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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask what your Superstition is??

124 replies

stressedbeyond123 · 03/12/2018 14:59

I always say i don't believe in them, but whenever i see a magpie on its own i always have to salute it. My Step-Daughter always says good morning Mr Magpie (regardless of time of day!?)

I honestly don't think that something bad will happen if i don't do it, i just do it out of habit, with a little bit of "you never know" thrown in.

Happy enough to walk under ladders and what ever else is considered a superstition

Please let me know i'm not the only little weirdo who does Smile

OP posts:
PurpleRobe · 05/12/2018 23:06

I must wear odd socks

mazv1953 · 05/12/2018 23:07

I inherited so many from my mother:
Bad luck to wear green to a wedding/to cross knives/to see a solitary magpie unless you touch something green then it's never been seen/ to look at a new moon through glass/to watch where a black cat that has crossed your path goes/to bring hawthorn into the house/to spill salt/to break a mirror/to wear opals unless born under the sign of libra/to walk under a ladder/to hang a horseshoe upside down. And she was the least superstitious in her family!

megletthesecond · 05/12/2018 23:13

Spilt salt over the shoulder.
No shoes on the table.
No open umbrellas in the house.
Saluting magpies.

I'm sure there's more but they're like second nature now.

Fluffyears · 05/12/2018 23:36

Your shorsbused to be placed on top of your coffin so shoes on a table bring about death. Walking under a ladder breaks the holy trinity.

I hate to see a single magpie one for sorrow, two for joy. Make a wish on the first star I see. Clean the house and get organised on Hogmanay as how you start the year is how your year will go. No washing on new year and transfer my savings over to my current bank temporarily to ensure my account stays full all year. Black cats are lucky, throw salt over your shoulder if you spill it.

islanderin · 05/12/2018 23:43

Dang, I dropped my glove on the forecourt of the filling station today. When I picked it up myself - for safety- I did a little sigh saying, "that's neither luck for you nor me," as I thought the superstition is that its lucky to both when another picks it up for you. (but just annoying when you drop it yourself) Blush

Broom falls= somebody's coming
Stir your cup anticlockwise to wind back a bicker Brew

@Bringbackberthalooking up the boswell riddle!

TheToldYouSoDance · 05/12/2018 23:44

Never put new shoes on a table.

Patriciathestripper1 · 05/12/2018 23:56

Putting red and white flowers together in a vase my mother used to say it signifies ‘blood and bandadges’ and someone in the family would have a accident.

TheNemesisOfLame · 06/12/2018 00:06

I do all of these- except hearses and cemeteries which I'm not bothered about for some reason.

Also have to say White Rabbits White Rabbits before I say anything else on the 1st of the month. It's getting silly now as I wake up at 1am on 1st of the month
mumbling about rabbits.
My mum was very superstitious.

I also gained a new superstition from one of these threads: that you have to come back in via the same door you went out of when returning to the house.

I know they're all stupid!!!

Flashingbeacon · 06/12/2018 00:08

My mum is a through and through atheist. This weekend I had to go round because someone dropped out of her dinner party and she wouldn’t sit 13 people Confused

GrumpyOldMare · 06/12/2018 00:10

Salute magpies.
No shoes on table.
Don't open an umbrella indoors.
New Year's eve -front and back door need to be open by 11.55pm.
Never cross on stairs.

WobblyWomblingChristmas · 06/12/2018 01:33

My DM had one for every occasion! A lot of them stuck with me likespilling salt, crossing on the stairs, shoes on table and walking under a ladder. I’ve managed to give most of them up but still can’t cross on the stairs. 😩

keithschickrocks · 06/12/2018 07:11

My Mother and Grandmother - no peacock feathers in the house. Don't wear an opal - unlucky unless it's your birthstone.
Sign of someone dying if a bird flew in the house

morningconstitutional2017 · 06/12/2018 10:12

I try not to take these too seriously as my late MIL was ridiculously superstitious, and I thought rather silly. She was quite a lucky person though and would often say, "think lucky and you'll be lucky" especially when she won yet again at the bingo while other unlucky punters sucked their teeth in and seethed.

However, if I drop any salt I throw a little over my left shoulder (that's where the devil sits) and if I see one magpie I always cast about looking for a second. If giving a purse or wallet as a present you always put a penny in for luck.

An Irish lady told me to make sure that with paper money you make sure the Queen's face is on top and the right way round 'so that fortune always smiles upon you', not sure if this works but (touch wood) despite money worries I've never been desperately poor.

purpleweasel · 06/12/2018 11:34

Lots - most of these and a few more Blush

My DSis doesn't have any and I recently had to explain to my sceptical niece why it was bad luck to point at a rainbow and also why you shouldn't give gloves as a present. She did not look convinced

WhatTheWatersShowedMe · 06/12/2018 11:45

I hold my breath if I pass an electricity substation.

Original poster
stressedbeyond123 · 06/12/2018 13:26

@purpleweasel - i haven't heard of bad luck for pointing at rainbows...i wonder if this is why my luck is so rubbish!

OP posts:
MarklahMarklah · 06/12/2018 13:48

I confess that sometimes, if I have someone superstitious in my house I'll deliberately do something to make them twitchy, like spill salt, then whip the pot away and hoover up the spills. Or put boxed new shoes on the table.Xmas Wink

Millionairesshortbread1 · 06/12/2018 18:54

No shoes on tables, also pray to st Anthony although I’m an atheist 🙄. No peacock feathers on the house. Good morning Mr Magpie. Spilled salt thrown over my shoulder, the list could go on.

Millionairesshortbread1 · 06/12/2018 19:15

Another 2. A christening piece very Scottish, the god mother gives the 1st child they meet of the same sex as the baby 2 buttered biscuits with a silver coin wrapped up, having both my children born and christened in England think we surprised the children we met on our walk to church. Also always put money in a gifted purse.

hmmwhatatodo · 06/12/2018 19:20

I never talk about how long it’s been seen I was last I’ll/ how long I’ve gone without taking time off work, nor do I ever comment on other people taking time off because I just KNOW that if I ever do...

AviatorShades · 06/12/2018 21:24

Those of you who believe bringing peacock feathers into the house brings bad luck, what do you think about a paper model of a peacock in full display in a gift card?
I've come across a shop which sells lovely japanese cards and the displayed peacock ones are really lovely. It's only because of a dim and distant memory that peacocks are 'unlucky' that's stopped me buying some for gifts..
Any opinions, please?

delboysskinandblister · 07/12/2018 18:57

i wouldn't personally but I agree they are beautiful. It's the evil eye in the feather that's the spooky bit....Xmas Wink

AviatorShades · 07/12/2018 20:50

thanks for the reply delboySmile

DaffoDeffo · 07/12/2018 20:55

flashingbeacon that made me laugh

No shoes on table
No umbrellas open indoors
Salute magpies and say the rhyme if I see more than one
Always follow the same routine before DS plays football
Always stand in the same place on the train and tube platform - tried to stand somewhere else and felt doomed all day Confused

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