Are You Superstitious

My mum was and so I used all the sayings over the years, many of those mentioned above with my family.
None of the family are in the least bit superstitious and so ignored the old sayings and they are no longer used, and will be forgotten as the Grandchildren know nothing about them- which is fine as it can get a bit ludicrous, uncrossing knives, saluting/talking to magpies, throwing salt if required to do so at any given time .

I don’t believe in the supernatural or superstitions but I do understand that such beliefs do have feasible neurological explanations for why people do, even in advanced societies such as ours.

I'm not really superstitious, but some things hang over from childhood a little. Mum, who was very superstitious, always swore that green was an unlucky colour, so when I left school and started work at the age of 15, in order to defy her, I bought a lovely bottle green winter coat. One day, walking along the seafront in Torquay, a large wave flew over the sea-wall and drenched me and my green coat. It was unwearable after that.
Mum was very triumphant and we often laughed about it over the years. But I've never bought green clothes since.

Usual magpies greeting, no peacocks feathers or May blossom in the house. My granny, long gone, would never wear pink, she told my mother two friends had died soon after she had seen them, when she was wearing a particular pink dress!!
The 13th was lucky for me when my DS arrived safely after many problems.

No

I'm a little superstitious, I throw a pinch of salt over my left shoulder, greet magpies and don't put new shows on the table. I'm not worried about the number 13 as I was born on the 13th so consider it lucky.

Oh, dear, I usually shout at magpies to bugger off - there are a lot around here and I don’t want them in our garden.

Years ago you used to hear, ‘One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy’, but that was in the days before they were protected, not fair game as predators of other birds.

Hospitals never have a Ward 13. When I was doing my nurse training I soon learned never to put red and white flowers in the same vase or allow white lilies into the ward
When I was a young child it was thought that to bring an unbaptised baby into a house other than the parents one would bring bad luck to the householder. I actually witnessed this in the street when a resident brought a new born baby into an old lady's house, and was immediately asked to leave after learning that the baby had not been baptised yet.

I’m a bundle of inherited superstitions I could do without (my mother read cards…) lilies in the house, two spoons means a proposal, crossed knives, no real flowers on stage, hats on the bed, nothing to be taken from a churchyard (not that I would), don’t cover mirrors, make a wish doing something for the first time, bird flying in the house, etc.etc.
I routinely saluted magpies and then saw Paul O’Grady not only saluting the magpie but spitting as well so have had to add that to my repertoire?

I'd never heard of saying Good morning Mr Magpie until I moved to Bristol.

I always assumed it was a just Bristolian thing

I 'touch wood' to make sure something nasty doesn't happen. OH makes sure visitors always go out of the door they came in by.
We open the back door to let the old year out before opening the front door to welcome the new one in.
It's an odd feeling - don't really believe anything disastrous will happen if we don't do these things, but feel more comfortable if we do them.

yes but no

Hotels still, although they have to have a '13th floor' ( of course) will re-name it something else; 12B, 14A for example.
They have to do that because of customers who will not agree to stay on the 13th Floor!
So superstition is here to stay!

No.. Touchwood

Golly, there are people who don't say "Good morning, Mr Magpie " Who knew??

MissAdventure is absolutely right. And it happened in roads too where the house numbers jumped from 11 to 15.

Years ago, I don't know about now, residents rooms in care homes never had a number 13.

My wonderful daughter celebrates her Birthday today, whilst looking after my gorgeous baby grandson, who is teething. My cup runneth over!

i am not superstitious and i do walk under ladders, sometimes on purpose, i do go by the saying if it's for you it won't go by you.

We always say Good morning Mr Magpie, how are you’re wife and children?
Sometimes I seem to be saying it for a whole journey.
I wouldn’t go as far as saying I believe in it all, but I don’t go looking for trouble, I don’t walk under ladders, bring lilac into the house, although I really want to, don’t do washing on New Year’s Day, can’t hurt to be cautious can it?
I rang the hygienist to make an appointment a few weeks ago, and she said, oh no you won’t want Friday 13th will you, I agreed, I probably wouldn’t, but I’ll be sorry if my teeth start falling out between now and then!

I heard a big crash today and a painting had fallen off the wall in the dining room. It’s said to mean news of a death and actually has always come true when it has happened ( luckily infrequently ) before.

It's well known that the more religious an individual is, the more superstitious they tend to be.
The less religious, the less superstitious.
However I think we all grow up with a bit of the 'knock on wood' mentality and the older we get, the less we want to stop the habit of doing that ( just in case)!

Not in the least suspestitious. As a kid I used to deliberately wind up my parents by opening up umbrellas in the house and other things they considered as "bad luck". I see very little difference between religions and superstition. However I love to hear other people explaining and rationalising their beliefs.

I hadn't heard of the magpie greeting - but never needed to know because we don't have them here. I have seen them in southern areas of our province, so will keep that in mind when I am travelling.

I do little silly things like toss salt over my left shoulder if spilt, tell someone to 'break a leg' if doing a performance, we would hold our breath going through a tunnel with the children and make a wish. on the other side. We always save the wishbone from a chicken or turkey and make a wish with the GC.

Slightly off track but my son and his partner bought an old cottage in 2020. Part of it dated from the 1580s.
That is one spooky story about the cat's leg! My son-in-law always said he would never buy an old place in case it was haunted. So they bought a brand new property. I discovered it was the site of a huge rebellion back in the 16th century and a couple of thousand peasants were trapped there and then brutally slaughtered! I never told them they were living on the site of such foul deeds, but it just shows you never know what happened in the past. Now a modern housing estate with children's play area!