My informant saw this done in Corgarff, Aberdeenshire, about sixty years ago.
Here is a cure for toothache:—
"Nar man har tandpine, skall man en tarsdag aften efter solnedgang ga hen till en hyldebusk i et markskjoel og af hylden skoere en pind. Med denne pind skall man prikke den tand till blods, som man har ondt i, og derpa soette den pa sin plods in hylden og ga stiltiende hyem, sa bliver man fri for sin tandpine.
Ibid. Fjerde Halvergang Iuli. Dram ber p. 137, n. 391.
Two examples, may be given from Belgium; and both relate to the cure of toothache:—
"Aller, sans saluer les personnes que l'on rencontre, dire cinq paters et cinq avés devant une croix ou une personne a été tuée et placer sur la crois une piece d'un sou." — Bulletin de Folklore 11, p. 7, n. 12.
"Aller à une eau courante sans parler à personne et y boire un verre d'eau fraiche. Ibid. 11, p. 8, n. 27.
The same custom of keeping silence on certain religious ceremonies prevailed among the Greeks and Romans. Among the Greeks the technical expressions used regarding this sacred silence were : εὐφημειν to keep silence, hold the tongue; εὐφημία, silence during religious rites, and ἔυφημος, religously silent. A common expression was εὐφήμει, or ευημἐιτε silence! hush! be still! So ευφηειν χρή, Arist.: Nul. l. 263 εὕφημος πὰς ἐσεαλάως, Στομα συγκλείσας, Arist. Thesmoph. l. 39 Another example may be given from Eschenes, εὕφημον κοίμησου σεὁμα, Ag.: l. 1247.
Among the Romans there was the "sacrum silentium."
"Utrumque sacro digna silentio mirantur umbrae dicere" Horatii Carm: II. 13. 11 29, 30,
Seneca refers to the same: "Imperatur silentium, ut rite peragi possit sacrum nulla voce mala obstrepente."—De Vita beata, 36.
The formula used by the Proecones in enjoining this silence was "Favete linguis." See Horatii Carm. III, 1, l. 2.
Propertuis says:—
Sacra facit vates: sint ora faventia sacris, Ut cadat ante meos icta juvenca focos " v. 6,
