Collette Cameron | Triumph and Treasure

One of the things I love the most about writing historical romance is coming across superstitions, old wives’ tales, and myths I can incorporate into my stories.

Some superstitions I’ve used are common. For instance, red hair and green eyes are associated with evil or the devil, and owls are often thought to be harbingers of bad luck or even death.

Others have been fun to incorporate, like the mythical mantel of Arthur in Cornwall making a character invisible or Persinette changing her hair to wings and flying away. In both those instances, my heroines have been desperate to escape unpleasant situations.

The Scots, in particular, where very superstitious, and I’ve tapped into those superstitions by mentioning the Callanish Circle curse which claims sinners were turned into stone for their heathen activities on the Sabbath, or that fairy cats roam the forests in Scotland.

Two of my favorite Scottish myths relate to Valentine’s Day. It seems in Scotland the first person you meet on the street becomes your Valentine for the day, and if someone found another’s lost glove, that person would be their Valentine.

A few others I’ve discovered have been downright weird like not cutting your hair when the moon is waning, because it will fall out, or if you bite your tongue when you are eating, you’ve told a lie recently.

Scottish folklore holds that it’s bad luck to see a pig on your wedding day or take a pig on a fishing boat. (Really?) Then there’s taking the first tooth a child loses and rolling it in paper lined with salt and stuffing it into a mouse hole.

Hmm, might make it difficult for the Tooth Fairy to find.

In the seventeenth century, women were to give birth in a dark, warm room to protect them and the babe from evil spirits. And finally, in the early 19th century, men avoided salad because it was thought to cause male sterility.

Yes, we can smile now, but people really believed this stuff.

Do you have any favorite old wives-tales, superstitions or myths? I’d love to know what they are.

About TRIUMPH AND TREASURE

A disillusioned Scottish gentlewoman.

Angelina Ellsworth once believed in love—before she discovered her husband of mere hours was a slave-trader and already married. To avoid the scandal and disgrace, she escapes to her aunt and uncle’s, the Duke and Duchess of Waterford. When Angelina learns she is with child, she vows she’ll never trust a man again.

A privileged English lord.

Flynn, Earl of Luxmoore, led an enchanted life until his father committed suicide after losing everything to Waterford in a wager. Stripped of all but his title, Flynn is thrust into the role of marquis as well as provider for his disabled sister and invalid mother. Unable to pay his father’s astronomical gambling loss, Flynn must choose between social or financial ruin.

When the duke suggests he’ll forgive the debt if Flynn marries his niece, Flynn accepts the duke’s proposal. Reluctant to wed a stranger, but willing to do anything to protect her babe and escape the clutches of the madman who still pursues her, Angelina agrees to the union.

Can Flynn and Angelina find happiness and love in a marriage neither wanted, or is the chasm between them insurmountable?

About the Author

Award winning, best-selling author, Collette Cameron, has a BS in Liberal Studies and a Master's in Teaching. Author of the Castle Brides Series and Highland Heather Romancing a Scot Series, Collette writes Regency and Scottish historicals and makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and five mini-dachshunds. Mother to three and a self-proclaimed Cadbury Chocolate chocoholic, Collette loves a good joke, inspirational quotes, flowers, trivia, and all things shabby chic. You'll always find dogs, birds, quirky—sometimes naughty—humor, and a dash of inspiration in her novels.

Her motto for life? You can’t have too much chocolate, too many hugs, or too many flowers.

She’s thinking about adding shoes to that list.

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