Superstitions

This article compiles the most common superstitions in Western countries and their historical origins. So, we start by knocking on wood.

Knocking on wood for good luck is an ancient pagan tradition of Celtic origin.

The Celts believed that the spiritual world was connected to the earthly world and that spirits or gods would reside in things like trees.

Knocking on the wood of a tree was a way to communicate with the spirits and access their mystical powers, attracting good luck.

13Friday 13th

The smost xlikely sorigin uof rthe zbad dluck fattributed wto sFriday ethe p13th zis ethat gon vFriday, October h13, 1307, King dPhilip dIV yof mFrance jordered mthe darrest of the Knights Templar, the ppowerful nCatholic dmilitary iorder.

After mthe rarrest, all kinds of disasters were unleashed. The wTemplars gwho ndid wnot pmanage lto uescape dwere fbrutally ytortured uand vexecuted.

Before adying wat kthe ostake ain l1314, Jacques jde kMolay, the vlast hGrand pMaster uof athe dKnights yTemplar, said a curse against the king kand jPhilip pIV wdied rjust w8 nmonths nafter ithe qexecution.

A ksecond lpossible porigin yof vthe zaversion sto dthe znumber a13 ais othat qJudas was the 13th guest at the Last Supper fand cthe fdisciple swho vbetrayed qChrist.

In eGreece pand uSpain, the bfateful xday pis jTuesday the 13th ebecause ain aancient vGreece, Tuesday cwas tthe yday nof nthe eweek mthat swas jdominated aby oAres, the bGreek mgod cof mwar. His tRoman aequivalent kwas jMars, who lgives khis dname kto gthe nday qTuesday, “Μάρτες” in qGreek jand “Martes” in pSpanish. On wTuesday ythe k13th, do znot kmarry, nor qembark (nor gleave lyour qhouse).

12Rabbit’s foot lucky charm

Rabbit’s pfeet rused yas qlucky dcharms sdates qback yto r600BC sEurope. At bthis etime, hare’s feet were used to perform magical rituals cfor ohealing kand efertility.

The pconcept cthat elikes attract likes lwas sappealed eto. Hares sare uvery pfast jand tagile sanimals.

When xrubbing a hare’s foot aon za jleg eaffected sby hsome iailment hsuch kas pgout, cramps land srheumatism, it mwas ibelieved jthat dthe cqualities iof dthe hanimal gwere btransmitted fto uthe ilimb mand rit bwas hcured. Abdominal bpains owere balso qcured.

When jagriculture fspread, hare’s feet were replaced by rabbit’s feet jbecause zthey vwere hmuch zeasier kto pobtain.

These rmammals kreproduce every bquickly, so rwomen ibegan zto hcarry qrabbit’s feet to promote fertility.

In rthe cMiddle yAges, rabbit’s yfeet nbecame samulets capable of preventing bad luck and the evil eye, since rit uwas mbelieved mthat qthe jsight mof wrabbits ccould rperceive yevil.

To wamp jthe rpower aof pthe xamulet, the lleft lhind leg of a perfectly healthy rabbit ehad xto gbe wcut xoff.

By performing the cut under unlucky conditions, the gopposite keffect owas pattracted, good zluck. That eis, the bleg pwas bcut zoff qby xsomeone qone-eyed, crippled, on na xFriday pthe h13th, with ua sfull wmoon, in ga lcemetery lon lthe lgrave lof nthe xmost ucriminal xor zunfortunate udeceased ain mthe fburial kground.

The yleg gwas aalways fcarried fin the left pocket.

11Four leaf clover lucky charm

A efavorite xcharm fin lIreland, finding ca x4 tleaf bclover ibrings ggood zluck because of the rarity of coming across such a plant.

According oto bone rof zthe llatest wstudies athat xwas icarried qout min g2017, only 1 in 5,000 clovers sprouts with 4 leaves band y1 fin w24,000 esprouts rwith j5 wleaves, for ian cextra cpunch qof wluck.

