When I was compiling a list of 100 character quirks for my Master Lists for Writers book, I threw a few superstitions in there. I think they’re fascinating, so I put together a list of them to share here. I believe many of these are European superstitions. If I’ve come across the origin of a superstition, I’ve noted it, but I can’t guarantee it’s correct.
1. Breaking a mirror = seven years of bad luck.
2. On the first day of a month, saying “rabbit rabbit” before you say anything else brings you good luck for that month. (I do this! You can read here about this superstition.)
3. Friday the 13th is extremely unlucky… but in Italy, Friday the 17th may be unlucky. (Side note: false. Fridays are the best days, and it is impossible for them to be unlucky.)
4. In China, the number 4 is unlucky.
5. Picking up a stray penny brings you good luck.
6. Picking up a comb on the ground, though? Terrible luck. (Really, why do you want someone else’s gross used comb, anyway? This might be an Irish superstition.)
7. A four-leaf clover is very good luck.
8. So is a horseshoe. (Some people say not to hang it upside-down, or the good luck will run out. Other people think this is nonsense.)
9. Burying a statue of St. Joseph in the yard will help a house sell quickly.
10. Put a stray eyelash in the palm of your hand, make a wish, and blow it away to make your wish come true.
11. If the clasp of your necklace winds up in front, you can make a wish as you move the clasp back to the nape of your neck.
12. A St. Christopher medal brings good luck to sailors and other travelers.
13. From The Moonlit Road’s page about Cajun superstitions: “To protect against the Cajun loup garou (werewolf), lay 13 small objects such as pennies, beans, or broom straws by your doors. The werewolf is not too bright. She cannot count higher than 12. When she comes to the 13th object, she gets sooo confused and has to start over. The poor thing will be there counting all night until the dawn when she must flee the sun.” (Sounds like the loup garou is about as good at math as I am. There are more Cajun superstitions on that site, if you want to check out the link!)
14. Beginner’s luck.
15. In several cultures, a bird defecating on you is good luck. (Obviously false; gross.)
16. A rabbit’s foot brings good luck to anyone (except, of course, the rabbit.)
17. Knocking on wood keeps good luck going.
18. For single women (and maybe single gay men, I’m guessing?): if you see a bluebird on Valentine’s Day, you’ll marry a happy man.
19. Twist the stem of an apple while reciting the alphabet. The letter during which the stem comes off is the first letter of the person you will marry.
20. Unexpected deaths and other bad things come in threes.
21. In Greece, it’s bad luck to make a toast with coffee.
22. Babies with birthmarks had past lives. (I saw this on a site about Thai superstitions.)
23. Never give knives as gifts. It may ruin (cut) your relationship with the person. If you give knives to a married couple, it may sever their relationship.
24. However, I’ve read that there’s an Indian superstition that says if you sleep with a knife or a pair of scissors under your pillow, it will cut out the bad dreams.
25. When your palm itches, that means you’re going to get some extra money soon.
26. Wear new clothes on Easter for good luck.
27. But don’t wear new clothes to a funeral. That’s bad luck.
28. If your nose itches, you’re going to get in a fight. You can prevent it if your buddy smacks your hand and you smack their hand in return. (Ireland.)
29. It’s bad luck to refuse to kiss someone under the mistletoe. (This is obviously untrue. Only kiss people if you want to.)
30. Eating one grape for every stroke of midnight on New Year’s will bring you a happy year. (Spain.)
31. It’s good luck to eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day. (Southern United States.) (I wish I did not find them so disgusting.)
32. If your ears are burning, someone is talking about you.
33. If you shiver or shudder, someone just walked over your (future) grave.
34. Smelling a skunk while you’re traveling is good luck (unless, of course, the skunk actually sprays you or something.)
35. A black cat crossing your path is bad luck. Several cultures share this belief. (False. Black cats are lovely, so it’s always good luck to see one.)
36. Don’t compliment a baby’s appearance, or it attracts evil spirits. (I’ve seen this listed as an Egyptian, a Jewish, and a Thai superstition.)
37. Opening an umbrella in the house is bad luck.
38. If you hit someone with a broom, you’ll have bad luck. (This is supposedly a Chinese superstition, and I have to say it seems only fair.)
39. This is another Chinese superstition: don’t sweep on New Year’s Day, or you’ll sweep all the good luck away. (Plus, you’re probably too hung over to do housework.)
