Hi folks -
I'm new to the forum, just got a .50cal CVA Hawken percussion rifle. A friend told me about a superstition/tradition of shooting your new rifle at the full moon for the first time, so it will always shoot straight and shoot true. I did this the first time I shot mine, because it sounded cool and what could it hurt? (Did it out in the country of course, so that falling rifle ball wouldn't hit anything of consequence.)
Does anyone know where this tradition came from? Sounds Appalachian or older, but I couldn't find anything about it on the web.
I did find these superstitions though - interesting how these things get started:
http://www.everettarea.org/tales/v08/v08c32.htm
If an early settler missed his mark (deer, bear or Indian) with his flintlock rifle, he might have believed that someone had put a 'spell' upon it. To remove this 'spell' he had to place two pins in the rifle in the form of a cross. A little-known fact is that many gunmakers often placed an 'X' on the bottom side of the barrel to ward off any omens on it. Sometimes a hunter would make a wad out of human hair and shoot it from the gun. This removed the curse. [Mine has an "x" on 4 sides of the end of the barrel, a dot inbetween each one]
http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/su74g.htm
Bad luck always follows if you place a hat or a shoe or a rifle on a bed.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/rourke2.html
"Gentlemen," the legendary Crockett boasted, "I'm the darling branch of old Kentuck that can eat up a painter[panther], hold a buffalo out to drink, and put a rifle-ball through the moon."
http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/the_breaux_manuscript.html#houseandfarm
Louisiana Cajun/French superstitions:
Gunshots and Birthdays
Guns are fired a number of times on Christmas Eve at night, on New Year's day, at Corpus Christi, and on family birthdays and saint's name days. The birth of a son is announced by three shots, preferably fired by the father of the new-born, whereas a daughter is announced by two.
Soon all the women of the neighborhood arrive at the new mother's house to inquire as to her condition and offer their help. Exactly one year later, there takes place a meal attended by godparents, relatives and neighbors. The custom is repeated annually. When the child is one year old, he is given a young cow. Of the calves she bears only the females are kept. These, as it were, double the capital each year. The youth thus finds himself owner of a little herd which will serve to set up a new household.
http://www.ls.net/~newriver/nc/wnc11.htm
MEDICINE AND SUPERSTITION. "Medicine was at a crude stage, many of the so-called cures being as old as Egypt, while others were borrowed from the Indians. The borderers firmly believed in the existence of witches; bad dreams, eclipses of the sun, the howling of dogs, the croaking of ravens, were sure to bring disasters in their train."[9] Teas made of burdock, sassafras, catnip, and other herbs are still in use. Lye poultices were considered Sovereign remedies for wounds and cuts. Hair bullets shot from guns against barn doors were sure to drive away witches. Tangled places in a horse's mane or tail were called "witches' stirrups," in which the witches were thought to have placed their feet when riding the animals over the hills.[10] Mullein was cultivated for medicine for and cows.
Patsy
I'm new to the forum, just got a .50cal CVA Hawken percussion rifle. A friend told me about a superstition/tradition of shooting your new rifle at the full moon for the first time, so it will always shoot straight and shoot true. I did this the first time I shot mine, because it sounded cool and what could it hurt? (Did it out in the country of course, so that falling rifle ball wouldn't hit anything of consequence.)
Does anyone know where this tradition came from? Sounds Appalachian or older, but I couldn't find anything about it on the web.
I did find these superstitions though - interesting how these things get started:
http://www.everettarea.org/tales/v08/v08c32.htm
If an early settler missed his mark (deer, bear or Indian) with his flintlock rifle, he might have believed that someone had put a 'spell' upon it. To remove this 'spell' he had to place two pins in the rifle in the form of a cross. A little-known fact is that many gunmakers often placed an 'X' on the bottom side of the barrel to ward off any omens on it. Sometimes a hunter would make a wad out of human hair and shoot it from the gun. This removed the curse. [Mine has an "x" on 4 sides of the end of the barrel, a dot inbetween each one]
http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/su74g.htm
Bad luck always follows if you place a hat or a shoe or a rifle on a bed.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/rourke2.html
"Gentlemen," the legendary Crockett boasted, "I'm the darling branch of old Kentuck that can eat up a painter[panther], hold a buffalo out to drink, and put a rifle-ball through the moon."
http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/the_breaux_manuscript.html#houseandfarm
Louisiana Cajun/French superstitions:
Gunshots and Birthdays
Guns are fired a number of times on Christmas Eve at night, on New Year's day, at Corpus Christi, and on family birthdays and saint's name days. The birth of a son is announced by three shots, preferably fired by the father of the new-born, whereas a daughter is announced by two.
Soon all the women of the neighborhood arrive at the new mother's house to inquire as to her condition and offer their help. Exactly one year later, there takes place a meal attended by godparents, relatives and neighbors. The custom is repeated annually. When the child is one year old, he is given a young cow. Of the calves she bears only the females are kept. These, as it were, double the capital each year. The youth thus finds himself owner of a little herd which will serve to set up a new household.
http://www.ls.net/~newriver/nc/wnc11.htm
MEDICINE AND SUPERSTITION. "Medicine was at a crude stage, many of the so-called cures being as old as Egypt, while others were borrowed from the Indians. The borderers firmly believed in the existence of witches; bad dreams, eclipses of the sun, the howling of dogs, the croaking of ravens, were sure to bring disasters in their train."[9] Teas made of burdock, sassafras, catnip, and other herbs are still in use. Lye poultices were considered Sovereign remedies for wounds and cuts. Hair bullets shot from guns against barn doors were sure to drive away witches. Tangled places in a horse's mane or tail were called "witches' stirrups," in which the witches were thought to have placed their feet when riding the animals over the hills.[10] Mullein was cultivated for medicine for and cows.
Patsy
