Happy St. Patrick's Day!
As you might know, my Mom and I like shopping at estate sales. It was nice to find one during this long, cold winter. They're mostly held in the spring around here. The previous owner of the house had a large collection of old photos and postcards. Old postcards and jewelry are my two favorite things to look for at estate sales. This was my postcard find of the day:
I looked up the name "Edd Meyer" on a genealogy site and was surprised to find two guys with this name who were alive and in the area at this time. I'd like to be sure of which one he was, because it's fun to know the story of the person who owned an antique.
I was curious about the symbolism of the spider on this postcard. I assumed it was supposed to represent something lucky since it was pictured above a treasure chest that was surrounded by four leaf clovers. So I did a little research and found this page:
Spider Superstitions:
http://www.spiderzrule.com/superstitions.htm
Who would think there would be this many spider superstitions? As it turns out, the spider on the postcard is lucky because it's brown. Every culture seems to have different spider rules. A few things everyone seems to agree on: brown spiders are good and the later in the day you see one, the better.
Funny enough, a few days after learning this trivia, I saw a brown spider crawl across the ceiling around 9:00 PM. The following few nights I saw a brown spider at 11:00 PM and Midnight. Either there were a few lucky spiders or that one spider really gets around. I guess I have some good luck coming my way!
St. Patrick's Day seems the perfect time to share one of my new favorite YouTube channels! Adrian von Ziegler is a composer who posts lots of Celtic music videos as well as other relaxing, magical sounding songs. His two hour set of Celtic music is perfect for today:
I hope you all see a lucky spider tonight!
As you might know, my Mom and I like shopping at estate sales. It was nice to find one during this long, cold winter. They're mostly held in the spring around here. The previous owner of the house had a large collection of old photos and postcards. Old postcards and jewelry are my two favorite things to look for at estate sales. This was my postcard find of the day:
It's always a fun little treat to find a postcard that was written on and stamped. Then you can see how old the postcard is. This one was stamped 1909 over a one cent stamp.
I looked up the name "Edd Meyer" on a genealogy site and was surprised to find two guys with this name who were alive and in the area at this time. I'd like to be sure of which one he was, because it's fun to know the story of the person who owned an antique.
I was curious about the symbolism of the spider on this postcard. I assumed it was supposed to represent something lucky since it was pictured above a treasure chest that was surrounded by four leaf clovers. So I did a little research and found this page:
Spider Superstitions:
http://www.spiderzrule.com/superstitions.htm
Who would think there would be this many spider superstitions? As it turns out, the spider on the postcard is lucky because it's brown. Every culture seems to have different spider rules. A few things everyone seems to agree on: brown spiders are good and the later in the day you see one, the better.
Funny enough, a few days after learning this trivia, I saw a brown spider crawl across the ceiling around 9:00 PM. The following few nights I saw a brown spider at 11:00 PM and Midnight. Either there were a few lucky spiders or that one spider really gets around. I guess I have some good luck coming my way!
I hope you all see a lucky spider tonight!
Aren't estate sales the best? I love going through all the stuff, especially the vintage items.....score!
ReplyDeleteJulie ~ Yes! I love going to estate sales. I see something new every time. Exploring the houses is always an interesting experience. These lifelong and sometimes multigenerational collections are like a slice of history.
DeleteThis postcard was a good score! Finding cool antique postcards has become more difficult. I used to feel like there was an endless supply of them at antique stores. Now they turn up every once in a while. So I was happy to see this one. Plus it was something different with the spider.
Do you have a favorite kind of item to look through at estate sales?
I don't have anything in particular that I look for. I love antiques, something old and maybe with an interesting history.
DeleteThat's cute! You know St. Patrick's Day barely gets a mention in the U.K. Even the Irish in Ireland don't give it much thought. Strange that. It seems to be an American holiday.
ReplyDeleteAlison ~ Yeah, that's a cute little lucky spider. What's fun is if you play the video and watch the animated spider tap his toe to the music. :)
ReplyDeleteSt. Patrick's Day is a big deal in the U.S. We have a large Irish population around here. A bit of trivia - We have the world's largest celebration of Irish culture here in Milwaukee each summer. Another piece of trivia is that the first St. Patrick's Day parade was actually held in New York, not in Ireland! (In the 1760s) I just learned that a few days ago. The parades started to be a way to show some Irish pride during that wave of Irish immigration to the U.S. in the 19th century. Like many immigrant groups, the Irish weren't being treated too well. I think there's still this sense of sticking together against adversity, even if St. Patrick's Day looks like a day to drink and party. There's a definite American spin on the holiday.
I did a little research after reading your comment, and according to what I read, the festivity and party atmosphere around St. Patrick's Day hasn't been going on in Ireland until fairly recently. The pubs weren't even open on that day until the 1970s! The Irish were thinking of the holiday in more religious terms than in the going to the bar terms.
It's interesting how traditions can be brought to a new country and celebrated in a different way depending on what's going on. Other cultural traditions have certainly had some new flavor added to them in a new place. I'm thinking of the way Santa Claus was/is presented in different countries. Certainly the American idea of Santa has been tweaked from the originals. Immigrants bring these traditions; things are removed and added to the mix. In the case of St. Patrick's Day, it seems a lot of the religious aspects were removed here and some random cool Irish things were tossed in. The original saint's day didn't have much to do with leprechauns. :) But I did learn recently that the four leaf clover is related to St. Patrick's Day because St. Patrick used it to explain The Trinity.