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SUPERSTITIONS
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• I. GENERAL SUPERSTITIONS
• ACORN
-An acorn should be carried to bring luck and ensure a long life.
-An acorn at the window will keep lightning out.
• AMBER
-Amber beads, worn as a necklace, can protect against illness or cure colds.
• APPLE
-An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
• BABY
-To predict the sex of a baby: Suspend a wedding band held by a piece of thread over the palm of the pregnant girl. If the ring swings in an oval or circular motion the baby will be a girl. If the ring swings in a straight line the baby will be a boy.
• BED
-It’s bad luck to put a hat on a bed.
-If you make a bedspread, or a quilt, be sure to finish it or marriage will never come to you.
-You must get out of bed on the same side that you get in or you will have bad luck.
-When making the bed, don’t interrupt your work, or you will spend a restless night in it.
• BELL
-The sound of bells drives away demons because they’re afraid of the loud noise.
-When a bell rings, a new angel has received his wings.
• BIRD
-A bird in the house is a sign of a death.
-If a robin flies into a room through a window, death will shortly follow.
• BIRTH
-Monday’s child is fair of face;
-Tuesday’s child is full of grace;
-Wednesday’s child is full of woe;
-Thursday’s child has far to go;
-Friday’s child is loving and giving;
-Saturday’s child works hard for a living.
-But the child that is born on the Sabbath day is fair and wise, good and gay.
• BIRTHDAY CAKE
-If you blow out all the candles on your birthday cake with the first puff you will get your wish.
• BLARNEY STONE
-The Blarney Stone is a stone set in the wall of the Blarney Castle tower in the Irish village of Blarney. Kissing the stone is supposed to bring the kisser the gift of persuasive eloquence (blarney.)
• BLUE
-To protect yourself from witches, wear a blue bead.
-Touch blue
And your wish
Will come true.
• BREAD
-Before slicing a new loaf of bread, make the sign of the cross on it.
-A loaf of bread should never be turned upside down after a slice has been cut from it.
• BRIDGE
-If you say good-bye to a friend on a bridge, you will never see each other again.
• BROOM
-Do not lean a broom against a bed. The evil spirits in the broom will cast a spell on the bed.
-If you sweep trash out the door after dark, it will bring a stranger to visit.
-If someone is sweeping the floor and sweeps over your feet, you’ll never get married.
-Never take a broom along when you move. Throw it out and buy a new one.
• BUTTERFLY
-If the first butterfly you see in the year is white, you will have good luck all year.
-Three butterflies together mean good luck.
• CANDLE
-If a candle lighted as part of a ceremony blows out, it is a sign that evil spirits are nearby.
• CAT
-If a black cat walks towards you, it brings good fortune, but if it walks away, it takes the good luck with it.
-Keep cats away from babies because they “suck the breath” of the child.
-A cat onboard a ship is considered to bring luck.
• CHEEKS
-If your cheeks suddenly feel on fire, someone is talking about you.
• CHILL
-If you get a chill up your back or goosebumps, it means that someone is walking over your grave.
• CHIMNEY SWEEP
-It’s very lucky to meet a chimney sweep by chance. Make a wish when sighting one, and the wish will come true.
• CIGARETTES
-It is bad luck to light three cigarettes with the same match.
• CIRCLE
-Evil spirits can’t harm you when you stand inside a circle.
• CLOCK
-If a clock which has not been working suddenly chimes, there will be a death in the family.
• CLOVER
-It’s good luck to find a four-leaf clover.
-Clover protects human beings and animals from the spell of magicians and the wiles of fairies, and brings good luck to those who keep it in the house.
• COIN
-It’s bad luck to pick up a coin if it’s tails side up. Good luck comes if it’s heads up.
• COMB
-To drop a comb while you are combing your hair is a sign of a coming disappointment.
• CRACK
-Don’t step on a crack on a sidewalk or walkway. Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.
• CRICKET
-A cricket in the house brings good luck.
• COUNTING CROWS
One’s bad,
Two’s luck,
Three’s health,
Four’s wealth,
Five’s sickness,
Six is death.
• DOG
-A dog howling at night when someone in the house is sick is a bad omen.
• DOOR
-It’s bad luck to leave a house through a different door than the one used to come into it.
• DREAMS
-If you dream of death it’s a sign of a birth, if you dream of birth, it’s a sign of death.
-Dream of running: a sign of a big change in your life.