40. A dog howling at night means someone is going to die. Several cultures hold this superstition.
41. When a bell rings, an angel gets their wings. (I know this one from It’s a Wonderful Life, obviously.)
42. A hat on the bed is bad luck. (I know this one from the movie Drugstore Cowboy.)
43. Putting shoes on a table is likewise a bad idea.
44. Evil spirits can’t cross a line of salt. (This one, I know from the TV show Supernatural.)
45. If you accidentally spill salt at the table, though, throw some over your shoulder or else you’ll have bad luck.
46. Three 666s in a row is the “number of the Beast,” or Satan.
47. Elephants with raised trunks are a good-luck symbol.
48. Walking under a ladder brings you bad luck.
49. Counting Crows – not just a 90s rock band. The number of crows you see foretells the future:
One’s bad,
Two’s luck,
Three’s health,
Four’s wealth,
Five’s sickness,
Six is death
50. There’s a variation with magpies, which appeared in The Girl On the Train:
One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret
Never to be told.
51. And if you see a lone magpie, you need to salute it or say hi or something, or else you might die. (I think this is an Irish idea.)
52. It’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride on the wedding day before the actual wedding. (Honestly, I don’t think many people subscribe to this any more.)
53. It’s bad luck to light three cigarettes from the same match.
54. If you light a cigarette from a candle, you kill a sailor.
55. Redheads are dangerous to sailors. (Look out boys, here I come! Haha.)
56. Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.
57. The more you eat on Christmas Eve, the more fun you’ll have in the New Year. (HAHAHAHA. I saw this on a forum of Polish superstitions, and I don’t know if it’s really Polish in origin.)
58. An owl is a portent of bad news or death. (This is the case in several cultures.)
59. Having 13 guests at a dinner party is bad luck. It makes your dinner too much like the Last Supper.
60. If you blow out all your birthday candles in the first breath, you’ll get your wish.
61. Wishes on the first star of the evening and on shooting stars come true.
62. If you cross your fingers, that means good luck. It also means it’s okay to tell a lie.
63. If you sneeze, someone needs to bless you or there could be trouble. Although many of us say “God bless you,” it didn’t start with Christianity – ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians did this too.
64. It’s bad luck to wear opals, unless it’s your birthstone. (I think opals are beautiful so I do not accept this.)
65. Carrying a buckeye in your pocket or purse is good luck.
66. If you ring a bell, it scares evil spirits away.
67. Wearing a shirt with the logo of your team on game day is good luck. I should note, though, that some fans decide that wearing their team’s shirt on game day is bad luck.
Okay, that’s enough for now! If you’re in the middle of writing a novel, you might find my book Blank Page to Final Draft helpful. It takes you through every step as you outline a novel, write your first draft, and edit your manuscript. Read more about it and see what you think!
Do you have any superstitions not on the list? Let us know in the comments! Good luck to you always, and happy writing!
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Great list. Thanks for sharing!
I find on it many that are valid in my country, too.(Romania)
Let me add three more to your comprehensive list:
-If someone carrying an empty pail crosses your path, you will have bad luck that day.
-A horseshoe above the entrance of your house brings good luck.
-Garlic protects you from evil spirits and vampires.
It is so cool to have someone from Romania read my blog! I have never heard of the superstition about the empty pail, anywhere — that is fascinating (and it kind of makes sense to me.) Thanks so much for commenting!
Yes. Isn’t internet marvelous?
I found many interesting things on writing on your blog.
Carmen
from
http://shadowspastmystery.blogspot.ro/2015/10/mysterious-romania-xvii-name-day.html
I think mine is more of an affirmation than a superstition but if things aren’t quite right in my world, I will write down how I want my life to be, put a match to the paper and send my thoughts to the universe. We call it ‘lighting papers.’
I really like this, Diana! It is just my kind of thing.
Love the list.. just a question about 39. Wouldn’t we Want to sweep the bad luck away?
Hahaha, thank you for the catch! That was meant to be “good luck.” I think I just typed “good luck” and “bad luck” so many times, I messed it up.
Although, it’s interesting to think about how “bad luck” can sometimes wind up benefitting you in the end… 🙂
So true!! Blessings in disguise. 😉
Comment 31–Add slices of hog jowl to that crock-pot of black-eyed peas while they’re cooking, that’s the full superstition for good luck for the new year. Just in case you don’t know what hog jowl is ( a lot of people don’t), it’s very thin slices of bacon taken from the hog’s jaw and usually sold during the end of a year. Quite delicious….Of course, that’s this Southern woman’s opinion….lol…Great article on superstitions.
Oh, I never heard that! (I never even heard of hog jowl, for that matter, so good thing you explained.) How interesting!