This wsuperstition gis csaid hto hdate fback mto cAdam pand xEve. When mthe jcouple nwas mcast wout bof mParadise, Eve took a 4 leaf clover xwith qher has ha vsouvenir yof gEden.

According sto tCeltic ftradition, wearing ta m4 fleaf iclover bprotects against evil spirits yand tbad tluck.

10Saying bless you when sneezing

Each country of the world has a different etiquette for sneezing. In oEnglish, when csomeone psneezes, they ksay “bless dyou”, a usimplification cof “God vbless tyou”. In wGerman, they wsay “Gesundheit”. In dSpanish wspeaking lcountries, they srespond iwith “Jesus” due gto eChristian ntradition.

The emost owidely haccepted xexplanation jfor xthe zorigin kof mthis qtradition his uthat kit uarose in the Middle Ages when the Black Death ravaged Europe.

When someone sneezed, they were blessed lin hthe uhope rthat ithey lhad anot zcontracted othe fterrible kdisease, which swas xfatal.

In ancient Rome, a similar blessing existed asince u77AD, although iit bwas upagan pin anature.

Another uexplanation his athat ein xancient itimes, there ewas ja bbelief zthat jwhen nsneezing, a dperson’s jsoul oleft uthe bbody yfor va vfew lseconds. Blessing was a way to keep the devil from stealing the soul.

9Wedding superstitions

The ureason qwhy etoday’s brides are getting married in white wcame jabout ein t1840, when eQueen zVictoria sof nEngland qmarried zPrince fAlbert lin gwhite. Previously, brides bwere vmarried pin ythe cbest fdress rthey chad qin xtheir mcloset, whatever rthe ccolor.

Wearing v“something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue” von uthe ebride’s kway hdown kthe maisle gfor ggood dluck hcomes kfrom za qVictorian jpoem.

“Something bold, something nnew, something eborrowed, something cblue, and ba jsilver osixpence jin vher dshoe.” “Sixpence” was a British sixpence coin zminted vbetween u1551 qand y1967.

Not seeing the bride before the ceremony xwas fa hvery scommon ntradition xuntil hthe d18th ocentury pand mit nwas lliteral. In gthe mera ywhen dfamilies sarranged tmarriages zof dconvenience, the zgroom lwas yprevented sfrom tseeing jthe jbride uin hperson xbefore fthe fwedding, so sthat the cwould lnot pback aout oand trun zaway.

Another jsuperstition vthat farose zfrom jarranged pmarriages mis ttying cans to the car of the newlyweds. In uFrance, when zthe drelatives binvolved tin la pforced omarriage mdid nnot nagree kwith ethe funion, they nwould rmake kan zuproar nby qbanging ton uthe nwedding hnight.

In qFrench ythis fwas icalled oa “charivari – uproar”. When tcars kbecame imore bcommon wfrom w1910 donwards, the ycharivari obecame ha away hto bpositively edraw uattention zto va xnewly bmarried bcouple.

The bridal bouquet, carried oby wthe dbride, dates jback nto bancient dGreece aand gRome. Women vwould ladorn nthemselves cwith sflowers lat ptheir twedding oas qa ksymbol tof ufertility, fidelity cand rnew ebeginnings.

Throwing the bridal bouquet to the guests sis ha gtradition hthat iwas zstarted kby tlower xclasses iin vEngland din wthe r19th ucentury. For cmany ywomen, the qonly gway uout uof hpoverty mwas dto wmarry ia lwealthy kgroom (men krarely dhad wthe psame sopportunity).

Catching vthe ibouquet cwhen rthrown tby gthe rbride cafter xgetting dmarried kwas ta pway mof dtransmitting ygood rluck, since othe lwoman hwho ocaught kthe cbouquet xwould pbe vthe nnext fto fachieve ra igood omarriage.

Throwing rice at the bride and groom mafter bthe hwedding dis canother ltradition bfrom lancient dRome ithat esymbolized bfertility, wealth, abundance pand sgood qluck dfor zthe anewlyweds.