-Dreams at night are a devil’s delight
Dreams in the morning, heed the angels’ warning.
• EARS
-If your right ear itches, someone is speaking well of you. If your left ear itches, someone is speaking ill of you.
-Left for love and right for spite:
Left or right, good at night.
• EASTER
-For good luck throughout the year, wear new clothes on Easter.
• EYE
-If your right eye twitches there will soon be a birth in the family. If the left eye twitches there will soon be a death in the family.
-To cure a sty, stand at a crossroads and recite; Sty, sty, leave my eye, take the next one coming by.
• EYELASH
-If an eyelash falls out, put it on the back of the hand, make a wish and throw it over your shoulder. If it flies off the hand the wish will be granted.
• FOOT
-If the bottom of your right foot itches, you are going to take a trip.
• FINGERNAILS
-It is bad luck to cut your fingernails on Friday or Sunday.
-Fingernail cuttings should be saved, burned, or buried.
• FISH
-A fish should always be eaten from the head toward the tail.
-Dream of fish: someone you know is pregnant.
-If you count the number of fish you caught, you will catch no more that day.
-It’s bad luck to say the word “pig” while fishing at sea.
• FLAG
-It brings bad luck for a flag to touch the ground.
• FLOWER
-First Flower of Spring: The day you find the first flower of the season can be used as an omen:
Monday means good fortune
Tuesday means greatest attempts will be successful
Wednesday means marriage
Thursday means warning of small profits
Friday means wealth
Saturday means misfortune
Sunday means excellent luck for weeks
• FORK
-To drop a fork means a man is coming to visit.
• FRIDAY
-A bed changed on Friday will bring bad dreams.
-Any ship that sails on Friday will have bad luck.
-You should never start a trip on Friday or you will meet misfortune.
-Never start to make a garment on Friday unless you can finish it the same day.
• FROG
-A frog brings good luck to the house it enters.
• GOOD FRIDAY
(The Friday before Easter)
-A child born on Good Friday and baptized on Easter Sunday has a gift of healing. If a boy, he should go into the ministry.
-Cut your hair on Good Friday to prevent headaches in the year to come.
-A person who dies on Good Friday will go right to heaven.
-Shed no blood on Good Friday, work no wood, hammer no nail.
• HAND
-If the palm of your right hand itches it means you will soon be getting money.
-If the palm of your left hand itches it means you will soon be paying out money.
• HORSESHOE
-A horseshoe, hung above the doorway, will bring good luck to a home. In most of Europe protective horseshoes are placed in a downward facing position, but in some parts of Ireland and Britain people believe that the shoes must be turned upward or “the luck will run out.”
-A horseshoe hung in the bedroom will keep nightmares away.
• ITCH
-If your nose itches you will soon be kissed by a fool.
-If your nose itches
Your mouth is in danger.
You’ll kiss a fool,
And meet a stranger.
Rub an itch to wood
It will come to good.
• IVY
-Ivy growing on a house protects the inhabitants from witchcraft and evil.
• KNIFE
-A knife as a gift from a lover means that the love will soon end.
-A knife placed under the bed during childbirth will ease the pain of labor.
-If a friend gives you a knife, you should give him a coin, or your friendship will soon be broken.
-It will cause a quarrel if knives are crossed at the table.
-It is bad luck to close a pocket knife unless you were the one who opened it.
-Knife falls, gentleman calls;
Fork falls, lady calls;
Spoon falls, baby calls.
• LADDER
-It is bad luck to walk under a ladder.
• LADYBUG
-If a young girl catches a ladybug and then releases it, the direction in which it flies away will be the direction from which her future husband will come.
-It is bad luck to kill a ladybug.
-Ladybug, ladybug,
fly away home.
Your house is on fire,
Your children all roam.
• LEAF
-If you catch a falling leaf on the first day of autumn you will not catch a cold all winter.
• LETTUCE
-Lettuce is believed to have magical and healing properties, including the power to arouse love and counteract the effects of wine.
-Lettuce promotes child bearing if eaten by young women, and certain types of salad can bring on labor in pregnant women.
• LIE
-Cross my heart and hope to die,
Cut my throat if I tell a lie.
• LIZARD
-To dream of a lizard is a sign that you have a secret enemy.
• MANDRAKE
-Mandrake is a mysterious plant believed to have powers of preventing sterility in men and animals, causing barren women to bear children, and compelling love.
