Shortly after we moved into our condo, my husband found a little plastic figurine of St. Joseph buried in our backyard, and thought little of it. I thought it was fun for personal reasons, and was partly responsible for making it a piece in the “altar” of our household. However, quite recently, my man randomly discovered that planting Joes is a known thing – among catholics who are trying to sell houses. We were muffuckin’ bewitched!
So the question is this: who was the superstitious catholic? Previous owner was a military dude cohabiting with a lady that did not share his surname, and they had a realtor. One of these three, at least, was addicted to cathohol and wanted to sell a place fast – compelled by these pressures to inter a Giuseppe. Perhaps we should pity them.
On the other hand, it worked, so cathoholicism must be the way. I shall convert presently. Gimme that bloody drank.
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It could have been a previous owner, maybe.
Some years ago I was trying to sell a house (I put in on the market in 2009. What a great time to try to sell. I managed to unload it for a loss in 2011), and a friend who I didn’t expect was superstitious gave me one of those St. Joe figures to bury. I didn’t bother. What do they expect old Joe to do? There ought to be a cartoon of St. Joseph with halo and suit showing a prospective buyer around and saying, “Make up your mind quickly, I’ve got 21,457 more showings today.” It wouldn’t be particularly funny, but most single-panel cartoons aren’t.
I grew up in a very Catholic family and turned pagan afterwards.
It’s always amusing to me how the Catholic faith and tradition is so very similar to the paganism ans magic they officially despise as part of their doctrine.
A little shrine to the Mother of God in the church, pictures of “Saints” with rules who to pray to if you have a specific problems, a yearly protective spell on your house written with magic chalk…
Didn’t know the one about J. helping to sell your house, though. Either a regional thing or it just never came up.
Wouldn’t take any of these Catholic idols into my home though, can only be a bad influence 😉
flex – big time.
mord – his spiritual powers are inferior to my own, so i should be cool.
Oh, they don’t despise it because it’s pagan — Catholicism is pagan, just with some peculiar terminology (what other religions call the All-Father or otherwise the “top” god, Zeus, Odin, Jupiter, Brahma, or whatever, they just call “God”, while they call the Thor-analogue the “son of God” and all the lesser ones “angels” and “saints”. And, being raging misogynists, they have this weird “Holy Spirit” thing in place of Freja or some other female consort for God).
They despise it because it’s competition. They don’t not want you to have these things at all; they just want to be the monopoly supplier, like every other business in the entire six-thousand-year history of business. :/