What superstitions do you adhere to?

[FrivolousPancake]

If I had read this a year ago I’d have eye rolled but I’ve had the year from hell, to the point I and those around me started wondering was I cursed or something!

So half just in good fun and half in seriousness, what superstitions do you pay heed to? Particularly as we leave one year and enter the next?

Too many! I grew up in the 70s and my Mother's Mum had lived in rural Essex her whole life so was full of weird 'country' beliefs and superstitions such as "Don't bring May blossom into the house!"

Which I'm sure dates back to Pagan times as a belief and lots more....and my Dad's Irish Mum who had a million little things she had to do and say and avoid to get safely through the day.

I'm forever bloody crossing myself and avoiding things!

Just googled and it was Hawthorn blossom.

"under no circumstances must hawthorn be brought into the house before May Day as it belonged to the Woodland God and would bring bad luck!"

See...that's a bloody Pagan thing! So old...yet still I remember my Mum almost screaming when as a child I carried a few branches into the kitchen.

I’d never have a green car, my beloved nan said green cars are bad luck. I don’t take any notice of superstitions but that one I do!

I never walk under ladders!!!

I also thank the trees if I pick a leaf or some holly or whatever! "Thank you!" every single time! Amazing how these really ancient customs keep going.

In our village (North Wales) older people would put a coin on top of a new baby's pram...and that had its roots in silver keeping the devil away or something like that. They were still doing it in the early 2000s when I had DD.

My only superstition is to open a window after one of my patients have died to let their spirit out but that’s a common one amongst nurses. Otherwise I am completely unsuperstitious. My mum goes mad when I put new shoes on the table and things like that.

Bill I distinctly remember the same, being taken for walks back in the 70s, with my grandmother and mother, picking flowers and being told in no uncertain terms that mayflowers must not be brought into the house. I still don't.

And I don't ever walk under ladders, but that's only sensible as I don't fancy having a tin of paint or something dropped on me.

I touch wood so as not to anger the gods of luck or whatever

It's silly I know but I still do it

No shoes on the table
Throw spilled salt over left shoulder
Salute magpies
Touch wood

the only one i really do is saluting magpies, and asking them how their wives are 😂 my kids have started doing it now too. my nan told me today not to do any washing on new year’s day because ‘wash on new year’s day, wash your family away.’ i’ve never heard that before! she also makes you turn around three times if you accidentally put a top on backwards or inside out.

Black-eyed peas, leafy greens (collard greens are traditional, but we prefer spinach), and cornbread eaten on New Year's Day for good luck all year. (Southern US)

Never walk widdershins round a church.

Don't do washing on New Year's Day.
Don't put new shoes on a table.
Salute magpies.
Throw salt over my shoulder.

Salute magpies, won't allow ornamental birds in the house, genuinely believe someone is thinking of me when my nose itches.

Crossing on the stairs. Mainly because they’re narrow 😂 but still wouldn’t want to

When I finish a boiled egg I turn the empty shell upside down and make a hole in it so that a witch can’t use it to sail off to sea and magic up a storm

I'll walk under a ladder, but only if I have to. I also touch wood, but only if someone else says it. Other than that, not sure!

Quite a few.
No new shoes on the table, no opening umbrellas indoors, putting silver in a new purse, saying good morning to the magpies, touching wood.
There's probably more.
I wouldn't put 'no walking under ladders' because I would never do that anyway, regardless of superstition.
Also I dont know if this is an actual superstition but my mother always taught me to say "Excuse me" if you accidentally walk over a grave. (My walk to school took me through a graveyard, I wasnt walking over graves willy-nilly)

No shoes in the table
Touch wood
Bless myself when I see an ambulance with sirens on
Always place money in a newborns pram
Never put a umbrella up inside the house.

@SydneyCarton

My dad does this, kinda. He crushes egg shells so the witches can't curse the sailors out at see. I've never heard of anyone else doing it.

Mine:

Greeting magpies
No shoes on the table
Throw salt over my left shoulder if I've spilled it
Not killing spiders because it brings bad luck.
Touching wood

@SydneyCarton I do the eggshell thing too!

I have lots passed down from my mum and grandma.
Nod to solo magpies when I see them
No new shoes on the table
Don't walk under ladders
No open umbrellas in the house
Salt over the shoulder of spilled
Touch wood to avoid bad luck
Don't walk on three drains in a row
Always stir drinks and cakes clockwise to stir in love and not bad luck
No crossing on the stairs

There's also a horseshoe hung on the front of our house - we were given it on our wedding day by the farmer whose cottage we were staying in ( it's hung the right way to bring us luck!).

I had an odd childhood which was ruled by "the dictionary of superstitions". According to my mother and nan if you didn't stick to it the devil would put a curse on you. It triggered ocd in me when I was a young teen. There was a superstition for everything
If you bang one elbow you must bang the other.

Make a cross on the floor with your foot if you see a funeral.
Sing before breakfast you will cry before supper.
No new shoes on the table.
No snowdrops in the house.
If you see a wild owl in the day time someone you know will die.
It's a sign of death if a wild bird comes into your house.
Also a sign of illness if you burn a cloth accidentally.
If you sneeze 3 times in a row and nobody says bless you.
If you drop a glove you must not pick it up yourself nor say thank you to the person who does pick it up.
Never go back on a decision.
It's a hard habit to break because superstitions are ingrained in me as are reading dreams because we were grilled every morning on what we dreamt as children.

Saluting 1 magpie

Magpies must be saluted
No crossing on the stairs
If you wash clothes on New Year's Day you'll wash someone out of the family.
New clothes on New Year's Day.

No walking under ladder, will not cross 3 drains, never put shoes on tables. No umbrellas open indoors.