-Mandrake is thought to have aphrodisiac and fertilizing properties.
-Clairvoyants use mandrake to increase their visions to enable them to see strange and wonderful things.
• MIRROR
-To break a mirror means 7 years bad luck.
-It is unlucky to see your face in a mirror by candlelight.
-A mirror should be covered during a thunderstorm because it attracts lightning.
-If a mirror in the house falls and breaks by itself, someone in the house will die soon.
• MISTLETOE
-Mistletoe in the house protects it from thunder and lightning. It also cures many diseases, is an antidote to poison and brings good luck and fertility.
-A girl standing under a mistletoe cannot refuse to be kissed by anyone who claims the privilege.
• MOTH
-A white moth inside the house or trying to enter the house means death.
• NOSE
-If your nose itches, someone is coming to see you. If it’s the right nostril, the visitor will be a female, left nostril, male.
• ONION
-An onion cut in half and placed under the bed of a sick person will draw off fever and poisons.
• OPAL
-Unless you were born in October, it’s unlucky to wear opals.
• OWL
-It is bad luck to see an owl in the sunlight.
• PENCIL
-If you use the same pencil to take a test that you used for studying for the test, the pencil will remember the answers.
• PEPPER
-If you spill pepper you will have a serious argument with your best friend.
• PHOTOGRAPH
If 3 people are photographed together, the one in the middle will die first.
• RABBIT’S FOOT
-A rabbit’s foot will bring luck and protect the owner from evil spirits if carried in the pocket.
• RAVEN
To kill a raven is to harm the spirit of King Arthur who visits the world in the form of a raven.
• RED
-A red ribbon should be placed on a child who has been sick to keep the illness from returning.
• ROBIN
-A wish made upon seeing the first robin in spring will come true.
• ROCKING CHAIR
-If you leave a rocking chair rocking when empty, it invites evil spirits to come into your house to sit in the rocking chair.
• ROSEMARY
-Rosemary planted by the doorstep will keep witches away.
• SALT
-Bad luck will follow the spilling of salt unless a pinch is thrown over the left shoulder into the face of the devil waiting there.
-Put salt on the doorstep of a new house and no evil can enter.
-Salty soup is a sign that the cook is in love.
• SCISSORS
-If you drop scissors, it means your lover is being unfaithful to you.
• SEA GULL
-Three seagulls flying together, directly overhead, are a warning of death soon to come.
• SHOES
-Do not place shoes upon a table, for this will bring bad luck for the day, cause trouble with your mate and you might even lose your job as a result.
-It’s bad luck to leave shoes upside down.
• SLEEP
-You sleep best with your head to the north and your feet to the south.
• SNEEZE
-Place a hand in front of your mouth when sneezing. Your soul may escape otherwise.
-The devil can enter your body when you sneeze. Having someone say, “God bless you,” drives the devil away.
-If you sneeze on a;
Monday-you sneeze for danger
Tuesday-kiss a stranger
Wednesday-sneeze for a letter
Thursday-something better
Friday-sneeze for sorrow
Saturday – see your sweetheart tomorrow.
Sunday-and the devil will have domination over you all week.
-One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a letter
Four for a boy.
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret, never to be told.
• SPARROW
-Sparrows carry the souls of the dead, it’s unlucky to kill one.
• STARS
-All wishes on shooting stars come true.
-Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.
• SWAN
-A swan’s feather, sewed into the husband’s pillow, will ensure fidelity.
• THIRTEEN
-If 13 people sit down at a table to eat, one of them will die before the year is over.
• TONGUE
-If you bite your tongue while eating, it is because you have recently told a lie.
• UMBRELLA
-Dropping an umbrella on the floor means that there will be a murder in the house.
-It’s bad luck to open an umbrella inside the house, especially if you put it over your head.
• VEIL
-A bride’s veil protects her from evil spirits who are jealous of happy people.
• WATER-MELON
-A watermelon will grow in your stomach if you swallow a watermelon seed.
• WEATHER
-Red sky at night,
Sailor’s delight.
Sailors take warning.
-Rain, rain, go away,
Come again another day.
Rain on the green grass
Rain on the hillside,
But not on me.
• WOOD
-Knock three times on wood after mentioning good fortune so evil spirits won’t ruin it.
• WINDOW
-All windows should be opened at the moment of death so that the soul can leave.
