I’m interested in finding out when and why little traditions and things we take for granted started?

[Britpopbaby]

Like…
Having ice cream at the theatre.

Popping money in a purse before gifting the purse to someone ( I think this might be geographical)

Bringing sweets back from your holiday.

My Grandma used to throw a bit of salt over her shoulder every time she used it in cooking.

I love that about it too! Just people sharing their quirky pockets of knowledge

Yes, this!

I do that because my mum did but no idea why 🤣

That’s interesting about brides - never knew that

did they? where?

especially as cars overtake on the right

The devil on the shoulder

My gran did that as well. She came from an Irish Catholic background

I know why we drive on the left. All to do with knights being right handed. Handy to attack people if you ride on the left

I thought ice cream at the theatre was a thing because ice cream became fashionable around the same time. It became essential to be “seen” at the theatre if you’re a certain type of person maybe late 19th century, turn of the century?

In the spirit of the thread, I’m not going to look this up, but that’s what I thought.

I imagine the fact that it’s not noisy was a bonus - but when the theatre became fashionable in the way we recognise it now, I can’t really imagine that people would’ve been eating generally. So ice cream served in an interval makes sense.

I think it’s a lovely thread.

Also before aircon, cinemas and theatres got hot. So ice cream was a cooling treat.

Edit

@SereneFinch @IAmKerplunk

Throwing salt over your shoulder is for when you spill it not just 'cooking generally'. You throw a little of the spilled salt over your left shoulder into the eyes of the devil to ward off bad luck.

The origin as I believe it to be is because salt was historically very expensive and very valuable as a flavouring - your average serf wouldn't be able to afford it - so spilling it was a sign of bad luck.

The devil (associated with sinister and all things left) lurks behind your left shoulder - so you throw the spilled salt over your left shoulder into his eyes to ward him off to not bring more bad luck.

That's what I was told by Grannies and older relatives.

Why do we wave to say goodbye?

"I want to know who decided we stand on the right on the London Underground escalators"

Surely it just comes from driving on the left, and then walking on the left in busy buildings.

I thought the veil was there from some time when you had forced arranged marriages and the groom didn't even see his wife until after they were married.

It's not a particularly Catholic thing.

We drive on the left.
So why do we stand on the right

Surely we should stand on the left and over take on the right?

But more importantly, who decided? Did it evolve over time or was there just a day when the rule and signs came in?

My Gran and Mum were both very superstitious

Shoes on the table, umbrellas in doors, walking under ladders etc

Throwing some spilt salt over your left shoulder to stop the devil whispering in your ear.

Saying break a leg in the theatre so it all goes well, and not mentioning the name of that Shakespeare play.

Ah
The Scottish play

Is it because in Shakespeare’s time everyone was obsessed with witches?

Macbeth contains words that parody a "black mass" as well as some elements of "real" black magic. This would have been recognised and sounded deeply sacrilegious to a 17th century audience who would've believed that evil spirits could indeed be summoned as a result. It is also said that witches cursed the play at the time as they found it insulting to their craft. So one way and another it is considered very unlucky!

None of these are really things I consider to be traditions. They're... just things that some people do? Not really anything I'd consider obligatory.

@ginasevern thank you - that’s really interesting.