What are your superstitions?

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.....

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

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!

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

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!)

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

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!

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!!

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

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

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!

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.

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!

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).

No, not superstitious at all, but it's common sense not to walk under ladders.

Things happen in threes. Other than that I am not superstitious - touch wood!

I don't open the windows but do all the other things. I won't give anything sharp as a present either unless I get a penny in return. I blame my Cornish ancestry.

Don't walk under a ladder, but that's because I don't want anything dropped on my head. Fingers crossed. Touch wood. But they are just things I say. I don't believe anything will happen if I don't say them. So, no, I don't have any superstitions, just habits.

Some of mine have practical reasons;-
- no shoes on the table =unhygienic
- don't walk under ladders =something may fall on your head

That kind of thing but
-red and white flowers in the same vase - blood and bandages (old nurses superstition)

I always give a silver coin to the baby too. "silvering the baby" is said to bring them wealth in later life. It first has to go into the baby's hand, then passed onto the parent.

A rowan tree in front of the door is also good luck and I have never had one until I retired and moved into a second floor flat. I now have one under my living room window so I hope that counts.

Under the ladder, salt over left shoulder when spilt, coin in a new purse etc. remember from my childhood, but one I still do not do is to have red and white flowers in the same vase, this is from my Nursing days, we never did that, it was supposed to be a sign of death! No use taking any chances!

Came from Ireland. After the Hallowe'en party, we used to leave a glass of water and the food that was left over from the party for the souls that passed through the house. Then in the morning we'd have 3 sips of the water and bless ourselves !!

Our mothers must have been twins Auntieflo all those superstitions for me and the magpie one.