The moon's influence and the fasting spittle are very
old superstitions.
The moon or Ashtoreth, the consort of Baal, was the great female deity
of the ancients, and so an appeal to the moon for the purpose of
removing interferences with beauty, such as skin excrescences, was quite
appropriate. Moon worship was practised in this country in prehistoric
times. Bailey, in his _Etymological Dictionary_, under article "Moon,"
says, "The moon was an ancient idol of England, and worshipped by the
Britons in the form of a beautiful maid, having her head covered, with
two ears standing out. The common people in some counties of England are
accustomed at the prime of the moon to say '_It is a fine moon. God
bless her._'"
From a custom in Scotland (particularly in the Highlands) where the
young women make courtesy to the new moon by getting upon a gate or
style and sitting astride, they say--
"All hail to the moon, all hail to thee,
I prithee good moon declare to me
This very night who my husband shall be."
Every one knows the popular adage about having money in the pocket when
the new moon is first seen, and that if the coins be turned over at the
time, money will not fail you during that moon.
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