It definitely makes the peas tastier….A couple of days before the New Year, you can find bundles of the jowl in the meat departments or ask your butcher for it….(have them slice it for you)….It’s delicious, also good if you just fry it like bacon…I think it has a better flavor than bacon….
A nose itch means unexpected company. (Southern USA)
Yes, it sure does….I started to write that too, but didn’t want to wear out my welcome…lol…Glad you mentioned it…Another one I grew up hearing–If a red bird flys across your path, you’ll see your fellow before the sun goes down….
I hadn’t heard that one – thanks, Tabitha!
Oh, you’re very welcome….I love reading these superstitions…
Any time I dropped a spoon, fork or knife, my grandmother would say it means company is coming. She also said if you kill a spider, it makes it rain. And perhaps the creepiest one of all, if a child ever strikes his/her mother, when the child dies, his/her arm will stick up out of the grave so that everyone knows what they did. o_O (Gran was Polish, so maybe this is part of their folklore.
It’s fun finding out all these old superstitions and I imagine there are quite a few from the old countries…Another one I grew up hearing was if you were driving down the road, and a tarantula crossed the road in front of you, it would rain within three days. I guess this one way of predicting the weather in those days…lol.
If a broom falls over (of its own accord, of course) it means company is coming.
Back when I was a smoker, I used to flip the back middle cigarette in a pack. That was my lucky cigarette. I would usually save it for last. It could be wished on as I smoked it, or just smoked for luck in general.
Also, there is some validity to the three cigarettes on one match superstition. It comes from WWI when soldiers were fighting in trenches. The first gave an enemy rifleman the range, the second gave him the windage, On the third, he fired.
Hadn’t heard the one about the soldiers, but another one I grew up hearing was, “If you borrow salt from a neighbor, don’t pay it back…It’s bad luck.”
Interesting about the soldiers! I never heard that broom one. And I love it that you shared a personal superstition, too.
#25. One itchy palm receives, but the other pays out!
Ah interesting! Never heard that! 🙂
Hi, I love all the superstitions on this page. This is one that my mom has always told me.
If your left hand itches, it means money and that you should put it (your left hand) in you pocket for luck on bringing the money in.
But if your right hand itches, it means that you’ll meet someone new.
When I was a child, I had a lot of warts on my fingers and arms. My grandmother taught me this saying as a way to make the warts go away. On the night of a full moon, look up at it and while rubbing the wart you want to go away, say, “What I see with my eyes let it increase. What I rub with my fingers, let it decrease.” Repeat this three times while staring at the moon and rubbing the wart. She told one day I’d look and they’d all be gone. I was a gullible child, I actually followed her instructions on the next full moon….Believe it or not, all my warts went away in a few days. I was so shocked. I hadn’t even realized they’d gone away until one day I happened to look. Poof! Every single wart was gone….
Oooh this one gave me goosebumps. This could be a great writing prompt!
Aww, glad you liked it. It’s a true tale…
I also used to have many warts and my grandmother told me rubbing the warts with gold would make them go away. I had one particularly bothersome wart on my ring finger. Years passed and I had completely forgotten about it when I got my class ring as a senior. It was real gold and after putting it on my ring finger, my warts (all of them) disappeared within a month. Always listen to your grandmother!
Lol….I always believed everything she told me…She was a very wise lady. I miss her so much….
Number 45. You have to toss the spilled salt over your left shoulder because the devil is always there and the salt will blind him so he can’t make trouble.
Ohhh, okay! Better than letting the salt go to waste!
If a pregnant woman sees something ugly the baby will be ugly. That’s what my grandma would always say.
Wow, I never heard that one! Thanks! (My mom must have seen a lot of ugly things when she was pregnant with me — I was a hideous baby!)
My grandfather had too many to list, but here are a couple: if someone sweeps your foot with a broom you’ll go to jail. If someone steps over your legs it will stunt your growth. Oh, and with the black eyed peas, we also eat cabbage to bring you wealth in the new year.
Oh man — if I see someone with a broom, I’ll stay away 😀 Thanks for sharing those Mark!
Reminds me of one I heard growing up. If someone sweeps under your chair where you’re sitting, you’ll never marry..Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing…lol…..
Great list of superstitions! I find them fascinating. I can understand how people could believe them, but I guess I don’t really believe in them because of the way I was raised.
Anyway, I’ve heard of #5 – picking up a stray penny for luck – but I learned it from my parents as a little rhyme:
Find a penny, pick it up
And all the day you’ll have good luck,
But only if it’s facing up.
