Of Omens and Amusements

[TeaDidikai]

Okay- so it's not really Fat Tuesday anymore. But I was eating my King Cake and I found the Baby!

This promises good fortune and prosperity for the coming year.

I feel that omens and such forms of classical divination have fallen largely to the wayside of the modern pagan and witchcraft movement.

So I pose two questions:

Is this a function of omens being cultural in nature and not spiritual? Why or Why not?

And two, what are some of your favorite omens? Where do they come from?  

[Pelta]

TeaDidikai

Is this a function of omens being cultural in nature and not spiritual? Why or Why not?

That's an interesting question, though I would have to say that it is both. The ring baked in the cake (please correct me if I'm talking about a totally different tradition here...) is a cultural tradition, though religious meaning has been attributed to the date and use of it. But then again I really don't know enough about it...

Quote:

And two, what are some of your favorite omens? Where do they come from?

This is what I really wanted to answer... biggrin I love my augury and frequently use the number of magpies I see together as an omen as to how my day will go. Unfortunately I have absolutely no idea where this came from. Everything I find on it just says it's a folklore tradition that's "centuries old." Which just plain pisses me off. If anybody knows anything about its roots I would be very grateful...  

[quantum_leaper]

TeaDidikai

Okay- so it's not really Fat Tuesday anymore. But I was eating my King Cake and I found the Baby!

eek

Could i get an explaination for the studio audience please?  

[TeaDidikai]

quantum_leaper

TeaDidikai

Okay- so it's not really Fat Tuesday anymore. But I was eating my King Cake and I found the Baby!

eek

Could i get an explaination for the studio audience please?

King Cakes are a traditional food served on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). They tuck a plastic baby into the cake, or a bean- find it in your slice and it is said that you will be prosperous in the coming year, be blessed with loyality, honors etc... good jazz.

It also means you have to buy next years cakes.  

[TheDisreputableDog]

TeaDidikai

King Cakes are a traditional food served on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). They tuck a plastic baby into the cake, or a bean- find it in your slice and it is said that you will be prosperous in the coming year, be blessed with loyality, honors etc... good jazz.

It also means you have to buy next years cakes.

The dining hall was serving some last night. If you found the bean they would give you a free pizza. My family doesn't eat King Cakes on Mardi Gras, I'm not sure why. We eat one on Dreikonigstag though. That might have to do with the fact that my family is more consistently all together on Dreikonigstag than Mardi Gras.

I'm not sure I can think of any omens, as opposed to superstitions; I only pick up pennies if they're face up, and my family says 'rabbits rabbits rabbits' as our first words on the first of each month (which reminds me, I forgot), but I'm not sure where we got that one. My mom's side of the family are Kabalarian Philosophers and do the whole numerology thing, but I never really picked it up. (Previous sentence not grammatically correct but I'm too tired to fix it, sorry.)  

[Pelta]

TeaDidikai

It also means you have to buy next years cakes.

Lol. I didn't know that part of the tradition! In Cyprus when they did it (and I think here in Ireland as well...) it was a ring that was cooked in the cake and if you found it in your slice it was a sign that you would get married within the next year. Like catching the bride's bouquet at a wedding.  

[CuAnnan]

The grim, the term in Irish escapes me at present, has always been my favourite omen.  

[Pelta]

reagun ban

The grim, the term in Irish escapes me at present, has always been my favourite omen.

*curiosity* Care to elaborate? What's it an omen of?  

[CuAnnan]

missmagpie

reagun ban

The grim, the term in Irish escapes me at present, has always been my favourite omen.

*curiosity* Care to elaborate? What's it an omen of?

Trouble in the family. They are generally your ancestral totem (in my case the bear) and turn up when there's trouble.
I've seen my family's once.  

[TeaDidikai]

My aunt swears by the Broom falling.

To date, every time when I run to her house for whatever reason, she has always just been putting the finishing touches (at all hours of the day) on my favorite comfort food for me as I come in the door.  

[TheDisreputableDog]

TeaDidikai

My aunt swears by the Broom falling.

To date, every time when I run to her house for whatever reason, she has always just been putting the finishing touches (at all hours of the day) on my favorite comfort food for me as I come in the door.

Impressive. My family's not really "plugged in" in quite that way.  

[TeaDidikai]

TheDisreputableDog

TeaDidikai

My aunt swears by the Broom falling.

To date, every time when I run to her house for whatever reason, she has always just been putting the finishing touches (at all hours of the day) on my favorite comfort food for me as I come in the door.

Impressive. My family's not really "plugged in" in quite that way.

My Aunt is just awesome like that  

[saint dreya]

TeaDidikai

Is this a function of omens being cultural in nature and not spiritual? Why or Why not?

does that include superstitions? black cats, broken mirrors, ladders, umbrellas, cracks?

TeaDidikai

And two, what are some of your favorite omens? Where do they come from?

my grandmother usually cooks a huge pot of hoppin' john right before the new year, and we eat a bowl on new year's eve and new year's day. then i have lunch set up for the next week, xp

TheDisreputableDog

We eat one on Dreikonigstag though.

'three king's day'? what is the significance of that day? not in connection specifically to your family eating the cake then, but what is the lore behind that day and its meaning?

reagun ban

The grim, the term in Irish escapes me at present, has always been my favourite omen.

is that almost like the ban sidhe?

TeaDidikai

TheDisreputableDog

TeaDidikai

My aunt swears by the Broom falling.

To date, every time when I run to her house for whatever reason, she has always just been putting the finishing touches (at all hours of the day) on my favorite comfort food for me as I come in the door.

Impressive. My family's not really "plugged in" in quite that way.

My Aunt is just awesome like that

i think you're whole family's awesome like that, eek ! oooh, they sound so interesting!  

[TatteredAngel]

I have a really hard time with omens simply because of both a lack of cultural/familial background for it, and having to keep a good control on hyperactive imagination. As a little girl with some pretty bad separation anxiety, everything was portentious of something terrible, I was sure of it. After reining that in, I've found it hard to find a middle ground of "this corresponds with this" because I have to keep second-guessing myself and making sure that I'm not just being silly/paranoid. That, in addition to... just not really knowing much about what might be considered an omen, within my family or otherwise.  

[TeaDidikai]

phoenix_shadowwolf

TeaDidikai

Is this a function of omens being cultural in nature and not spiritual? Why or Why not?

does that include superstitions? black cats, broken mirrors, ladders, umbrellas, cracks?

To my mind, yes.

Quote:

TeaDidikai

And two, what are some of your favorite omens? Where do they come from?

my grandmother usually cooks a huge pot of hoppin' john right before the new year, and we eat a bowl on new year's eve and new year's day. then i have lunch set up for the next week, xp

Sounds yummy.

Quote:

TeaDidikai

TheDisreputableDog

TeaDidikai

My aunt swears by the Broom falling.

To date, every time when I run to her house for whatever reason, she has always just been putting the finishing touches (at all hours of the day) on my favorite comfort food for me as I come in the door.

Impressive. My family's not really "plugged in" in quite that way.

My Aunt is just awesome like that

i think you're whole family's awesome like that, eek ! oooh, they sound so interesting!

Good gods no. My mother is not counted amongst the wonderful individuals in my family.

This brings up a new question: Does anyone view these omens/superstitions as "Cultural Spells"- for example, if everyone who eats king cake knows that finding the baby/bean means good luck for the coming year- does that knowledge and belief raise energy and direct it to those ends?