Superstitions (maybe a mega) thread

[HokusPokusButBetterNotRiskingIt]

Inspired by not doing washing on NYD, superstitions thread! Big and small, all are welcome.

Please, do say where they are from as well approximately.
No rude exclamations of how stupid these or people keeping these are, please.

I will start😁
Born in Central European country, we (generally, but most people I know) don't sweep or taking rubbish out on Christmas Eve to not to sweep away or take out our luck accidentally with the rubbish.
Great discussion ensued about robot hooversbeing allowed or not. Did not risk it so Eufy had day off too.
And no hanging washing, or someone you know might die that year, so all is put away on 23rd evening.

NYD needs small things like rice, lentils so more of tiny bits you eat for lunch, the more money the year will bring. (lentils/rice/wheat etc representing coins basically)
NYD no hanging washing, so no washing to not bring grief.

Never cross hands with anyone when cheering with glasses. Death will come between. I very much keep that.

If it's nice clear weather on Epiphany, wheat harvest will be excellent.

The bag on the floor would explain my colleague of part chinese origins who had hanbag hooks at all times with her!

Nope ours doesn't go up until the 1st either!!

No shoes on the table (ever, new or not)
Cover mirrors if there is a death
Salt over shoulder
Touch wood
Saluting magpies
No umbrellas up indoors
I no longer do it but first footing (wood for the fire brought by a tall dark man)

Never give a purse or handbag without putting some coins in it

Your first foot at new year should have dark hair (I read that this dates back to the Viking raids when having someone fair haired come to your door wasn’t ideal) and bring a lump of coal so the coming year is full of warmth and prosperity.

New shoes on the table and walking over 3 drains is bad luck but I don’t know why.

Don’t kill a beetle or it’ll rain for seven days.

If a robin appears near you it’s a loved one who’s passed.

If a bird poos on you it’s good luck.

An itchy right palm means you’re coming into money.

Glasgow.

Mostly from my rural County Cork side of the family: all the ones mentioned about salt and magpies etc. in addition you can have good luck if you see a white horse if you don't think of its tail. Don't show a baby its reflection in a mirror, cover mirrors when there's a death in the house, hawthorn and lily of the valley shouldn't be brought into the house and mean death. A new baby should go upstairs before they go down. The colour green and month of May are unlucky and belong to the Good People. Not cleaning your house, your hearth or dairy for instance, will greatly affront the Good People. I still feel uncomfortable for this reason if something is left dirty! My grandmother would leave bread and milk out for them too.

My partner and I had a run of bad luck that always seemed to follow one of us saying, “good luck” to the other. Now we say, “neutral luck” instead. Obviously a personal superstition on our part, but it’s stuck 🤷🏻‍♀️

How can green be unlucky in Ireland? Also the month of May is Our Lady’s month . Seems strange in a predominantly Catholic country. Mum’s side is Irish ( Wexford and Meath) and I’ve never heard this.

I once got a huge bird shit on me while walking down Oxford St in London as a child. Mum said it was lucky . I didn’t really see her point of view at the time.😂

Touch wood
Hello Mrs magpie
Definitely the breakages in 3s thing - if you break 2 things, you should break an old unwanted thing to make it the 3rd.
Saying rabbits on the 1st of the month

I have a vague awareness of the fairies and elves when in natural surroundings and don’t like to damage or take things, but it’s not really specific superstitions, I’ve just absorbed the general “don’t piss off the fairies” message. But if there’s a particular folklore about a place, like don’t touch or say something as the fairy/mermaid/witch won’t like it, or it’s traditional to leave a pebble for them or something, I’ll respect that.
And I think of myself as a rational person…

Where do fairies stand on mushroom picking?

Not a superstition, more folklore, but whatever the weather is on St Swithun’s day (15 July), the weather will be the same for the next 40 days.

Just reminded me of an old wives tale my gran used to say 'don't tickle a baby's feet or you'll give it a stammer'

As long as you don't pick them from a fairy ring or tree etc (I know this is confusing as there are mushrooms called fairy rings!) I don't think they mind. Just don't touch their stuff or very baaaaaad things will happen to you.

This is my understanding^^

I just found out that in medieval tradition the Christmas period actually ended at Candlemas ie February. I'm not superstitious at all as it's obviously a load of nonsense but am definitely going to leave some decorations up till the beginning of Feb now.
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/christmas/leaving-up-christmas-decorations/

It’s still the case as far as the Christian church is concerned.

My Irish DGM used to say, if you left two spoons in the sugar bowl, you’d have ginger twins- she’d call out ‘ginger twins!’ like it was the worst thing that could happen. My DDs are shocked by that and rightly so but I didn’t bat an eyelid in the 70s.

Many of the ones listed here are standard in my family (Irish, Scottish, Greek), also:

• if you bang one elbow you must bang the other on something or it's bad luck
• don't pass somebody on a single staircase or it's bad luck (quite a few in the family say 'or else you'll get pregnant' but I don't know where that came from )
• hold your breath when you pass a graveyard (I don't know why though, I did it as a child but don't now!)
• breaking a mirror is 7 years misfortune
• don't hand somebody a knife, put it down on the counter/table for them to pick up

I'm not sure as mushrooms are obviously their seats, umbrellas or even little cottages Fairy rings are definitely dangerous so don't pick mushrooms growing in a ring, you could get trapped inside and forced to dance all night with the fairies (which is not a good thing as you can end up dancing yourself to death).

In some fairy traditions you can take things if you leave a gift in exchange, like a trinket or flower or sometimes it's pouring some wine or milk on the ground. Bit of a faff.

London born and bred with British roots. My late mother was superstitious.
So her rules included
No new shoes on the table
No umbrellas up indoors
If you put something on inside out it had to stay that way
No crossed knives (although you could sprinkle them with salt to reverse the bad luck)
Salt thrown over your shoulder if spilled
Don't pass people on the stairs
If you forgot something and had to come back to the house, you had to sit down for a count of 20
Never walk under a ladder
Christmas decorations down ny 12th night

However I am thoroughly unsuperstitious. I don't do any of these things. Sometimes I'll deliberately do the 'bad luck' things. It's a load of nonsense.

A lot of superstitions are done automatically - the last scraps of sea salt always flicked over the shoulder to avoid any being 'spilled', kids at school will stand and wait at the turn on a flight of stairs or say thank you when a staff member waits for them, part of a drink taken outside always goes onto the grass as the offering.

Always tell a bee your secrets, as they love gossip and news, taking it back to the hive or nest. Ladybirds have to be allowed or encouraged to run up your finger to fly away and always say thank you to the plant that you take something from, whether it's for flowers, fruit, nuts, leaves or dead wood, even if you've already asked before taking.

Not passing someone on a single flight of stairs is just good manners. Not enough space for two! Not handing someone a knife is also common sense- it’s sharp!

@greengreyblue green is the colour of the fairy folk, so wearing green to a wedding etc is bad luck as it draws their attention to you. I don't know about the month of May , but it definitely is bad luck to get married in for instance. Maybe it's the association with May ie Hawthorn blossom?

Green cars don’t sell well because the colour is apparently unlucky.

My lovely old uncle had a series of green Ford Cortina’s. Drove for over 50 years, every weekend to their caravan on the south coast from W London. Never so much as a scratch 🤷‍♀️

Putting umbrellas up indoors
Touching wood
Crossed cutlery is an argument
Bless you when someone sneezes
crossing on the stairs
May/Hawthorn is supposed to be unlucky as Anne Boleyn was married in May and wore the flowers, iirc
Family originally from London with some Irish/French connection.