For a long time, I thought old wives’ tales hailed from old housewives. The tales or sayings were handed down from one generation to the next. Women who knew and repeated the folklore were likely illiterate. So, there were no written records of these supposed truths. The women told stories to each other and their children.
Although the legends are called old wives’ tales, the women weren’t necessarily wives.
Maybe the name, old wives’ tales, made the tales more believable. Regardless, the Old wives’ folklore about alleged solutions and cures still lives on. And the focus of the handed-down sayings is common health problems, social relations, and various female concerns. The tales consist of many exaggerated antidotes that are unverified.
But just because they’re unverified doesn’t mean the superstitious claims aren’t true.
Don’t let the word tale or superstitious make you altogether skeptical. Some of the tales are true.
The old wives discovered uses for many plants and trees that grew in the community: sage, rosemary, oak, cedar, walnut, and many others. The folk legend cures cover everything from toothaches to dysentery.
My grandmother taught Mom how to make concoctions from fruit trees and animal fat. Some of the homemade potions were smeared or rubbed on the body. But others were swallowed and consumed.
Believe it or not, they worked.
They healed what ailed us: colds, stomachaches, and more.
Mom would collect ripened chinaberries from chinaberry trees. She packed them in a Mason jar, added water, and sealed the container. I remember being forced to swallow this stuff. And nasty wasn’t the word. I don’t know which was worse, the smell or the taste. Yuck!
Thank goodness for 21st century modern medicine.
Have you heard the wives’ tale that eating bananas will get you a boy?
This tale is somewhat true but not guaranteed. Bananas have a high percentage of potassium. The potassium increases the chance of conceiving a boy.
The old wives’ tales also discouraged certain behaviors, especially of children.
Don’t swallow gum; it will stay in your stomach for seven years.
Thank goodness, this well-known wives’ tale isn’t true. I’ can’t tell you how much chewing gum I swallowed as a child.
But did you know that chewing gum is indigestible?
So, tell your little ones not to eat their chewing gum. But if swallowed, the chewing gum comes out within days—not years, unscathed.
It’s bad luck to open an umbrella indoors.
Chocolate leads to acne.
This one is true for me. I’m careful about how much chocolate I eat.
The appearance of white spots on the fingernails is due to lying or not eating enough green vegetables/calcium.
Proper amounts of green vegetables/calcium for healthy nails doesn’t sound too far-fetched. Don’t you agree?
But the lying part of this tale sounds superstitious.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Well, apples are nutritious, especially the skin.
Mom says take everything “with a grain of salt” which means don’t believe everything people say. The same applies to old wives’ tales.