Werepuppy's A Doll A Day Challenge 2020

[Loona]

Haha, I automatically touched a button on my shirt upon seeing the chimney sweep bear. Do you have this thing (freit?) over there that touching a button (probably even spitting on it - I did not do that ) upon seeing a chimney sweep brings you good luck?

Never heard of that -- the fun things from abroad that one learns on this forum!  Do you know the origin of that idea?

I didn't, I guess it was... always there? And I never really thought of it - but now you got me interested, so I had a look around
Based on what I found it definitely doesn't seem to be a local thing (which I suspected), but I didn't manage to find out where it originates from. More than one resources dated the origins back to the Romans, and link the association to fire: humans always had a fear&respect relationship with fire, as it gave warmth, but could also cause tragedy. A home's fireplace was said to be the home of good spirits, and in other cultures, shamans communicated with spirits through fire
All sources I looked at seem to agree on a closer (date-wise) and more specific association regarding good luck: it most likely comes from chimney sweeps having been observed as the protectors of homes, as their work, and the resulting clean chimney prevented smoke inhalation and housefires - the latter were more common in the past due to the materials used to construct houses, and especially housetops. One resource stated that it is also believed that chimney sweeps "sweep out bad spirits from the chimney" - but how and when those previously good spirits that reside there turned into bad, I do not know. Or do both good and bad spirits live there (and if so, do they not fight?), and how come the sweeping only evacuates the bad ones? Now I'm *really* interested...

Regarding the part about buttons, one resource states that a button resembles a magical circle that functions as a shield, keeping out whatever we fear (er, OK, but then why can't I also touch a... plate? a ball? or anything spherical? if I don't have any buttons on my dress ). Other resources say that buttons used to be more valuable in the past, as they were usually made of more valuable metals like silver - thus losing them was a sad and unlucky thing, and vice versa, if you still had them all (or if you had money to buy buttons for your dress, in the first place), you were considered lucky. And even more so if combined: you saw a  chimney sweep and still had your buttons.

Funnily enough, upon this small research I also found other aspects I wasn't aware of: more than one resource stated that you need to touch the third button (from which direction, I have no clue  ), and that if you manage to steal a thread from the sweep and keep it with you, your wish will come true. Oh well, I guess I know now why  I never really observed this whole luck-bringing thing as something that works... I never knew the number-thing, nor did I ever try to raid the poor guy to pluck his sweep !  One resource stated that we need to hold the button until we see broken glass - WTH? but what I found the most weird is that I haven't come across a single source mentioning the spitting part - could that be a family flavour my ancestors have added? Yuck!

"I do not talk affectedly. I merely open my mouth to let my heart speak it's truth."

Aha. To be honest, there is truth in what she says - I guess to a soul like her it must be hard to understand how her words might come across differently from the outside.