Lovely Laughter

Originally uploaded by mongoliandeathworm

We crimson-topped folk have suffered over 800 years of discrimination all because of our golden locks. For hundreds of years literary references warn against the unlucky and/or evil nature of people with red hair. The Proverbs of Alfred warned as early as the 1200′s that ‘the red man is a wicked man, for he will give thee evil counsel’. Throughout the decades red-haired men and women were thought to be poisonous, treacherous, bad luck, unhappy, unlucky to meet in the morning, before a journey on foot or upon a ship, and even for the fishermen. It was even thought that if a redheaded child or person visited on New Year’s Day that someone would die within that house by year’s end.

Tsk. So much fear of the unknown.

The way I see it redheads are indeed very lucky. We thrive despite the unlikely recessive genes needed to bring forth our fiery locks. We need less anesthesia during surgery and dental procedures. We are resilient evolutionarily, physically–despite our sensitivities, emotionally for most of us have endured some sort of taunting on account of hair color, alabaster skin or quirky freckles.

Seems to me despite what the masses once thought or may still believe–we are the lucky ones, fortunate to be of strong unique heritages and beautifully rare form. We are unique and ordinary, strong and sensitive all at the same time. We are the lucky ones born of parents of all hair colors, surviving despite the evolutionary unlikelihood, thriving despite the centuries of popular contempt against us.

From: RED HAIR unlucky by IONA OPIE and MOIRA TATEM
Source: A Dictionary of Superstitions, 1/1/1996.
Via: HighBeam™ Research
© A Dictionary of Superstitions 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996.