Sometimes that last line was: “But only if Lincoln’s looking up.” I guess that means if it’s tails, you shouldn’t pick it up or you’ll have bad luck?
If you pick up a penny that’s on tails, you pass it to someone else, making the bad luck good.
I was taught if a penny is heads up it is good luck. If you you find it tails up you have to flip it for the next person to find it heads up, to give them luck.
Ooh, I never heard that one, Coral!
Actually, about the black cat superstition: In Japan, Black cats are actually good luck.
Nice! I had a black cat once, and I thought he was good luck 🙂
I’ve had lots of black cats. They all have such sweet dispositions. I always attributed that to overcompensation for the whole bad luck thing.
My mom always says that handing someone an empty wallet is bad luck and you must always have at least a penny inside lest you find yourself penniless. additionally if you see a black cat crossing your path the only way to avoid the bad luck is to swipe downward with your arm and ‘cut’ it’s path.
#63-Blessing someone when they sneeze, comes from olden days when it was presumed that the reason you sneeze is because the devil is trying to get into your head through your nose. These days I think it’s more appropriate to say, “Excuse me,” when you sneeze and spray your micro-organisms around public places. That’s what I do.
Also #59-13 dinner guests. If you do happen to miscount and have 13 dinner guests, one will certainly be dead before long, like the last supper. I’ve heard of people in olden days allowing a servant to sit down at table with them so to avoid the dread number 13. And of course, everyone knows that 13 is the bad number because it was on Friday the 13th that the Knights Templar were arrested and subsequently put to death. So it could be argued that the number 13 is only unlucky if you are a Templar Knight.
A sneeze momentarily stops the heart or interrupts the beat so the blessing is to say that you were blessed by the gods that it re-started or perhaps good-bye, have a nice trip?
I’m surprised that no one mentioned Harry Potter with the 13 dinner guests. “When 13 dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die.” I’m sure J.K. Rowling was pulling from this superstition when she put that bit in. RIP Lupin…
I’m a quilter as well as a writer, so I can give you some of the quilting superstitions I’ve run across.
Never allow a young man or boy to sleep under a quilt that has the Wandering Foot pattern (A.K.A. Turkey Trot) lest he leave home to become a traveler and never marries.
If you start a Lone Star quilt, you will not live to finish it. (Presumably, all the lovely Lone Star quilts we have in the world were made by two people.)
If you collect 1000 buttons, then the 1001st button will come to you on your (future) husband’s shirt.
Oh and the one about the penny. I heard it this way.
Find a pin and pick it up
all day long you’ll have good luck.
Well, maybe, but at least you won’t step on it that way and cause yourself some injury.
I love this list. Keep them coming!
So sorry I missed this comment before!! I do some quilting and I didn’t know there were quilting superstitions, so this is so exciting!! Yikes, I have considered trying a Lone Star quilt, too… but I thought it looked so hard it might be the death of me, haha.
Thank you so much for contributing! These are great.
Hello! This is so cool! I’ve never thought of this, but this will be so helpful giving characters personality! Thanks for sharing!
Hi there! So glad you like it! 🙂
It;s not false about defecating birds. This superstition is known in Russia and Ukraine
Oh cool, thank you for letting me know!
Itchy palms: I believe the right palm means you’ll soon meet someone new, and the left palm means you’ll soon come into some money.
Itchy nose: Someone is coming to visit.
My grandmother used to recite a poem about neighbors coming in through the front door and leaving through the back. I can’t remember it now. It brings bad luck.
My grandmother used to sweep out bad luck and spirits.
She also told me freckles are angel kisses, proof I was blessed. I always suspected she told me that to make me feel better, though – being the only red head in the family.(I was adopted)
I was also told it was originally believed the soul could escape when you sneezed, but a blessing would prevent it.
I’d heard “lucky cigarette” one too. But in the area I grew up in, it was the first one you pulled out of the pack that would be turned upside down and saved til last.
Oh, I love all these. And oh my gosh — the freckles thing made me laugh! I just finished a draft of a romance novella where the heroine has freckles, and the hero think of how his mom said freckles were God’s kisses — not quite the same as angel kisses, but similar. I’ve heard both. 🙂
And redheads are the best! 🙂
I’ve heard that doing laundry on New Year’s day is bad luck. My family isn’t superstitious, but my gramma looked up a bunch of New Year’s superstitions for fun once and we’ve been doing this as a tradition since before I can remember. We also eat black eyed peas on New Year’s, except my gramma always bakes them into hop’n John, which is basically just rice, black eyed peas, bacon, and onions with some cayenne pepper if you like spice. It tastes much better than just the straight up beans.
