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Friday 13 February 2009

A Superstitious Day

How did Friday the 13th get to be such an unlucky day?
Fear of Friday the 13th is rooted in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the day Friday. The two unlucky entities combine to make one super unlucky day.

Superstitions kinda go hand in hand with folk lore,they get handed down from generation to generation and I'm sure there are plenty of people here who have heard of a few or even have some.

For me I always X out a black cat that crosses my path. Not that I think they are bad luck...Ok maybe I'm just a little superstitious -- no need to press my luck...hehe!


Some superstitions I remember hearing:

Step on a crack -Mother would then break her back
Black cat crosses your path -Walks towards you, brings good fortune, walks away, takes good luck with it.
Wish on a shooting star -Wish comes true
Blowing a lady bug away -Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home.
Penny in a gift purse or wallet -
Rocking an empty rocking chair -Invites evil spirits to come into your house to sit in the chair.
Break a mirror -7 years bad luck.

Mother In-laws contribution:

Walk under a ladder -Bad luck will come to you
Pass someone on the stairs -Stairways symbolized the means of ascending to the abode of the gods and it was dangerous to trespass; also, early stairways were very narrow and two people passing each other left themselves open to attack from behind.
Drop a dishtowel -A worse housekeeper than yourself is coming to visit you.
Throw salt over you shoulder -To counteract this bad luck you must through it over your left shoulder into the eyes of the demons, who were ment to lerk behind your shoulder.
Cross knives - It will cause a quarrel

Sylvie says:

Put a hat on a bed -The expression comes from a time when people believed that evil spirits lived in the hair.
Open a umbrella in the house -Bad luck, especially if you put it over your head.

What are some of your superstitions ?

6 comments:

cheatymoon said...

I am not superstitious, but I was married on the 13th of the month, and the marriage only lasted 5 years (although it ended in the 13th year of the relationship). Huh.

Madeleine said...

I am not superstitious...however, why tempt fate...:P

My mother who is Irish had those two fears, hat and unmbrella.

Amber said...

There's some there I hadn't heard of, interesting. I don't think I'm superstitious, cause the quirks I have are for my little OCD reasons, LOL

Pseudo said...

I did not even realize yesterday that it was Friday the 13th...

My husband is Filipino and Chinese. Lots of weird superstitions. He won't let any of us cut our toenails at night. Really.

Jack said...

There is another Friday the 13th in march too. Two months in a row... weird!

Billy Rhythm said...

How about never painting your boat blue? Or the one about "That Scottish Play"? Or the ones about children born in cauls? (These are just ones that have some sort of connection with me--though I'm not superstitious at all.)

Oh, how about making wishes when your digital clock reads all the same digit, like at 5:55am? I do do that one, even though I don't really believe it. It's more of a habit.