LL-L: "Folk Beliefs" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 16.JUN.1999 (02)

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From: "Bryan E. Schulz" <bryans at northnet.net>
Subject: Folk Beliefs

> From: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
> Subject: Folk Beliefs
>
> > From: $ Elsie Zinsser <ezinsser at simpross.co.za>
> > Subject: Folk Beliefs
> >
> > My grandmother also covered all mirrors (also those on wardrobes)
> > during thunder storms and we were forbidden to stand near windows.
>
> Actually covering up the mirror is not (as far as I can recall)
> part of my own experience. However, since several people have now
> referred to it, it has set me thinking.
>
> Still on the trail of nuggets of reality below the myth, since
> I can think of no electrical efficacy related to draping a mirror
> I am wondering if there's an optical clue.
>
> I wonder if, on occasion, people have had their eyesight damaged by
> seeing the reflection of a particularly intense flash in the mirror? You
> might turn away from the window out of fear for the lightning, only to be
> caught out by looking into the mirror ...
>
> Or maybe, if a "trailer" does find a path through the mirror (as
> described last time), having a drape intervening could protect the
> eyes from the light.
>
> Hmmm.
> Ted.

It is plausible that the mirror would attract the static electric charge
in earlier times.  In a typical home the mirror sometimes would be one
of the few metallic objects hence the only collector of the charge.
Being a stained glass hobbyist, I would say that the mirror coating
became very hot and then cause the mirror to explode.  Also being of
raised at a time that people canned fruits and vegetables, we ALWAYS
poured hot liquid into a canning jar by first inserting a spoon that
would dissipate the heat before it would heat only part of the jar which
caused the jar to explode.

Very few myths are imagined.  People in general tend not to exert their
imagination but will exagerrate something they have seen or heard.

I am looking for a definative collection of surnames( could be a subject
by itself) and their meanings i.e. what does Schulz mean in the early
German?

Bryan E. Schulz  bryans at northnet.net

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