I never heard that laundry one… and for some reason I’m kind of convinced!
Maybe I’ll give black-eyed peas cooked like that a try sometime… the cayenne would definitely help. Cayenne always helps. 🙂
Thanks, Kay!
Cayenne pepper is for sissies. Here in the Southwest US we use New Mexico Habaneros. (just kidding, but the NM pepper can not be matched anywhere else for its intensity. Must be something in the soil, like the Idaho potato grown in Idaho has a distinctive flavor unmatched anywhere else.)
This is a great list with some that I abide by. One that I didn’t see here is — splitting a pole when you’re walking with someone. This is a definite “no no” for me. It’s bad luck. Thanks for sharing.
I never heard that one! And the funny thing is, doing that always makes me uneasy. Thank you for sharing!
This is one my Gram always held to! My mother STILL makes us say “bread and butter” if we split the pole-or any other object-while walking together!
My grandad got mad at me when I was a little girl for stepping on the rocking chair rails and making the chair rock by itself. He said it was bad luck for a rocking chair to rock wihile no one was seated in it. (Must be an old one because I’m in my mid- seventies now).
Oh wow, Lynn, I sure never heard that one! There is something unsettling about a rocking chair rocking by itself, though… as if theres a ghost in it… so I can understand. Thanks so much for sharing!
I may have missed this, but my mother always said that if your ear itches, someone is talking about you.
A really fun list. Many could be used as story prompts — as if I needed any more.
What is a buckeye (#65)?
Hi Garman! It is kind of like a nut:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculus_glabra
Maybe they don’t have those where you’re from! 🙂
Hi, Bryn–I linked to this post in today’s blog at The Word Place. http://www.judythewordplace.blogspot.com Added one: Never tell an actor/actress “Good Luck” but rather “Break a leg!”
Hi Judy! Thanks so much for sharing — that is the ultimate compliment — and for letting me know!
Oh, I can’t believe I left “break a leg” off of there. Good addition!
These are so fun! Thanks for compiling them, and hope you don’t mind I’ve a couple of my own.
I was raised with a slightly different superstition about opals. If you buy them for yourself, that’s bad luck. The only way to acquire and wear opals is as a gift.
Similar to black eyed peas, eating pea soup on New Years brings prosperity in the new year. I have also heard that eating noodles without biting them – swallowing them whole – also brings prosperity.
Spilling pepper by accident means you should expect a windfall. (Accidentally-on-purpose doesn’t work, I’ve tried :p)
Always keep some cash or change in your wallet, or else your wealth will never grow (assuming that it means anything x 0 will always equal 0)
If your ears burn, someone is talking about you.
Hi Aaron! Ohh, I never heard that specifically about opals… though I’ve heard other bad-luck things about them. That is so interesting! I think they are so beautiful…
I never heard that about pea soup or noodles. Or the pepper! Love it!
The cash one kind of makes sense to me, in an intuitive way. And I often have no cash on me!
I’ve heard the one about ears burning — kind of surprised I didn’t list it!
Thank you, these are great!
One that came from my grandmother was that seeing large flocks of birds together meant that bad weather was coming.
I’ve also heard that if a bird is in your house, a death is coming.
I never heard that one about big flocks of birds, Shanna! I’ll have to start paying attention, and see if it seems to be true. 🙂
Yes, I heard a bird in the house is a bad omen!
Ok so creepy story about the bird thing. We were at home and my brother in law came into the house. While the door was open two birds flew in the door. Within a week, one family member had died, but three weeks after that, another one died too. My Gram was so upset bc she said it was from letting the birds fly into our living room. It’s spooky to me. Two birds. Two deaths. Keep your doors closed!
While I don’t have any actual superstitions to share, I want to point something out about number 59. This was totally where the prediction in Harry Potter came from. Trelawney says she won’t sit because “when 13 dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die.” Or something along those lines. And, at the meeting of the Order of the Pheonix, 13 people sit, and Sirius Black is the first to rise, and the first of the group to die. Just found that interesting.
Connor, I did not notice that about Harry Potter!! Oh my gosh. I can’t wait to tell my fellow HP fans 🙂 Thank you!
Slight correction, Sirius Black wasn’t at the table, Lupin was first to rise. And thank you for bringing up Harry Potter! I thought I was the only one who thought of it.
So many interesting superstitions! Here’s one my whole family firmly believes: If a guest pours tea there will be an addition to the family! Not sure if English or German origins, but I grew up with that one!
