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?

Throwing spilt salt over my shoulder. Dc’s think it’s hilarious.

My Nan used to do it and I spent many holidays with her.

Salute magpies, touch wood and I never walk over three grates / drains

And 100% no new shoes on a table

No shoes on the table
Throw spilled salt over left shoulder
Salute magpies
Touch wood
No crossing on stairs
Crossing knives= conflict
Don’t open umbrellas in the house

I’m also inordinately careful with mirrors for fear of 7 years of bad luck!

@QuestionableMouse and @RosieposiePuddingandPi I’ve never heard of anyone else doing it either, even my own family think it’s bonkers It’s just an automatic reflex, I do it without thinking

@BillHadersNewWife, you're correct, hawthorn is may, hence the saying "ne'er cast a clout till may is out" meaning don't wear fewer items of clothing until may/hawthorn trees have blossomed.

New clothes on New Year's Day? Is this a thing?

I like the sound of this one!

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

Never heard of this but I love it!

I still automatically turn handmirrors around - as the devil looks out at you.
No washing in the week before Easter - somebody close will die.
No hanging out washing during Christmas - you'll catch the 'Wild Hunt' (translation by me )
No shoes on the table, no opening umbrellas inside.

But the whole 'Magpie stuff' is totally unknown to me. Where I live, they are just predators, killing off small birds and robbing nests.
But you must respect ravens.

Always wear a cabbage leaf on your head on odd-numbered Tuesdays.

Always wear a cabbage leaf on your head on odd-numbered Tuesdays
😂😂😂 oh my

I salute magpies
No crossing on the stairs
No walking under scaffolding or ladders
Not to wash clothes on new years day
No new shoes on the table
Line a new purse or bag with a silver coin
If you spill salt throw some over your left shoulder .

Feeling smug as thought I was superstitious free - reading these am actually riddled with it 🤷‍♀️🤣

Not standing on cracks

No bullrushes in the house.
Saying good morning sir to magpies.
A pinch of spilt salt over my shoulder.

It's all nonsense.

My husband still won't cross on the stairs and gets really shitty about it if anyone tried. He will physically block their path if he's the furthest along.

The magpie rhyme 'hello magpie, beautiful magpie, where's your wife' followed by a salute.

Other than that I'm not overly bothered. I think the magpie thing is just habit to be honest.

I try to break superstitions. Because why not?

I’ve got it down to salt over the shoulder and being pleased when a black cat crosses my path.

Oh, and I don’t put new shoes on the table. And I step on dropped keys before picking them up.

I’m clearly a mess.

Oh yeah, I touch wood as well.

Hawthorn blossom (also known as May blossom) smells like death. That's why you don't bring it into the house.

Salt over the left shoulder.
Crushing egg shells (think it's largely confined to people with a seafaring element/coastal location to their family history).
Acknowledging Magpies.
Touching wood.
Sprinkling salt across thresholds after cleaning the glass.
Waiting for the plant/tree to let you know what parts you may take, if any.
Saying thank you after you take it.
Any food or drink taken outside must have the first part 'given' - so the top of a cuppa, first bit of a sandwich - to the resident supernatural beings. This does not include Shitehawks, obviously, as no fucker should be eating food outside anywhere near a resident gull population.
The horseshoe on the shed.
No crossing on the stairs.

Now you've made me google for superstitions connected to birds ...

Magpies for me. I've want to get two tiny ones (two for joy as per rhyme) tattooed on my inner wrist so I need never only see one at at time...(mostly so I don't have to take my hand off the wheel when I'm driving every two minutes-there are a lot of the buggers where I live- to salute ).

Touching wood and salt over the shoulder.

Bit more of a Wicca inspired thing but if I'm ever picking up twigs in the woods for kindling for my open fire I say Thankyou to the trees (in my head-mostly )
I always smudge the house with Sage on New Year's Day as well. Every little helps...

Weirdly, when I was having DS (we didn't know the sex) I only ever saw magpies in groups of four. I even remarked upon it to DH & MIL. Four for a boy....

Don’t take old year dirt into the new year, trying to persuade my children to clean their rooms!

All superstitions are absolutely fucking ridiculous.

And that's why I make sure no-one sees me saluting magpies.