Superstitions

I’m not one bit superstitious it’s a lot of baloney if you ask me.

I remember breaking a mirror when I was 6 yrs old and crying knowing that bad luck would embellish me until I was 13 and there was nothing I could do about it. I was doomed.

My mum said that if a picture fell off a wall it meant that someone just died.

She also said, "Stir with a knife, stir up strife" so 50 years later, I would never use a knife to give a quick stir to anything.

My memory is not so good but I think she also said that if you drop your fork from the table, a stranger is coming over.

All of this still scares me !

Not superstitious but I do hold back with personal comments and questions because I don't want to be on the receiving end of 'None of your business' type answer. I usually just smile and say nothing if someone comes out with a whopper!

Can't anyone remember the hand and foot saying . I know if you have an itchy hand one hand is meant you have money coming and the other money going out . Itchy foot means you are going on a journey but can't remember which foot. 🤔

Left hand out, right hand in from what I heard, Whiff. And either foot for travelling.

I think it’s mostly nonsense - harmless, but if some want to follow family traditions that’s up to them. I don’t agree that it’s a form of OCD though.

It’s left to leave, right to receive here.

Somewhere in my family was an aged aunt who believed in spirits. Every night at midnight she opened the back door to let the bad spirits out and then opened the front door to let the good spirits in.
The only other thing I can remember about her was that she was very bow legged. I think this was caused, back in those days, by lack of a certain vitamin. Not sure which.

Not walking under a ladder is the only one I remember being at all a ‘thing’ when I was growing up.

I came across several old wives’ tales, though, when a bit older. First, my German exchange girl’s mother was adamant that you couldn’t have a bath or wash your hair when you had your period.

TBH I was amazed in that day and age (60s) - my own mother had never mentioned such nonsense. Of course I quietly took zero notice of ‘Mutti’ while staying with them, but the younger daughter once had a proper tantrum at the dinner table because she wasn’t allowed to wash her hair!

Later, living among mostly Greek Cypriots in the Middle East, I was told that if I went swimming while pregnant, ‘your bones will open and you’ll lose the baby’. Also, that if I went on carrying dd1 on my hip while obviously pregnant, my baby would be born with a broken arm. 😱

Plus of course if I took the baby out after dark, I must cover her face to keep the evil spirits away!

All decades ago now, I doubt whether younger women still believe all this stuff.

Septimia

Green was considered very unlucky in my mum's family (long story, but based on experiences!) and I feel uncomfortable wearing or buying green things (unless no choice). But I haven't imposed that on the next generations.

No shoes on the table (hygiene?), salt over the shoulder, don't open umbrellas indoors, don't walk under a ladder (safer not to, anyway).

I went to 2 primary schools and one senior school. School uniform in all 3 was green. I didn't wear green for years after I left school.

Whilst some people may believe in superstitions or not, in folkloric terms, they provide a cosy familiarity that connects one to ones ancestors. If we get to clinical and become forensic truth seekers, it sort of takes the colour out of life. There is nothing more spooky that being in an old graveyard on a late grey November afternoon. It becomes a liminal place where the imagination runs rampant of all the lives, loves, and laughter of those silent around you. It is all part of our human experience.

I like graveyards on the whole, Tuaim.
They speak to me of love and connection.
Sorrow yes, but also peace.

I can’t say or think “touch wood” without doing so even if I have to struggle to find some!

I don’t believe in the supernatural, but understand that some positive superstitions may give some comfort. Not sure about negative ones tho!
I love graveyards too NotSpaghetti for similar reasons.
I’m not religious but also love old churches and cathedrals, there is the sense of past lives, the awe of the architecture, craftsmanship and beauty.

Maggiemaybe

pascal30
harrigran
“Not at all superstitious, load of rubbish.”
Quite.. but also quite amusing

Yes. And quite heartening that some old beliefs and traditions continue. One of our police family told me that when they’re sent to a death at home, they open a window to let the soul out. I find that very…human.