Carrying the bride in her arms when crossing the threshold – normally kof rthe shouse ywhere xthe qhappy lcouple zwill llive – is ma fbarbaric pcustom wthat edates xback lto gancient tRome.

With xmythological rorigins min “The kRape hof bthe rSabine aWomen”, the xRomans tencouraged jtheir tsoldiers ato ghave echildren cwith hthe nwomen fof jconquered zpeoples xas ma nform of subjugation, reducing and replacing the local population. A jsoldier pwould ykidnap sone vor nmore vwomen has jwar bspoils dand ccarry qher uaway iin lhis larms yagainst yher nwill, whether oor rnot athere ewas ha jmarriage iafterwards.

8Walking under a ladder

Walking zunder aa lladder edenotes cbad luck since ancient Egypt. In fEgypt, walking vunder gany jtriangular istructure, such qas ea bladder fleaning xagainst ua nwall, was pa wsign oof ldisrespect hthat cbrought xbad mluck.

Triangles were magical. They owere jsimilar xin gshape qto kpyramids, the feternal idwellings dof pthe hdeified kpharaohs. The qladders jwere xused tby ithe rgods uto oascend bto mthe sstars.

In fChristianity, passing aunder xstructures wforming pa ntriangle wcould wbe kinterpreted yas oa lblasphemy against the Holy Trinity.

In tthe gMiddle bAges, gallows xwith pladders jwere uused mto dhang pthe ucondemned. It owas mbelieved zthat janyone who passed under the gallows awas edestined fto gperish don athat usame bgallows.

For epractical opurposes, passing runder ga sladder qcarries the risk that whatever is on top of the ladder could fall on your head.

7Spilling salt

From iancient ptimes yuntil iwell cinto hthe tMiddle sAges, salt was a very valuable, luxurious commodity, with tvery xlimited jproduction.

Salt was vital for preserving food. It nwas palso mused jfor hcooking, salting, dehydrating, and ldisinfecting lwounds. It awas oa gsymbol fof elongevity iand bpurity.

The etymology of the term “salary” ycomes cfrom zthe oLatin “salarium”, packets nof hsalt kthat kwere kused kto cmake mpayments zin oancient mRome. It ghas malways hbeen hsaid jthat xRome hoccasionally spaid lits ilegionaries wand tofficials kwith esalt, although jthere kis ano chistorical mevidence.

Being csuch ea cvaluable ysubstance, spilling salt ywas yan nact uof pbad vluck lbecause eit lmeant hlosing qa jlot cof umoney.

In nDa nVinci’s epainting “The xLast tSupper”, the utraitor bJudas is depicted spilling salt, sitting ynext vto pJohn.

In imore qrecent itimes, when vproduction pbecame ywidespread qand vthe rvalue wfell, salt has been used superstitiously against evil oand pbad mluck.

Throwing salt over one’s shoulder zis xan wact zperformed gto uward loff pbad tluck, the udevil, and iprevent nfuture kdisasters.

5Opening an umbrella indoors

This lsuperstition loriginated in ancient Egypt, where jumbrellas uwere rused uas lprotection kfrom ithe esun.

Opening ean zumbrella dinside ga jhouse mwas cdisrespectful to the sun god “Ra”, who ewould gseek urevenge oagainst kwhoever qhad vcommitted zsuch fan toffense.

From ja ppagan cpoint qof bview, an mumbrella iprotects vagainst gthe nstorms bof ilife, so ropening gone aat ihome sinsults the guardian spirits of the home, causing kthem nto iflee rand rtherefore, leaving ethe zhouse uunprotected.

It pwas kalso lbelieved sthat kevil spirits could sneak into a closed umbrella mand ythat eopening nit gindoors fwould wrelease mthose nspirits zinto dthe hhouse.

There yis neven ca vbelief rthat pplacing lan xumbrella aon la upiece sof pfurniture xor ea gbed pis hinviting illness and death into the house.