In Greece it is NOT bad luck if you make toast with coffee. But we believe Tuesday the 13th is unlucky (instead of Friday). I know these facts because I’m Greek myself!
Great list by the way! Your blog has helped me a lot lately 🙂
A Korean superstition is that if you sleep with the fan on, you will die in your sleep.
I have been using this blog for a book I am writing and it helps a lot! Thanks!
You’re welcome, Lee! So glad it’s useful. Hope your book is going great!
Hello, in France, if someone offers a knife or something like that the man who take the gift need to give in exchange a little money for not cut the friendship.
I’m not sure this tradition was in all the France but we do that in my family. ^ ^
I wrote this in French because my English is not sure.
Bonjours, en France si on nous offre un couteau ou quelque chose comme ça on doit donner de l’argent (généralement 1€) pour ne pas couper l’amitié. : )
Je suis pas sûre que ça se passe comme ça partout en France mais dans ma région on fait comme ça. (Ou en tout cas ma famille ^ ^ )
Bye!
Hi AMélie! This is very belated, because you commented while I was traveling, but I still wanted to say thanks. I had never heard this one! Your English was perfectly clear, by the way. 🙂
Thanks, that you put all these together, Bryn ! I think it is a great source for books, having a plot about witches, ghosts, wishes, spells etc.
I´m having two flower superstitions to add (i think no one had mentioned before) :
If you pick a Dandelion, you can make a wish and if you blow all the seeds away the wish will come true.
& The “he loves me – he loves me not” while picking petals of a flower, the last petal telling you the feelings of your beloved.
In Austria we also have some pretty cruel superstitions about Halloween and for December. (But i guess that´s pretty much everywhere the same – not only in Europe).
And one about birthday wishes : you should not wish someone a happy birthday before their actual birthday and also you should not celebrate before your actual birthday (the days afterwards are fine)
I think it´s interesting how some of the superstitions alter. Like in Austria, if you find a penny it will bring you good luck but also with money and only if you keep it in your purse.
Also about black cats, they are only “dangerous” in Austria coming from one side of the road x) I think it was left to right. Not sure if it brings good luck then, if they would come from the other side. I think that the basic superstitions sure made sense in the old days or still do, like with the penny superstition in Austria there is an old saying going along with it, that rhymes (but not in english of course) “The one who does not honor the penny, does not value the shilling.” So it makes sense, that if you care about money, you would have “good luck” with money. Or i guess, that cats probably caused a lot of accidents on the streets in the old days, probably also the black cats at night ? Salt is having a healing effect, also in tears. It makes the “bad” go away. Or if you walk through a ladder and happen to stumble (also while someone is on it) – bad luck.. And about all the believes about wishes – as shown in Disney movies – they can come true, if you only want it enough. Maybe blowing out all candles etc. is showing the effort of how much you want something 🙂
Hi Tamara! I had never heard many of these, and they are so interesting! I love your interpretations of them, too… they sound right to me. It’s great to hear from someone from Austria. Thanks so much for commenting!
– A black cat crossing your path is supposed to be bad luck, but did you know that a black cat willing entering your home (without prompting) is good luck?
– Also, the superstition about never complimenting a baby on its looks is from Irish legends about faery changelings – faery babies are supposedly ugly, bad tempered, vicious little things, so when a wandering faery hears a mortal baby receive a compliment, it will supposedly return that night to swap out the baby with a faery changeling.
– A crow circling three times over a house means there will be a death in the family soon.
– 3AM is considered “the witching hour” – witches come out for gatherings at that time. This is another Irish superstition where you should always be in bed by then or else the witches who gather in, near, or around a home will enslave you. A person doesn’t need to be asleep necessarily, just tucked in bed and certainly not wandering.
– Always be kind to cats because you may unknowingly come across the so-called “King of Cats”. The king is indistinguishable from other cats until he speaks – sometimes to bless you or grant wishes or favours, sometimes to sentence you for unkindness to him or other cats.
– Werewolves in Ireland are generally less monstrous and more similar to the King of Cats above. There is a story about an impoverished farmer who lost his only cow . Later that day, he comes across a wolf pup who is caught in a trap. He frees it, takes it home, and feeds it. When he wakes up the next morning, the pup is gone. A few days later, he sees the wolf pup again. The pup leads him to a little hut in the woods before running off. The farmer enters and sees an old woman and a middle aged man. While he’s there, a young man comes inside and it turns out the young man is the wolf pup he’d helped. They send him back to his farm and the next morning when he wakes up, there is his missing cow amongst an entire herd of cattle, all of them the healthiest, largest animals he’d ever seen. He sees the pup one last time, and spends the rest of his days happy and wealthy knowing that the werewolf family he’d met had helped him and would watch over him and his herd.
