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STEEPED in SUPERSTITION RANGE OF OTHER POSSIBLE TITLES:
Author and folk historian ALEC GILL explores a variety of ancient superstitions which once infused every aspect of British tea-drinking - especially in the pre-teabag days when leaves were free-range. British tea-drinking was once a whirlpool of superstition. Practically every stage of the tea-making ritual overflowed with omens. This article draws together different tea taboos from around our island. THE TEA-POT STAGE: "Something Brewing" In Worcestershire dry tea-leaves were sometimes scattered on the front-door step of a new home to protect it from evil spirits. There was a belief in Rutland that a woman will not have any luck until she brews up in a teapot of her own. It was as if the teapot was a magic fountain of good fortune. Is this why people collect teapots in the hope of abundance? Wiltshire folk believed that it was a bad omen if boiling water was poured into an empty pot - that is, if the tea-maker forgot to put in any tea-leaves. In the Ipswich area, if the tea was weaker than intended, a friend will turn away from you; but if it came out too strong, a new friendship was on the horizon. This sounds like an early advertiser's ploy to get customers to use more tea - "one for the pot". Spilt salt is a universal taboo. In Somerset, however, it was a lucky sign for the mother of the house if a spoonful of tea was accidentally dropped. Spilt sugar, by the way, was a sign of joy. A West Country belief held that it was unlucky to stir the pot prior to pouring - it resulted in a quarrel. It was also ominous to stir tea with anything other than a spoon. Speaking of cutlery, two spoons unwittingly placed in the same cup (or saucer) had a number of different meanings around the country: a wedding was imminent, the drinker would marry twice, or twins were due. A falling tea-spoon meant a child would visit. Tea-drinking and unexpected visitors - especially strangers - were linked in a variety of odd ways. From Essex across to Shropshire, if the tea-pot lid was left off, "there'll be a stranger at your door". THE TEA-CUP STAGE: "Stranger in Your Cup" Even when the tea was finally poured from the pot into the cup, strangers still had a habit of popping up uninvited. If a single leaf floated in a Scottish cup, it was said, "There's a stranger in your tea". If it was hard to bite, a man would call; and a soft stalk symbolized a woman. The length of a 'swimming' leaf foretold the height of the visitor. In parts of England, the fished out stalk was placed in the hand and the person then clapped once. If it stuck to the palm, the stranger would be a faithful soul; but if it switched over, then this was a sign of a fickle nature. Floating bubbles prophesied romance if the foam stuck to the side of the cup - each one represented a kiss. But if the froth merrily swirled around in the middle, this foretold of riches. The more bubbles, the greater the love or money. Fishermen afloat considered it unlucky to pass a mug of tea through a porthole or the rungs of a ladder. Tea-drinking and fertility were intermingled. Indeed, the tea-pouring cliché‚ "I'll be Mother" stems directly from primitive superstition. The consequences of two people pouring from the same pot could be dire. During the 1930s, if a man and woman took turns in pouring, a child would be born to them. A female visitor must not pour tea in another woman's house - otherwise, she would fall pregnant. This evolved to having twins and - even worse at the superstitious level - ginger-headed twins. Thus, an early form of birth-control was to let only one person do all the pouring in company! FORTUNE TELLING: "Tossing the Teacup" The "I'll-be-Mum" activity is obviously harmless fun and, as with other tea taboos, was a form of home-spun prediction. Many superstitions are divination in disguise. But there is no concealing the next stage of the tea-drink ritual which plunged directly into the realm of fortune-telling. I refer, of course, to "reading the leaves". This was were a tea-time laugh hovered on the edge of the occult world. "Tossing the cup" involved spinning it anti-clockwise in the left hand three times (is this what is meant by Tea at Three?). With the dregs swirling around, the cup was flicked upside down into a saucer - thus getting rid of the remaining liquid. The fortune-teller - usually a local wise woman in the village or terrace - then set about divining what the talking tea-leaves had to say. As a young boy in the 1950s, I remember my mother having this done by our regular dress-maker when we called to collect some items. If the pattern of tea-leaves was evenly dispersed, this was a good omen. But if the bottom of the cup was dense with leaves, this boded ill. A heart-shaped pattern depicted happiness. And two hearts meant romance and marriage were in store. Shapes sometimes resembled tools of the trade. This told a young maiden the occupation of her future husband. In the early 1800s, a lady of the manor "tossed the cups" after breakfast and read fortunes for her servants. A woman I met recently was correctly told that she would have a baby boy and of the type of illness she would experience in later life. EMPTYING THE TEA-POT STAGE "Swilling Out the Leaves" Even the final stage of emptying the teapot was saturated with hidden superstition. In some Hull fishing families, the pot was never emptied the day the husband set sail for the Arctic fishing grounds. Equally, his wife would not wash clothes or empty ash-trays - in case it seemed he was being 'washed' out of the family. On board some trawlers, the teapot was never swilled out once the fishing had began - more and more tea was simply heaped into the pot. It was equated with the ship and its fish-room. To empty the pot would symbolize the trawler heeling over and sinking. Similarly, the tea-leaves were analogous to the fish they hoped to catch. Any action which mimicked throwing or shooing them away was avoided. CONCLUSION "For All the Tea in China" But what are the origins of these strange tea-centred superstitions? The answer is both simple and complex. When tea first came from China in the 17th.century, we also imported its mystical quintessence which included oriental omens and forms of divination. The teacup is bell-shaped. There was an ancient practice of reading the cracks in the shell of a bell. Some of this peculiar process transferred from the sacred bell to the precious China teacups. The superstitious history of the British cuppa, therefore, stems from the orient. A nice cup of tea provides not just a refreshing 'pick-me-up', but it can also unlock future events like weddings, births, and the arrival of unexpected strangers. If we define a 'stranger' as "a friend we have yet to make", then what better way to gain their goodwill than by making them a cup of tea - provided, that is, all the superstitious rituals are duly observed. c. 1150 words ALEC GILL is author of several books about Hull's deep-sea fishing industry and community. His latest is called SUPERSTITIONS: Folk Magic in Hull's Fishing Community, 1994, Hutton Press. |
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