If the hogs take to fighting, it means a storm is sure to come.
WOLVES
From the German-Swiss tradition, there comes the belief that wearing a wolf’s tooth will grant you protection.
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SEASONAL LORE & MOUNTAIN ASTROLOGY
WHEN YOUR TABLE SPREAD IS DETERMINED BY THE FOODS grown, gathered, hunted, and raised, knowledge of the weather becomes a constant concern. Storms can ensure a meager winter, and drought, utter destruction. Knowing who and what to look to for answers about the weather has long been a way of Appalachian folks.
WEATHER SIGNS
Changes in the weather are foretold by the moon. When you see rings around it, you know a change in the weather is sure to follow. A full moon rising bright and clear means fair weather is on its way. Good clear weather will also come when the smoke of the fire rises. If smoke beats the ground, then foul weather will surely come.
LORE FOR ALL SEASONS
WINTER
Winter in the mountains is a lean time. There are more predictions for this season than any other. Some of these omens are results of the laws of nature, and others, more mysterious.
Trees seem to have an uncanny ability to tell us of what is to come. In Appalachia, there are many species of nuts: black walnuts, acorns of all kinds, hickory nuts, and many more. While today they are seen as a nuisance to some as they pummel tin-roofed homes in autumn, they were once heavily relied upon not just by squirrels, but by Appalachian people as well.
Nut gathering and eating helped to provide valuable fat and calories for the lean months of winter. The way the nut trees produce can foretell what kind of winter is to come. It will be a bad winter if squirrels begin gathering nuts in early fall and their tails grow bushier. It will be a bad winter if hickory nuts have a heavy shell and if the pinecones open early. The dogwood, with blossoms as white as snow, also foretells a harsh winter if it is heavily laden with berries.
Just like the tails of the squirrels getting bushier, it is an omen of a harsh winter if the fur on the bottoms of a rabbit’s feet grows in thick, as if they are putting on their winter boots. Birds also foretell harsh winters. It will be a bad winter if crows gather, and if screech owls sound like crying women. If birds are eating all the berries early, that too is a sure sign of a hard winter ahead. One of the most iconic animal omens of what the winter holds in store is the wooly worm. If the wooly worm is all black, the winter will be harsh; if one end is red, then that part of the winter will be mild. Crickets also sing of what is to come in winter. If you hear them clicking in the chimney, it is a sign of a harsh winter to come.
The months preceding the winter can also be observed to divine the winter’s severity. There will be as many snows the following winter as there are rains in August. The sky and the moon can tell you as well: “Clear moon, frost soon.” One of the most interesting winter predictions, however, is the idea of the “Ruling Days.” These are the twelve days of Christmas, or December 25 through January 6. The weather observed on these twelve days can be used to determine the weather of the approaching year.
December 25 predicts the weather of January, December 26, February, and so on until you get to January 6. Write down the weather each day during the Ruling Days and see what is to come. Was it correct? You may be surprised.
Rain during the Ruling Days foretells a wet year, and a windy Christmas Day means the trees will bear much fruit. Any thunder during these days brings much snow the rest of winter. If it snows on Christmas night, the crops will do well. A clear, bright sun on Christmas day foretells a peaceful year and plenty. On Christmas Day, if ice hangs on the willow tree, the clover will be ready for harvest at Easter time.
SPRING
The traditions of spring in Appalachia foretell health and happiness after a long, dark winter. Spring tonic teas of spicebush twigs and sassafras roots bubble on the wood stove, chasing off the last of the chill. The groundhog was the harbinger of spring and announced winter’s end on the second of February if he didn’t see his shadow. This harkens back to much older pagan practices surrounding the ancient Irish holiday of Imbolc, where a black snake would foretell the same. If a thunderstorm arrived in March, it also meant an early spring. The whippoorwill calling and the beech tree leaves greening are the final signs that spring has settled in the mountains.
The rains of spring would determine the harvests of summer and autumn. If people wanted rain to come, they would kill a black snake and hang it up on a fence post. Today we know the black snake is a friend and eats rats and mice in plenty, so leave this as just a bit of lore. Fish will jump above the water to tell you rain is coming. Even your own hair serves as a rain omen. If your hair curls, expect rain.
“Evening red, morning gray, sets the traveler on his way; Evening gray, morning red, puts the traveler in his bed,” and “Rain before seven, clear before eleven,” are two common phrases traded in the mountains. Look to the sky to predict rain by more than just the clouds. If you see lightening in the north, it is a sign of dry weather to come. If you see the horns of the moon pointing downward, then it will surely rain in three days’ time. If the fog lifts late, it will be a fine day.
SUMMER
Summer is the time of the dog star in Appalachia, when the constellation Sirius is overhead. There were many beliefs about the “dog days of summer,” or July 3 through August 11, a time believed to be dangerous to people and animals. It was during these hottest of days when dogs and snakes were more likely to bite, and wounds wouldn’t heal well. These days are called “dog days” because Sirius, the dog star, is ruling.
The black locust tree (Robinia pseudoacacia) is one of the common native and ever-useful trees of the Appalachians. In June they are laden with edible, fragrant white blossoms, much resembling a pea flower. When the locust blooms are heavy, it is a sign it will be a cool summer. If a cool August follows a hot July, it foretells a winter hard and dry. The wasps also seem to know when a dry summer is to come: they build their nests low when a dry summer approaches.
AUTUMN
The harvest time, one would assume, is the most ominous of all the seasons, yet is it always winter weather that has the most predictions. However, the autumn still has lore of its own.
When leaves fall early, fall and winter will be mild. If it is warm in October, it will be a cold February. If a full moon in October passes by without a frost, it is a sign that no frost will come until November’s full moon. Christmastime was a useful time to look for omens, and it was said a clear star-filled night on Christmas Eve brought a hearty yield of crops in next year’s harvest.
Though the dog days are past, in autumn the fear of fevers still loomed. To kill any caterpillar in summer is a sure way to get a fever before autumn’s arrival. The chatterfly knows about autumn too, for fall is three months away when the first chatterfly chatters.
A SPELL TO BRING GOOD WEATHER
Repeat the following charm out loud three times when you see a ladybug:
“Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home,
Bring me good weather whenever you come.”
To ensure good weather, place a hatchet in the yard or make a cross with matches and salt. This will surely charm the weather well.
PLANTING BY THE SIGNS WITH MOUNTAIN ASTROLOGY
Even humans in the earliest major civilizations, along the Nile and the Euphrates, used the moon’s cycle to inform their farming practices. These planters may have believed that sowing their crops by the moon’s phases or by the zodiac would increase their harvests while avoiding diseases and pests. In America, it was the German colonists who brought with them a long history of astrological omens, activities, and magical folk beliefs. Germans do not often come to mind in the general imagination of Appalachia, yet they are responsible for some of the strangest and most delightful aspects of folk magic in the mountains. As Appalachians mingled their cultures and bloodlines, German folk spiritual and cosmological beliefs were adopted by many others in the region.
One of the main ways that these astrological ideas were shared and recorded was the almanac. These publications were printed booklets of graphs, astrological information, calendars, and more, and were used for making weather predictions and deciding when to plant different crops, perform household tasks, and even cut one’s hair. They were also used to spread and share occult information as well as folk healing practices and recipes.
PLANTING BY THE MOON
