Never take a child in your arms after being at a wake where a corpse was
laid out unless you first dip your hands in holy water.
The moment the soul leaves the body the evil spirits try to seize but the
guardian angel fights against them, and those around must pray earnest]y
that the angel may conquer. After death the body must not be disturbed, nor
should the funeral chant be raised for one hour.
There are many superstitions prevalent in the Western Islands which are
implicitly believed and acted on. Fishermen when going to sea must always
enter the boat by the right side, no matter how inconvenient.
A coal of fire thrown after the fisherman brings him good fortune.
A sick person must not be visited on a Friday, nor by any person who
has just quitted a wake and looked upon the dead. The hair and nails of a
sick person must not be cut till after recovery..
If a corpse falls to the ground the most fatal events will happen to the
family.
The lid must not be nailed on the coffin of a new-born child, or the
mother that bore it will never have another.
MYSTERIES OF FAIRY POWER
The Evil Stroke
SOME persons are possessed naturally with the power of the Evil Stroke,
but it is not considered at all so unlucky as the Evil Eye; for the person who
has it does not act from intentional malice but from necessity, from a force
within him which acts without his will, and often to his deep regret: as in
hurling matches, where a chance stroke of his may do serious injury, and
even the dust of the earth raised by his foot has blinded his opponent for a
week.
One day a young man, while wrestling with another in play at a fair,
where they met by chance, struck him on the arm, which immediately
became fixed and powerless as stone. His friends brought him home, but
nothing would restore the power of the arm or bring back the life; so after
he had lain in this state for three days his family sent for the young man
who had struck him, to ask for his help. When, he came and saw the arm
stiff as stone, he anointed it all over with spittle, making also the sign of the
cross; and after some time the arm began to move again with life, and
finally was quite restored. But the young man of the Evil Stroke was so
dismayed at this proof of the strange power in him, that he would never
again join in sports for fear of some unlucky accident.
The power, however, is sometimes very useful, as in the case of attack
from a bull or a ferocious dog; for a touch from the hand of a person