– Always help the elderly where possible. In many cultures, the elderly carry knowledge and sometimes mysterious powers. Strange old women especially should always be helped, particularly when crossing a road or some other such place. From Greek myths about Hera in the guise of an old woman blessing a hero when he carried her across a fast flowing river. Her weight on his back increased but he never complained or dropped in the water. Not the only story, but certainly one of the best known ones.
– Always leave some sort of offering or say a prayer at a crossroads or intersection. Greek, Roman, and Lousiaina Voodoo and Hoodoo myths in particular, but pretty much everywhere such superstitions can be found.
– In traditional Japanese stories, the underside of bridges should be avoided as they are seen to be gateways to the spirit world – the entire bridge is like an enormous doorway. If you walk under, you will emerge in another world, basically.
Those are the main ones that I can think of off the top of my head, but there are many others out there that I’m forgetting. 🙂
Skye! Oh my gosh, this comment is like a whole great blog post of its own. Thank you for all the great info! I never heard of the “King of Cats” and I love that.
You’re very welcome. 🙂
Native American
-If you see a dead coyote, say, “I see you, I know what you are,” then say a prayer. This keeps the dead coyote from being used by a skin walker. A skin walker is an evil sorcerer that uses the skin to transform into the coyote, not a werewolf or loupe garou.
-Southern California tribes have a legend of Tahquitz. He is a demon. You are not suppose to whistle after the sun goes down or he will come and kill you.
-The dream catcher is placed above a sleeping baby to catch bad dreams in the web and allows the good dreams to pass through, following the feathers down to the baby.
-Killing an owl is extremely bad luck, even by accident! This ranks up there with the worst taboos in certain tribes.
Sports
-Athletes wear the same unwashed socks and underwear for good luck. I know – eww!
-Coach Sean Payton of the Saints chews juicy fruit gum during games.
-There are too many to name, as these are as varied as the individuals, all to bring about a win or good luck during the game.
Coins
-Back facing the wishing well, throw a coin over your shoulder into a wishing well while saying your wish. It will come true.
-Put two coins in the coffin for the ferryman.
-Give a coin or money to the person that gives you a knife or the knife will cut you and will there after always thirst for human blood.
-When giving anything that holds money (wallet, purse, bank) make sure to put coins or bills in so you and the receiver of the gift will have good fortune.
-Put a pyrite dollar with money to watch your money grow, but beware, it will make anything grow, so don’t put it near anything you don’t want to increase, such as bills – the kind you pay.
Sailing
-A Jonah is someone, on the ship, that is bad luck.
-When a sailor crosses the equator for the first time, a ceremony is performed (some times hazing) to ward off bad luck or bestow good luck, which ever way you want to look at it.
-An albatross is good luck, unless you kill it, then you will have the opposite.
Holidays My Family
-Cook your ancestors’ favorite foods on the first day of the new year to keep them happy, so they don’t torment or haunt you. Plus what ever you are doing, you will do for the rest of the year, all the time, so if you clean on New Year’s Day, you can look forward to a year of non stop cleaning.
-Light a candle, on January 6th, for each of your loved ones that passed the year before, to bring them peace.
-Wear green on St. Patrick’s Day and eat traditional Irish meals or you’ll have bad luck.
-The calico cat with its paws up is suppose to bring you good luck and wealth. I received one on the Chinese New Year, not sure if that is a traditional occurrence for this holiday.
-Two people make a wish while holding the wish bone from last year’s Thanksgiving turkey, then they both pull until it breaks. The person holding the bigger piece of the bone will get their wish.
-Wassailing is done to bring a good harvest for next season.
-Kiss under the mistletoe or you will have bad luck.
Marriage and the Baby Carriage
-Breaking ribbons on bridal shower gifts and wedding gifts equates to how many happy years you will have together.
-Like wise, breaking ribbons at baby showers will tell you how many children you will have. Breaking a ribbon twice will tell you twins are coming.
In General
-Knocking on wood.
-Blowing on dice.
-Carrying a lucky coin or item.
-Lucky lottery numbers and buying the tickets from the same store.
Note on O.C.D.
-O.C.D. lends itself to superstitions and traditions. When a person that suffers from O.C.D. has an issue or occurrence, the individual does something. What ever that something is, if it relieves the overwhelming feelings of disaster and doom, the individual suffering from O.C.D. will repeat this something every time they have an issue or occurrence. My something is washing my hands.