• WISH
-If you make a wish while throwing a coin into a well or fountain, the wish will come true.
-Wish I may,
Wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.
• WISHBONE
-Two people pull apart the dried breastbone of a chicken or turkey until it cracks and breaks, each one making a wish while doing so. The person who gets the long half of the wishbone will have his or her wish come true.
• X
-The number of Xs in the palm of your right hand is the number of children you will have.
• YAWN
-A yawn is a sign that danger is near.
-Cover your mouth when you yawn, or your soul can go out of your body along with the yawn.
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• II. WEDDING SUPERSTITIONS
• WEDDING DAY
-Certain days of the week, and certain months of the year are better than others for a wedding.
Monday for health
Tuesday for wealth
Wednesday best of all
Thursday for losses
Friday for crosses
Saturday for no luck at all
-Married when the year is new, he’ll be loving, kind & true,
When February birds do mate, You wed nor dread your fate.
If you wed when March winds blow, joy and sorrow both you’ll know.
Marry in April when you can, Joy for Maiden & for Man.
Marry in the month of May, and you’ll surely rue the day.
Marry when June roses grow, over land and sea you’ll go.
Those who in July do wed, must labour for their daily bred.
Whoever wed in August be, many a change is sure to see
Marry in September’s shrine, your living will be rich and fine.
If in October you do marry, love will come but riches tarry.
If you wed in bleak November, only joys will come, remember.
When December snows fall fast, marry and true love will last.
• FOR A LUCKY BRIDE
Something old,
Something new,
Something borrowed,
Something blue,
And a lucky sixpence
In her shoe.
-Married in White, you have chosen right
Married in Grey, you will go far away,
Married in Black, you will wish yourself back
Married in Red, you will wish yourself dead
Married in Green, ashamed to be seen
Married in Blue, you will always be true
Married in Pearl, you will live in a whirl
Married in Yellow, ashamed of your fellow
Married in Brown, you will live in the town
Married in Pink, you spirit will sink.
• WEDDING DAY
-Good Omens:
seeing a rainbow
having the sun shine
meeting a black cat
meeting a chimney sweep
-Bad Omens:
a pig, hare, or lizard running across the road seeing an open grave meeting a nun or a monk foretell barrenness
• OTHER BELIEFS
-If the groom drops the wedding band during the ceremony, the marriage is doomed.
-The new bride must enter her home by the main door, and must not trip or fall – hence the custom of carrying the bride over the threshold.
-The spouse who goes to sleep first on the wedding day will be the first to die.
• WEDDING CAKE
-If a single woman sleeps with a piece of wedding cake under her pillow, she will dream of her future husband.
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• III. DEATH SUPERSTITIONS
• BIRD
-A bird in the house is a sign of a death.
-If a robin flies into a room through a window, death will shortly follow.
• CANDLE
Light candles on the night after November 1. One for each deceased relative should be placed in the window in the room where death occurred.
• CEMETERY
-You must hold your breath while going past a cemetery or you will breathe in the spirit of someone who has recently died.
• CLOCK
-If a clock which has not been working suddenly chimes, there will be a death in the family.
-You will have bad luck if you do not stop the clock in the room where someone dies.
• CORPSE
-If a woman is buried in black, she will return to haunt the family.
-If a dead person’s eyes are left open, he’ll find someone to take with him.
-Mirrors in a house with a corpse should be covered or the person who sees himself will die next.
• DREAMS
-If you dream of death it’s a sign of a birth, if you dream of birth, it’s a sign of death.
-If you touch a loved one who has died, you won’t have dreams about them.
• DYING
-A person who dies on Good Friday will go right to heaven.
-A person who dies at midnight on Christmas Eve will go straight to heaven because the gates of heaven are open at that time.
-All windows should be opened at the moment of death so that the soul can leave.
-The soul of a dying person can’t escape the body and go to heaven if any locks are locked in the house.
• FUNERAL
-Funerals on Friday portend another death in the family during the year.
-It’s bad luck to count the cars in a funeral cortege.
-It’s bad luck to meet a funeral procession head on.
-Thunder following a funeral means that the dead person’s soul has reached heaven.
-Nothing new should be worn to a funeral, especially new shoes.
-Pointing at a funeral procession will cause you to die within the month
-Pregnant women should not attend funerals.
• GRAVE
-If the person buried lived a good life, flowers will grow on the grave. If the person was evil, weeds will grow.
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