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).

Another magpie greeter here. It’s funny where we gather these from, my family didn’t do it but I lived at university with a good friend who always said ‘hello mr magpie, say hello to your wife’ and it’s a habit I’ve got into myself. We have a pair of magpies that live in our front garden and I’m always much happier when I’ve spotted the second one. DS is 4 and now he does it too. Not sure how healthy it is passing on superstitions but it’s quite sweet the way he picks these things up, like a little shared ritual.

I hope life is better now? I really sympathise, that must have been the worst day.

I think people really struggle to find words in the worst of time - most people anyway - I seem to just have verbal diarrhoea and spurt out all my thoughts.

When my Nana died, there was a single magpie that would come and sit in the hospital window (she was in a ward in the corner next to the window) and we used to talk to him. The day she died he flew away.

Yes I completely agree - it's to make sense of the non-sense. Deliberately put that hyphen in there. Because so much of life is inexplicable and often unfair.

I think I’m quite a sensible creature but I’d be horrified if I broke a mirror, I ALWAYS say hello to magpies, I’d never ever put new shoes on a table (and always question if eg. the island counts as a table!!). And I’d never give a purse without a penny.

White rabbits, white rabbits! And then you do the ears and then you punch someone (lightly!) on the arm...

Wow! You might win the prize - I mean, sorry, there is no prize, but the kudos?!

I've always thought superstitions were light hearted and taken with a pinch of salt, but to think that councils deliberately avoid numbering houses 13, and on a recent cruise there was no floor 13, maybe they're not wanting to tempt fate 🤞

I think we used to have that, but all my family were miners so it kind of lost its gloss if that makes sense?!

I think provided no one thinks it is a portent of doom then it's sweet and nice. Where my mum lives she feeds the birds and when the cat doesn't finish his dinner my mum whacks it between two pieces of bread and gives the magpie a catfood sandwich! She did check with the NSPCB (is that the bird one?) and they said it was very nutritious!

I break EVERYTHING! I have gorilla hands! Came in handy when I played rugby - less so in normal life! So I ignore anything relating to breaking as it's an inevitable consequence with me! But I am taking my life in my hands if I ignore a magpie - height of rudeness!!

Hotels do it too!

13 is actually my second lucky number - 26 is my first because it's my birthday and it's in my personal mobile number AND my work number!

If I see a magpie I have to say “hello Mr Magpie, hello Mr Magpie, hello Mr Magpie” - in a welsh accent. This is a family tradition which stems from my welsh godfather. None of the rest of us are welsh.

I love that you say it in an accent (probably because I am Welsh and, let's be honest, the lilt helps!)

My Mum had all of these, plus lots of cutlery related ones. Crossed knives on a table meant an argument,a dropped knife indicated a gentleman guest would call, a dropped fork a lady guest and a dropped spoon a visit from a baby or a fool!
crossing someone on a staircase meant a falling out with that person. Giving a present of gloves was a parting gift. A bird in the house foretold a death, as did a picture falling off a wall.

Edited for typo

No new shoes on tables; no black items on the bed (I didn’t have that second one until my ex partner told me it and it’s stuck with me!).

On a personal superstition level, I always wore my lucky knickers to Liverpool games. I forgot for the FA Cup final against West Ham and told the woman next to me that it would be my fault if we lost on penalties. She said it would be her fault as she had forgotten to put the tee-shirt on the dog’ 😂

I was taught that Opals were only unlucky for those not born in October…

My husband was born in house numbered 13 in the street.It was a council house, his mother had waited for one for ages and took this one gladly because it had been refused by loads of people before her.
She must have been desperate to get a council house, she had Irish traveller ancestry and believed in all of the others.
The hospital I did my nurse training in had Ward 13 as the code word for the mortuary.We also never put red and white flowers together in the same vase or allowed white Madonna lilies into the ward.This was supposed to mean death.

Yes! I've never heard anyone else outside of my family do this!

Although we now send each other 🐇🐇🐇

Taking our old wives tales into the digital age 🤣

Magpies
leaving by the same door
if you drop a knife stand on it - knife on the floor man at the door
first person through your door on New Year’s Day should be dark haired
lighting a candle on nye
bird in your house means a death
smelling flowers when none around means death
no new shoes on the table
don’t walk under a ladder
not having any baby stuff in your house until th baby is born.
if your ear is red and burning, pinch it and the person talking about you will bite their tongue
I’m sure I have more lol

My family and some family friends always do the never exit a house you’re visiting by a different door one, but I associate that with being an East Anglian thing - I’ve never heard it elsewhere.

@Arlanymor (Enw neis!) Are there any local superstitions round you that you haven’t seen elsewhere?

I always touch wood just in case, but some other family superstitions are:

Never open the door unless you’re sure someone’s on the other side, otherwise you’re opening the door to death.

Never bring mayflower into the house, because the smell is the smell of death.

I wish I could remember more - my nan has tons of them! Most of them about not letting death in the house 🫣

Sorry for your loss op 💐

Mine is don't cut your toe nails on a Sunday so my whole life my nails have never been cut on a Sunday. Sometimes I think do you know what am just going to cut them even though its Sunday and I just can't do it.

“Good morning Mr Magpie, how’s your lady wife today?” (Singsong voice, no idea why)

If you’re on Portland, you must never say the ‘r’ word. They’re called bunnies.

(Sorry for your loss OP 💐)

I smear myself with chicken’s blood with every new moon, or on the solstices. I then recite the Lord’s Prayer backwards and then do incantations in the back garden for around an hour, or twenty minutes if wet.

I don’t know if there is anything in it but I think this helps my fertility and helps my tulips come up in the Spring (they’re in quite a shady spot).

This is totally irrational and ridiculous but if I see an ambulance I have to hold my collar until I see a 4 legged animal.
If the ambulance lights are off, it can be a poster, sign, statue etc. Lights on it has to be real

To clarify, does it have to have exactly four legs (for example, a cat) or can it have at least four legs (for example, spider)?

What about animals where two legs / four legs might be in dispute? I’m thinking a bear, for example.

Also, what about a four legged animal that is missing a limb? Would that still count?

“Hi Mr Magpie, how’s your wife?”. When I’m very anxious ie on a phone call, I can’t step on cracks. I don’t like to turn completely around in a circle as then I have to turn the same way back around. I don’t do washing on New Year’s Day. I absolutely love opals though! I consider a black cat walking across my path as lucky, especially my little familiar! Bad things DO always come in threes. I do the same wishing thing on the first star I see. Feel off opening an umbrella in my tiled floor kitchen to drip dry but the cats love sitting under it. White feathers appear in the house/on pavements when I’m particularly stressed, they’re from my grandparents. I lucid dream and read that you should never look at yourself in a mirror. I did and I saw myself exactly as I am. So I cleared that hurdle 😂 I’ve had several people over the years message me to say they’ve just seen me when I’m sitting on the sofa at home, so my doppelgänger clearly gets about! I do walk under the ladder when I put it up into the loft, purely to jump and grab hold of the higher rungs and give my back a good clicky stretch! Breaking a mirror is anxiety central.