What are your superstitions?

Chewbacca you passed me on the stairs at The Argy last week and almost knocked me down them!One of us must lose weight.?

Funny isn't it, I have always poo pooed superstitions, yet have to salute magpies and if I see a penny I usually pick it up. I recently placed a pair of old shoes, wrapped in a carrier bag on a table and it has bothered me since! Really very irrational!!!

Some jobs attract more superstitions than others.Actors have various ones, as do sailors and nurses.

A Cornish friend told me it was unlucky to see one magpie, as its mate would be behind you causing mischief.
If I ever dropped a knife, I had to ask someone else to pick it up.
If I accidentally put on an item of clothing inside out, it was unlucky to change it.
When we moved to Yorkshire, I was told I shouldn't enter a house by one door and leave by another, unless I took my coat off in between.
It's amazing how widespread these odd superstitions are.

Also - ask any ants seen near your door ways 'please, don't come inside'. They won't.

My Mum was superstitious but I don't think I have any superstitions.

It's taken me a long time to convince myself that my Granny's superstitions were silly. I recognise every one that's been mentioned. I gave myself a good talking to when I realised that I was concocting my own!
My dil's used to kill spiders but not anymore apparently they hear me saying "if you want to live and thrive, let the spider run alive".

We've had a single magpie in our garden for the last two days. I daren't think of what this means.

Magpies, I hate them, I have to wish them good day if I see one.

So many of these are familiar because my mum was quite superstitious. She was a nurse so no red and white flowers mixed was indoctrinated into me. I don't understand the everlasting calendar Auntieflo, does that just mean you shouldn't change any date the night before or was it particularly 13th that's a nono? I've not heard about bashing a hard boiled egg shell etc.

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

Thanks, Iam. A 'bury the mirror' party has a novel ring to it.

I've heard that one too Lesley.
One of mine is never write H****r's name in full. Which I was rebuked for on a WW2 forum.

Just got home to find husband had taken in a parcel- new shoes I'd ordered. But he'd put them on the table! I could hear my mother's voice saying 'never put new shoes in the table'. Don't know why this is though

Salt over left shoulder
Won't walk under ladder
Won't cross on stairs
Won't put shoes on table
Salute magpies
Won't sew on a Sunday

A horseshoe should be hung with the "open" part up otherwise all the good luck runs out.

My goodness.....21st Century but still following Medieval customs!!!however i would put a coin in a present of a purse, i never hang a horseshoe upside down and i would avoid walking under a ladder but that's about it!

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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 ?