Ivys's domain... Superstitions and wives tales

Bathing

..... The business of washing oneself clean is taken very seriously by the superstitious, of who warn against certain practices. Attention was specially made to the time of year when a person bathes, as evidenced by a ancient verse:

He who bathes in may will soon be laid in clay.

He who bathes in june will sing a merry tune.

But he who bathes in july will dance like a fly.

..... In some parts of the world it is thought unwise to wash the whole body at once. ..As this is thought to wash all ones luck away.

.....Welsh miners mean while, are said to have a prejudice against washing their back, in the belief that if they do so, the roof of the mine will collapse upon them.

I.M.Summers