-For those of you that don’t know what O.C.D. stands for, it is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which is a problem with the individual not being able to produce enough serotonin in the brain, causing the individual to have feelings of disaster and doom, in my case brought on by stress.
Thanks for sharing all the information. I hope that I have added something of worth.
Keltari, thank you so much… so many great additions and a lot of things I’d never heard of before! I really appreciate it!
My hero in my last story (Wicked Garden, which is part of a boxed set) has struggles with OCD… his symptoms are a little different from what you are describing (I based them on someone I once knew who was being treated for it), but the feelings of disaster and doom are the same. It’s such a difficult thing to deal with and I wish you well (and wish you many stress-free days.)
I’m so glad to have helped to add to your list. You are very welcome. Thank you for your kind thoughts. I will have to look up your boxed set and find your character. I’m looking forward to meeting him.
Hello, I’m from Italy, and I have some superstition for you. It is important to say that I am from the north-west of my country, because traditions change a lot in every little region.
3 Friday the 17 is the most unlucky day, but 13 isn’t a lucky number anyway.
15 If someone steps on animal shit it will bring him good luck. It is said to comfort the poor guy.
19 sometimes young people do that with cans, as a game.
32 if you hear a whistle in your ear, someone is talking about you.
52 the husband cannot see the wife before the actual wedding in the wedding day! And he can’t see the dress, too. People throw rice to the new married to bring them good luck and prosperity.
When the clock says that the hour is 11:11 or 22:22 you can ask for a wish. If you throw a coin in the Trevi’s fountain, in Rome, you can ask for a wish. That is not the only lucky fountain anyway, you’ll find coins inside fountains a lot in Italy, even in normal ones, that have no fame of being lucky. It can become a bit stupid. Anyway, never say outload your wish! If you do it, it will not work.
A little red horn brings luck. This superstition comes from the south of Italy. A ladybug brings good luck too.
Instead of touching wood, in Italy to protect yourself from bad luck you touch iron.
When you came near a funeral or a funeral car, you have to touch iron o your private body parts to escape bad luck. Kind of gross, I think, and I don’t do that. I live near a funeral cars storage, it will be exhausting.
People try to never have a party for their birthday before their actual birthday, it is said to bring bad luck. But that’s not really important.
NEW YEAR’S EVE. During this day you try to wear something red (people often choose lingerie). Lentils are eaten during dinner to bring money in the New Year. At midnight you open the bottle of spumante and the glass of everyone is filled, to do a good luck toast. You have to touch everyone glass and you can’t drink from the glass freshly filled before the toast. It is said that if you do something during the New Year’s Eve, be it good or bad, you’ll do it for al the new year.
A common phrase to wish good luck is: “in bocca al lupo!”, “in the mouth of the wolf!” Roughly traducted. Sometimes people answer “crepi il lupo” “dies the wolf”
Hi G! OH MY GOSH. This is wonderful! Thank you, thank you so much! It is really great to hear some of the variations on these from your region… and hear about some new ones, too. I make wishes at 11:11… some people here in the States seem to know about this one, and some of them don’t. (I’ve actually said “It’s 11:11, let’s make a wish” in a business meeting before. Very professional! 🙂 )
I hadn’t heard of some of these at all. I think I want to adopt the New Year traditions you talk about… love them.
Thanks for taking the time to add to the list! (No worries about the double post; I deleted it 🙂 )
The number four is unlucky because in Chinese, the word for four in a sinking tone means four but the word for four in a flat tone means death or die.
Follow up comment because I forgot to click ‘notify me of follow up comments by e-mail’
I have a comment about # 4. The Japanese believe that the #4 is unlucky as it is associated with death.
In my family, when a thunderstorm happens we say that God is just moving his furniture.
For the stars, we say that they are small holes in heaven where our loved ones can look down on us.
We always have a big wooden bat by the door too, to scare off intruders or big tabby cats that cause trouble.
When my husband and I were dating, we would say I love you so many times that we annoyed people, haha (our single friends) so we started to hold hands more and when we want to say “I love you” we squeeze the others hand 3 times.
As a writer, you simply must have something, or someone superstitious in your story. While “real” beliefs are great, fake ones are okay, too. As a child, I was taught two pennies on the window sill and you’d never truly be poor. Must’ve come from a time when pennies were worth a lot more. Thanks, as always a delight.
This list is a lot of fun! Here (Brazil), they believe if someone sweeps over your feet, you’ll never get married. I’ll totally blame the fact that I’m still single on the fact that my brother used to do it! 🙂