Little superstitions

[Arlanymor]

What little superstitions do you and your family follow? My aunt died today (we didn't think she would make it until Christmas and I got to see her very recently so I am feeling sad, but fairly fortunate in that regard, she really was not well) - my mum was with her and sent me a text to let me know. I responded with my sympathies (it was her sister) and I said: "Don't forget to open a window." And mum said she already had - do you do that too? To let their soul out?

I don't care about walking under ladders (I look up first!) or putting shoes (new ones, I'm not a grot!) on tables or anything like that. And I think it's lucky if a black cat crosses my path as nine times out of ten I get to have a cwtch! So I don't consider myself superstitious, but the window thing is second nature.

So what do you do? (I think I am trying to cheer myself up a bit with distractions).

@LindorDoubleChoc

I’m a lifelong magpie greeter, and currently there’s a gaggle of about 20 in our road, consistently. If you see one alone it’s usually foraging for food then goes back to the others, so it can’t be bad luck surely?
(I salute anyway)

Love (I salute anyway). ❤

My dad was a skipper on the trawlers. My mum, and other wives, wouldn't wash the laundry on the day their husbands sailed, for fear of washing them away

i think the following ones are Indian/Pakistani in origin as I’ve only heard them among family and friends of both places…
If you sneeze before you leave home you have to wait until you sneeze a second time before you can leave the house.
don’t look in the mirror at night or you will see a ghost
You mustn’t buy things for your unborn baby until it’s born as it’s bad luck/tempting fate

It’s just considered bad luck to open an umbrella indoors…

I touch wood so often around my house and in work that I’m surprised there aren't holes in the bed frame/desk/table etc

When I see a lone magpie I say this rhyme:
”Bad luck to you
Good luck to me
May the curse of the crows fall on your toes
Go and bring back your comrade to me”
I do think magpies are sociable so there is usually another one or two close by to the original one..

I also try not to put new shoes/clothes on a table or on a bed

Bless myself passing a church
You have three wishes when you enter a new church for the first time

I’ll stop now as I didn’t think I had that many!

That’s a Scottish one…the first person over the doorstep on NY day should bring you a piece of coal.

I love that there are variants to superstitions too!

Its just having it open fully inside. I sort of open mine but don't let it click into place! No one has ever explained to me what will happen if I have an open umbrella inside but it can't be good so I'm not taking any chances! 😂

The very last one I have definitely heard in the UK. So much so that when I was born I slept in a bucket my first night because no one had bought a crib! To be fair it was a bucket with blankets and no water and I honestly don't remember it! I am also ancient, it was not an issue back then!

It's funny when you start to think about it, isn't it! I just remembered another one - if you meet yourself on a path you have to turn around and go back - I think it's that doppelgänger superstition. I've never met myself on a path and if I did I think I would say: "Shall we pop to the pub for a vino and you can tell me ALL about the shadow world!"

Oh I see, so the 'leaves' (is that what they are called? Probably not!) can be open, but it can't be clicked into 'open' position. Right, noted!

Lang may yer lum reek!

My friend Suzanne says that! Reminds me it's Burns coming up!

It's unlucky to cross on the stairs, which can be awkward deciding which one of you will go back down or go back up 😂

Most of the above plus your first word on waking on the first of the month should be ‘rabbits’ to bring good fortune. No idea where that comes from !

My granny always said not to put new shoes on a table or bed. It was bad luck to bring lilac into the house. Green cars were unlucky. Always put a coin in a new purse.

She was given a corn doll once, which she considered unlucky, but as it was a gift she kept it. Well, three things happened. I broke my arm, I think someone in the family died and I don’t remember the third thing but she got rid of it after that as she believed it was the cause of all that bad luck.

I speak to magpies, touch wood, throw salt over my shoulder, don’t walk under ladders. If I drop my glove I get my husband to pick it up for me. Don’t do washing on New Year’s Day.

I was told that corn dollies were a fertility symbol, I wouldn't touch them 😕

I am totally imagining an "after you", "no, after you!" scenario!!

Exactly 😂

I think you'll find it's 'white rabbits!' and then you punch someone on the arm!

Not sure why the racial profile of the rabbit is important, but apparently it is!!! As is the mild violence!

Pinch, punch, first of the month

The glove thing is interesting... what if you are alone?

Oh I know who you are - you are the person whose dropped glove adorns those little bollards on the street, right?! I always wondered who you were!

Yes I think I heard the same about lilac and also lillies because the latter is a funeral flower?

I thought it was rabbits, rabbits, rabbits

I didn't think I was superstitious untill I started writing this list
Salute and greet magpies "Hello Mr magpie" said 3 times. I say it very quickly under my breath and my salute looks like I'm pushing my hair behind my ear because I feel self conscious about the nonsense!

Never walk on a set of 3 manhole covers. Sets of 2 must be walked over because they bring good luck

Don't cross on the stairs

Umbrellas can't be clicked open to dry in the house, need to be semi open at maximum!

No shoes on tables

Chuck spilled salt over both shoulders because I can't remember which is the correct shoulder

Put a silver coin in a wallet or purse if giving it as a gift

Cross a new born baby's palm with a silver coin when you meet them

Touch wood. My head will do in the absence of actual wood

Never say tempt fate by saying things out loud like "what could possibly go wrong" or "everything's going so well" etc

Don't break a mirror

Don't throw a bible away

Say "white rabbits" on the 1st of every month

Although I love them, peacock feathers bring bad luck. I won't have them or representations of them in the house or on clothing

Thank you. You know what was really odd though - all the way to and from the hospital I saw single magpies EVERYWHERE. Like there preparing me for the worst. I remember telling a friend at the time and she commented how sad that was as magpies sally mate for life so they must have all lost their mates. No comment on my ongoing miscarriage though (and she had been through 2 herself in the months before that).

Superstition is definitely something we cling to - either to blame when things go wrong or to give us hope.