What are your superstitions?

I greet magpies too but our youngest daughter invented the 21st century PC version "I salute you Citizen Magpie, you and your significant other if applicable"!

I love peacock feathers and lilac too much not to have them in the house. But not buying fish on a Monday is just sensible as fishermen don't go out on a Sunday (except Peter Grimes and he came to a bad end).

My Dad wouldn't have lilac or peacock feathers in the house - his gran said they were unlucky! I always salute a magpie on its own, pairs are fine!

Many of my superstitions are similar to yours. We always theoretically salute magpies and verbally say good morning to them. In the area I live, I think this stems from a tradition/superstition used by many of the RN to ward of bad luck at sea. Even now some of our family who are no longer in the RN and live nowhere near the sea still say and do this little salute everytime a magpie is spotted. If we spill salt a bit has to be thrown over the shoulder to prevent bad luck. Definitely no new shoes on the table ...more bad luck. In Lincolnshire where my husband was born...if you visit anyone you have to leave by the same door you entered ....no going out of a different door ...no knowing what bad luck that might bring! And don,t even think of breaking a mirror unless you want a whole seven years worth of it. I think different regions of the country probably have their own as well as the ones which are generally known.

I recognise almost all of those, mostly from my (Scottish) mother, and a few from children's playground lore. The coins for the baby was new to us until we moved to Newcastle and had our first baby there. A colleague of my husband's called in one day, and after he left we were surprised and puzzled to find a coin in the cot near the baby's head.

I am quite different from my Mum, not superstitious at all, but it was with some sadness that I realised my children had never come across most of these beliefs, which I suppose are part of our culture.

Here's a more modern one, quoted by my daughter when she was about 10: "It's VERY RUDE for a girl to lend a boy her pencil sharpener!" The symbolism of this made my husband wince!

I've got peacock feathers all over the house- am I doomed?

I am not superstitious... but to this day I can't put red and white flowers in a vase.

'Good morning Mr. Magpie....How is your lady wife today?'

I avoid walking under ladders, never open an umbrella in the house or put new shoes on the table.

Other than that I think I'm reasonably sane

I've always thought seven years of bad luck if you break a mirror is a bit harsh!!

I was told that throwing salt over your left shoulder was so it would go in the devil's eyes! Opening umbrellas in the house, shoes on table, breaking mirrors, money in a new purse, walking under ladders - I grew up with all of those. Anyone else know the one about not letting a baby see itself in a mirror? I can't remember the reason now, it was either because the devil would leap out or the baby would have a problem with teething!!

Grannyticktock. That coin would have been put into the baby's hand and little fingers wrapped round it. My youngest was given a 50 pence piece. Think they were quite new. No one thought of the implications of the many corners when the coin slipped on to his head. Oops!

Saying something at exactly the same time as someone else means you must link little fingers and say "snap" .

I recognise nearly all of these, but I too would never put red & white flowers together, and would throw spilled salt over my shoulder. I'd never buy anything for a baby till it's born, and would always place a coin in a new baby's hand ( it's supposed to mean wealth for the child if they grip it!)

Oh most of these. Quite a few are common sense.

Wow! I'm aware of a few of these things (never take any notice though) and have never heard of others. Am I going to have lots of bad luck?
I've never believed in superstitions and sometimes go out of my way to break them (eg I regularly open wet umbrellas in the house - how else do you dry them?) the only things I do is giving coins to new babies and saying white rabbit on the first of the month bcause it's just a bit of fun.
When I was a child any new coat had a coin in the pocket and people gave you money when wearing it. I enjoyed that one!

Guests should always leave the house the same way as they entered.

I salute a single Magpie & speak the "Good morning Mr? Magpie & how's your Lady wife & lovely family". Touch wood for luck, throw spilt salt over left shoulder (into the eyes of the Devil), silver coin for a new baby, no new shoes on the table, there are many more.....

I always thought hanging a horseshoe with opening up the way allowed the devil to sit in it? (My friends mum was a gypsy & she told me that as a child!)
I greet magpies & don't put new shoes (or any actually) on a table. But strangely don't consider myself superstitious ?

My mother took my firstborn out in his pram and on her return her friends and neighbours had left so much money in the pram I was embarrassed. Never do it myself. In fact I don't have any superstitions. Drives me crazy when normally rational people throw coins into water containing fish. It poisons them! and is an offering to the water gods, therefore pagan.

Not putting shoes on the table and maybe not walking under ladders but that's about it. I like to think of these as British quirks and so, after having lived in Spain for eleven year and now our return is imminent, I love these little quirks which stay with me.

I won't put new shoes on a table I greet magpies plus a few other superstition things I think it became a habit more than a measure against superstitions but it doesn't do any harm to be cautious

I consider myself an atheist and quite rational but I always pray if I think my family is in danger or ill. I ignore most superstitions like 'no shoes on the table' or that 'wearing green is unlucky' but I do things like making a wish to celebrate the first of anything with my tongue firmly in my cheek.

I do, however, propitiate the weather gods as in England they are real and capricious.

merlotgran, you break the curse of bad luck if you bury the broken mirror in the garden. Has to be at midnight of course.

Never pass someone on the stairs; always wait until they've come up/down before I do. No idea why though!

I don't seriously expect a death in the family if I bring hawthorn flowers into the house or open an umbrella indoors, but I don't habitually do so, so perhaps at the unconscious level I do believe in the superstitions.

I sweep dust up into a dustpan, never straight out the door and would dislike it intensely if a visitor at Christmas didn't either eat or drink something offered them before leaving again.

I grew up with most of the superstitions mentioned in this thread, and would still put a coin or a bank-note into a purse or wallet I intended giving someone as a present.
My father insisted that a gift like a knife, which can cut, or a brooch that can stick into someone, should be "paid" for when given as a present, by the recipient handing over the smallest coin of the realm. This prevents the friendship being cut or damaged by the gift.

I don't believe I passed on all the superstitions to my children in the way my mum did. They were superstitions in her mind but only because they were hidden truths that only the wise would know. Sorry mum but that's my interpretation. Now I'm feeling slightly concerned that my own adult children no longer believe in fairies, never mind Greek myths and the need to put a small coin in any purse or bag you give as a gift.