Saturday, June 14, 2014

Bad Luck

Friday the 13th and a cock egg all in the same full-moon week.
Wooooooooooo.....
I guess it is a good thing I am not into that sort of thing or else I would probably be hiding under the covers, rubbing a rabbit's foot and eating Lucky Charms by the handful. Oh, and garlic. I would definitely need some garlic. And maybe a silver bullet.

And in case you don't raise hens and have no idea what a cock egg is (aka witch egg, fairy egg and wind egg)...


It is just a tiny chicken egg.
If I were to crack it open (instead of throwing it over the house to protect myself from evil) you would see a weird "yolk" made of some abhorrent tissue that had found its way into the egg making part of the hen.

Here is some very entertaining information about the history of these little eggs (from granny-miller.com):

In folk tradition, a cock egg was understood to have been laid by a rooster or cock and not a hen, and was a cause for concern.
Cock eggs according to different folklore traditions bring bad luck or illness if they are brought into the house. That’s because a cock egg is believed to have malefic and magical powers. They are reputed to be of value to sorcerers and magicians for mixing magical potions and casting spells.
The way the story goes is that if a toad, serpent or witch at the behest of Satan incubates a cock egg, the resulting hatchling will be a cockatrice or a basilisk.  A cockatrice or basilisk is an ancient winged monster with a serpent’s body and a rooster’s head that can kill and destroy by its breath and glance.
During the middle ages it was self-evident to most intelligent people that a cock egg was the work of the devil. Animals as well as people could be in league with Satan, and in 1474 a chicken passing for a rooster in Basle, Switzerland was put on trial and condemned to be burned at the stake for “the heinous and unnatural crime of laying an egg”.  American author and educator, E.V. Walter in his essay – Nature On Trial – The Case Of A Rooster That Laid An Egg , writes, “ the execution took place with as great a solemnity as would have be observed in consigning a heretic to the flames, and was witnessed by an immense crowd of townsmen and peasants.”

On second thought, Lucky Charms might be just what I need. A big bowl of magically delicious to ward off death by "breath". Or maybe just because I haven't had any in the last 25 years.

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