That is very interesting, Maggie. My husband died at home, after a long illness, and one of my first thoughts was that the window should be opened to let him go on his way. I knew of the superstition, but I had never subscribed to it. I just felt that he wanted the window open, so I opened the hopper window a little and felt that he was free.

I think some of us connect very deeply on a visceral level with things that could fall into the category of superstition.

I sometimes feel the need to touch something, a tree, a doorframe maybe, a headstone - or hold a pebble, a leaf or a button.
I am not superstitious but some things just seem to "connect" and "feel right" at a moment in time.

I love to be at archaeological sites when they are quiet, in tumble-down houses (such as you used to find up overgrown Irish boreens) where there is evidence of a life long gone.
It is the deep connection with the soil and those who have gone before that moves me.

Ladders hold no fear!

I look carefully before I walk under ladders to ensure nothing drops on me. Common sense, not superstition 😀

Yes, the magpie thing. I just whisper or say, in my mind, good morning Mr Magpie - how are you this morning - give my love to your family- absolutely silly I know - that’s why I don’t say it loud 😂

My mother wasn't at all superstitious but she did mention a few things that people might think were to be avoided, such as walking under ladders, opening umbrellas indoors, white and fed flowers together in a bride's bouquet. If you gave a present of a purse you should put a coin in it, she did follow that one, but I don't think of that as a superstition.

And I can't imagine a situation where I would need of want to put shoes on the gable, new or otherwise.

Here in Germany they have different superstitions, which just goes to show that it must be bunkum.

I only heard about greeting magpies recently. That's something it would never occur to me to do. If I did, I'd be at it all the time because they are a nuisance and forever in our garden.

We really have to think back to when each superstition began. Then it's not really a superstition but a lesson learned from someone very long ago when logic and academic education was sparse.

I used to know a curate whose mother was German. One Sunday, as he was delivering his sermon, the curate, to illustrate a point, opened an umbrella. An audible sharp intake of breath ran through the church.
Later on the curate asked me what had caused the sharp intake of breath. I explained about the superstition attached to opening umbrellas indoors. He was astonished. No such superstition in Germany. So yes, nonsense isn't it. I'm not superstitious by the way, but my mother was. She even managed to die on Friday 13th!!!! That caused a smile within the family.

NotSpaghetti

I like graveyards on the whole, Tuaim.
They speak to me of love and connection.
Sorrow yes, but also peace.

What a beautiful thought. [flowers}

NotSpaghetti

I think some of us connect very deeply on a visceral level with things that could fall into the category of superstition.

I sometimes feel the need to touch something, a tree, a doorframe maybe, a headstone - or hold a pebble, a leaf or a button.
I am not superstitious but some things just seem to "connect" and "feel right" at a moment in time.

I love to be at archaeological sites when they are quiet, in tumble-down houses (such as you used to find up overgrown Irish boreens) where there is evidence of a life long gone.
It is the deep connection with the soil and those who have gone before that moves me.

Ladders hold no fear!

Definitely agree with you on all points. I never walk, I always waft around places like that.

nanna8

Salt over the shoulder- yes. It has to be the left shoulder! The magpies eat out of my hand here, they are very tame. I believe once you have fed them they will never swoop you in any part of the country ( they are known for swooping in Australia).
This is a good thread Babs03 very interesting.

That's interesting nanna. Magpies in the UK are different to their Australian cousins. They are, surprisingly, more colourful here with a sort of bluey/green tail plumage. Your magpies sing whereas here they make a piercing squawk. They are known as "thieves" in the UK because they steel shiny objects such as jewellery but they don't swoop. My Australian friend and I were talking about magpies just the other day.

I am not superstitious and hope that those who are, do not allow it to create anxiety. We do tend to find what we expect or look for, and the risk is that you break a superstitious 'rule' and then are looking for the bad luck you believe will follow. When that happens you will probably find something. I am tempted to say (joke!) 'fingers crossed that this way of looking at it helps someone!"

I "touch wood" occasionally but only out of a sort of lifelong habit (my mum used to do it) and not because I believe in any superstition. I have two very beautiful black cats so I certainly don't believe in any "bad luck" attached to them!