What probably pointless, but you never know, superstitions do you have? And old wives tales.

[longwayoff]

Following on from greeting magpies, I think I'm not superstitious at all but actually I have a few picked up from mother. Sneeze, Bless You. Stops the devil from entering our souls. Umbrellas indoors. Ladders. Spilled salt over left shoulder - always do that. Don't wash your hair if you have a period. Don't put new shoes on a table ??? Don't bring lilac into the house. Don't make a present of a purse or bag without putting a coin in it. I could keep going . . .

I tell myself I'm not superstitious but I still say "touch wood", and touch wood!

Don’t put new shoes on the table is right, don’t cut your nails on a Sunday, broken mirror 7 years bad luck, will think of more ...

No peacock feathers indoors

Don’t stand on 3 grates in a row.
Never cross paths on the stairs

Oh god loads. I live abroad and people think I'm crazy with all the touching wood, not passing on stairs, etc etc

Don’t walk under a ladder or step on cracks.

Find a penny, pick it up.

Fingers crossed for luck.

Wash on New Years Day, wash a life away. Otherwise, nothing. I'm not superstitious. Op, if I didn't wash my hair on my period it would be a greasy mop for about 10 days 😑

None but my mother believes them all. She freaks out if I or anyone else passes people on the stairs! I work in a school and not sure how I'm supposed to avoid that

If I see my daughter on the first of the month I say

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month, white rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits.

She used to reply with

A kick in the eye for being so sly.

Now she just gives me a withering look.

I’m not from the UK and saying “happy birthday” before the actual birthday drives me nuts! It tempts fate and I can’t bring myself to do it, it is banned in my family.
Baby showers give me the shivers, too.

Always bash in the bottom shell of a soft boiled egg so no witch can use it for a boat.

Gave them up. When they creep back, I see them off again. I believe in God, though, which to some people is much the same thing.

Wow, Ada, that is amazing and bonkers! Is this a British thing?

These all come from old beliefs. People in medieval times believed when you sneezed you soul jumped out of your body saying ‘bless you’ stopped the devil stealing it. Walking under a ladde breaks the holy trinity, shoes om a table is because your shoes were placed on your coffin when you died.

If you drop a knife you have to ask someone else to pick it up or you will have bad luck. If no one else is around you have to stand on it and then you can pick it up.

Don't pass anyone a knife or scissors directly hand to hand as it means you will exchange cross words. You have to put it down and let the other person pick them up.

My DM had a thing about blades and bad luck obviously.

Baby showers give me the shivers too! And any discussion of the baby's name before the birth.

QueenofCBA Have you ever seen a witch sailing an eggshell boat at sea? No, I don't think you have, amIright?
Which proves how exceptionally well it works!

Id forgotten most of these but the nail cutting and egg bashing is new to me. Just thought, a friend from abroad collects the hairs from her family's hairbrushes, and their nail clippings, and buries them in the garden. This prevents people coming across them who might use them to ill wish the owner.

You’re right, Ada, of course I haven’t! I also didn’t know that witches were that small... then again, they’re witches and can magic themselves small to sail their eggshell boat. Mind blown!

The idea goes back at least as far as Roman times when Pliny mentioned it in 1st century AD, and it was common knowledge in England in 1584.
Here is the start of a 1934 poem about it:

Oh, never leave your egg shells unbroken in the cup.
Think of us poor sailor men, and always smash them up.
For witches come and find them and sail away to sea,
And make a lot of misery for mariners like me.

Don’t cast a clout til May is out.

I always keep a jacket in the car in case the weather turns.

No new shoes on the table .
Stay far away from fairy circles/rings, definitely do not step inside them. Similarly, can't cut down hawthorn trees. Not sure if they are exclusively Irish superstitions or not though.

"Magpie greeting" is not a thing in Germany and I could not quite figure out how it is done properly.

On the other hand:
There is a fascinating book the "Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens" - commonly referred to as the 'Bächtold-Stäubli" (Manual of German superstitions) . Basically a collection of superstitions, beliefs, customs found in German speaking areas (sadly it only reached volume 10 - letter O, I think).
Endless material for stories in there.