more and more land was cultivated for cattle and the British beef market. Exports of food continued throughout the 1840's, despite the starvation in Ireland.


I read afterwards that the stones of the memorial were from all 32 counties of Ireland and the quotes were separated by rows of Kilkenny limestone. The cottage had been transported from County Mayo and the size of the memorial--one quarter acre--was significant.  An 1847 amendment to the Irish Poor Law prohibited relief to any Irishman living on more than a quarter acre of land.


One quote I liked described the memorial as taking : "five minutes to see; a lifetime to absorb." The Action for World Hunger Center is located next door to the memorial . An estimated 925 million people are "undernourished" in the world today, 13% of the world population.

Memorial, as it faces the Hudson--right near the NJ ferry exit.

The stones from each county

A peasant face, if I ever I saw one!

Feels like the West coast of Ireland

Looking toward the top viewpoint

Located near the World Trade Center site, which is humming along with construction.