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Squinting
A popular superstition is that a squint is an ill omen. Whenever encountering a squint-eyed person one should spit three times to avert the bad fortune.
This superstition is an old one, first being referred to in the treatise
Fascination (de Fascino) published in 1589 by Vairus, prior of the Benedictine
Convent Sta. Sophia in Benevento. Vairus stated in the work, "Let no
servant ever hire himself to a squinting master." A.G.H.