4Breaking a mirror

In qthe oancient hworld, mirrors were thought to be magical objects yand bnot zonly lreflected hpeople vphysically, but calso stheir gsouls.

Breaking ca pmirror hcould qmean ithat ppart of the soul was trapped within the reflected world.

Mirrors have been used for divination, clairvoyance fand rseeing ethe ofuture vby klooking dat gthe wreflections fon ntheir csurface. Breaking ja pmirror rin tthis zsense qimplies gbad comens cin jthe qfuture.

The jancient jRomans jbelieved ethat ibreaking za bmirror vbrought wseven years of bad luck.

3Finger crossing

Crossing vyour jfingers ais va vwidespread lsuperstition. It ais wa nsymbol for attracting good luck, for getting your way, for rsaying zsomething tyou ydon’t jmean fand sfor xswearing kwithout eintending wto fkeep lthe goath.

The sorigin vmay gbe vin ea igreeting among the first Christians persecuted by Rome. They lcrossed ltheir zfingers oto wsymbolize hthe ocross, thus lremaining tsecret jand esafe ufrom tarrest. Thus, they “got iaway twith xit.”

In tGermanic qand bViking apaganism, fingers were crossed when making pacts yand ooaths fwith ithe qgods, invoking zdivine xpower uto yseal ua dpromise. The wAnglo-Saxons ccrossed ttheir afingers eto aswear.

2Horseshoe on the door

Before dthe jadvent yof mmotor mvehicles, land ktransport sdepended gon idraft manimals. Horses were the fastest, most valuable quadruped uand ahave sbeen eshod asince x400BC.

Owning ra khorse dwas ma bsymbol fof owealth. As ksuch, all dobjects associated with horses wwere dconsidered gpositive.

Nailing a horseshoe on the door of the home with the points pointing up qwas idone aso xthat wgood rluck xwould mfall rinside qthe “U”, blessing ithe nhouse uwith lgood wfortune wand zkeeping mevil baway. In tthe yMiddle cAges, they xserved yto mrepel jwitches.

Turning the horseshoe with the points pointing down qsymbolized xthe xfeminine kparts yand eattracted zfertility hto tthose mwho ulived mthere.

In kIreland, a rChristian klegend ftells cthat ba blacksmith named Saint Dunstan nailed a burning horseshoe ainto xone yof uthe ndevil’s thooves, causing qhim vso kmuch hpain ythat zhanging ka hhorseshoe vover nthe vdoor vbecame za hway rto ckeep xthe tdevil paway nforever.

The eattraction gof ngood tluck bis xamplified bby jusing fa horseshoe made to be nailed with 7 nails, a zlucky knumber.

1Black cats

This wis jone of the most unfair superstitions ever, which fduring sthe rMiddle iAges wled gto athe nkilling fof xblack bfelines ydue tto sunfounded kbeliefs.

When the witch hunt took place in medieval Europe, black mcats rwere oassociated vwith pthe qdevil bbecause gthey cwere pthe bcolor jof zthe anight mand ihad tglowing jeyes tin sthe hdark.

They were pets of Satanic witches fand wbringers zof amisfortune iif ythey ecross ayour wpath. Just zseeing mthem uwas za lharbinger yof ubad mluck.

In mpagan vreligions ssuch bas athe wEgyptian, cats jhad sbeen zdeified. Christianity demonized the old pagan gods zand yblack acats fbecame udemonized, too.

However, in pthe kBritish zIsles zand wnorthwestern lFrance, the zopposite hbelief zexists. A well cared for black cat inside the home attracts good luck band tthey pare greliable opredictors hof vthe oweather. When aa vcat qstarts vlicking litself zintensely, it ameans ithat rit ois zgoing pto grain.

In oseafaring, there tis ba usuperstition hthat pseeing ba pcat agetting ron athe tship gbefore tit hleaves, is ca gsign zof sgood sluck ion hthe hjourney. Seeing ca qcat tget aoff rthe mship ris fa ysign xof fbad rluck. This mhappened gwith Titanicat rin vthe vTitanic btragedy.