Making the Bed: Bed and Sleep Folklore

How many of you make the bed first thing in the morning?

It's one of the things that makes me feel like my day is getting off to a good start--getting something done as soon as I get up. 

Making the bed gives me a feeling of peace. Looking into the quiet bedroom and seeing the bed made and ready for the night is just comforting and reassuring.

I try to keep our bedroom tidy and clutter-free, even when the rest of the house is an explosion of stuff coming in and going out to our booths. It would be heaven to have some place other than our home to do it, but we don't and we can't afford the costs involved in that luxury, so it all goes through here. It's a challenge to keep it orderly and not overtaking our living space, so the bedroom is absolutely off-limits for merchandise.

Vintage linens have always drawn me like a moth to the flame, ever since I was a young girl. I loved pretty pillowcases, especially ones with embroidery, and flowered bedspreads and quilts. When we started selling, I found that more and more of these linens made their way into our house, and onto the bed. Now I shop only for vintage sheets, as I appreciate the better quality of these older brands.

Thinking about the bed made me think about old sayings and superstitions connected with beds. One of my mother's favorite sayings was, "You've made your bed, now lie in it." Harsh maybe, but that approach makes a person face up to what they've done or the situation they've created.

I remember reading that the way the head of the bed faces determines what sex children who were conceived in that bed would be. A bed facing north meant sons, facing south meant daughters. My first marriage bed faced north, and we had four sons. When I re-married, my bed also faced north. And I had another son. Hmmm.

A person should always get in and out of bed on the right side, not the left. Which makes it difficult for those who sleep two to a bed--someone has to get out the wrong side! I have the left side, so it looks like the bad luck will follow me. Oh dear.

The foot of the bed should always face the door, some say. I suppose that makes sense since it allows you to see who is coming in. Safety first!

from wikipedia, Oreste Cortazzo (1836-1910)

If a girl starts making a quilt when she is young, she'd better finish it or she'll never marry. That was a motivator for a lot of women, I bet. If there's an unfinished quilt in the house, no one there will ever get married, so some believed. I have a couple quilt tops, but fortunately no one here is single.

Sleeping with a piece of wedding cake under her pillow will allow a single woman to dream of her future husband. And have a sticky mess under her pillow, I'd think.



Leaving a hat on your bed is considered unlucky. Why? I have no idea. But in older days, I can imagine that hats often carried head lice, so it would have made sense to keep them off the bed.

Georg Friedrich Kersting, 1785-1847, from wikipedia

You should never place your mirror in front of your bed! Because, you see, your soul could enter the mirror while sleeping and be stolen by evil spirits that lurk on the other side.

It's bad luck for the foot of your bed to face an external door. Some people call this the "funeral position" as it is easy to carry the body out. I'm relieved that my bed is safe in that respect.

You should never lean a broom against your bed, as there are evil spirits in a broom that could invade your bed. And you should never cut anything on your bed (uh-oh). But putting a knife under the bed during childbirth was believed to cut the pain in half.

After all those warnings, how is a person supposed to sleep? Here's a couple ideas:

For sweet sleep, place rosemary under your pillow. It will ward off evil, and since it is the herb of remembrance it will bring good dreams.

You can make a sleep pillow to aid sleep too, using lavender, rosemary, chamomile and other sweet-smelling herbs and putting them into a small pillow or bag and tucking them into the case of your favorite pillow.





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