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Show Strange New Year Beliefs Still Exist Over England and Scotland, In the villages of the plains and highlands, high-lands, ancient New Year superstitions supersti-tions still exist. It is considered unlucky to wear old clothes on the New Year; bad luck falls on a house if anyone goes out before someone has entered. If the first comer "first foot," the natives call it be a man, good luck will bless the house; if a woman or a fair-haired man, the luck Is evil. So widespread is this belief that in many villages the dark-haired men of the community make it a regular regu-lar business to go from house to house to "take the New Year in." In Herefordshire, at midnight, the girls rush to the spring. The one who gets the first drink, or the "cream of the well," is sure of a handsome husband. Unlucky, too, is the good woman who gives away a light on New Year's day. Where a brand goes out, the evil fays come in. The most tender-hearted woman will see her neighbors shiver in a fireless house rather than give away a light on the New Year. |