Are any of you superstitious?

[pammy]

I am sitting here bored on a kid free night and nowhere to go so I thought I would start a new thread:

Do any of you have any superstitions? And why do we believe them?

I mean how can walking under a ladder (please no jokes!) make anything bad happen? Or opening an umbrella indoors? I guess its just habbit we grow up with.
I don't believe in superstitions but yet I still walk around the ladder, and I cross my fingers and knock on wood and all that!
I was interested in how this all came about so found an interesting website http://www.oldsuperstitions.com (http://www.oldsuperstitions.com/bad_luck.html)which said the meanings behind some of them:
Good Luck: Fingers Crossed - By making the sign of the Christian faith with our fingers, evil spirits would be prevented from destroying our chances of good fortune.
Good Luck: Knock on Wood - It was believed that good spirits lived in trees, and that by knocking on anything made from wood, we could call upon these spirits for protection against misfortune.
Bad Luck: Walking under a ladder - A leaning ladder forms a triangle with the wall and ground. Triangles represent the Holy Trinity, and violating the Trinity by breaking it (walking through it) would put you in league with the devil himself

There are also daft ones that I havent heard of like, dont go to the bathroom in the nude in the night or insects will fall on you!! How on earth did that come about!

Right so what are your superstitions and why do you do them?

[suziq]

so why no new shoes on the table then pammy?
or what is crossed knives about?

[pammy]

It doesnt say the reason for those on there (but surely any shoes on the table is not hygenic!!)
Cross knives there will be an argument at the table (not sure where that came from either)

[dune]

i usually dip a cat in salt and throw it over my left shoulder :-)

[**Patty**]

I do the * no new shoes on the table* thing as well...although i have no idea why.
Also, don't wash on New Years Day or you'll *wash* someone out of the family ( i.e. someone will die within the family)......don't know where that one comes from either, just something my mum always said.

[M3chanical_animal]

Great thread pammy :)

[suziq]

wash ureself patty? or pots and clothes?

[M3chanical_animal]

I guess I'm a bit backward - if I see a ladder I have to walk under it, I put new shoes on tables - I do all the things people would class as bad luck (although I own a black cat that is always walking in front of me!)

[**Patty**]

*chuckles*

Clothes.....




i hope.

[suziq]

i always thort a black cat was good luck till my son told me otherwise!

[MRS HUMMER H2]

My Hubby says its bad luck to cut your nails on a Sunday :confused:

[ploverpalace]

I won't put new shoes on the table or wash clothes on New Yrs day. Apart from that i'm not really superstitious, although we went to a Christening last Sunday and bought our friends little boy a Peter Rabbit money box and DH said it had to have coins in it for luck.

[whamfanuk]

i'm not at all..... i wash everyday xmas day and new years day included

[6lilpigs]

I am an extreme beleiver in the opposite. I lost my mum (big C) on my 13th birthday, 'oooh 13 unlucky for some' am I cursed. NO b*ll*ks I swear everything I touch turns to gold (not in the monetary way, cashcard screams every time I pass a cashpoint) but gold cant buy you happiness anyway. My OH says the washing on new years day thing and I say to him 'What will be unlucky for you mate is if I have a full washing basket on the 2nd, out my way and pass me them stinking socks.'
Or is it that my bit of bad luck counter balances my run of good luck. Personally I dont think so. I beleive in statistics. There is probably a 1 in 30 chance that an event birth/death will happen on a significant day whether it b'day, xmas day, N Y day .

Great thread by the way. How about a supernatural one? Do you think things can of have been altered from the other side?

[6lilpigs]

P.S. Whamfan judging by your avatar it doesnt look like youve got a lot of washing. :rofl:

[Gizmos]

stepping on cracks in the pavement - heck you'd walk weird if you did that all the time

[tiger]

I'd not heard the washing on New Years Day one until my MIL told me that when she was widowed a neighbour told her she'd caused it by doing her washing on New Year's Day.
I thought it was a very cruel thing to say to a young, newly bereaved woman. She had 3 young children and one still in nappies with no washing machines in those days. She probably had to do her washing every day.

[DaisyChain]

Whats 'touch wood' about then ?

[gwillymsarah]

in don't think i'm suppersticious, but i don't walk under ladders as i don't want anything falling on my head. mil is and keeps taking the shoes of the table, kids put them there it's used more for storage than eating on lol.

[pammy]

Whats 'touch wood' about then ?

Good Luck: Knock on Wood - It was believed that good spirits lived in trees, and that by knocking on anything made from wood, we could call upon these spirits for protection against misfortune.

[dune]

i always thort a black cat was good luck till my son told me otherwise!

i think it depends if its up a ladder when you walk undeneath :p

[sandhabibi]

Magpies...1 for sorrow- 2 for joy - 3 for a girl- 4 for a boy etc etc.
You have to salute them and say good morning mr magpie 3 times...
Whenever I see alone magpie I try to see another else bad news will come. One week a saw a magpie in the same place every morning on my way 2work,so when a phonecall came with news of a death I kind of already knew in my heart.(long story as to why it took 5days for me to find out).

[dune]

Magpies...1 for sorrow- 2 for joy - 3 for a girl- 4 for a boy etc etc.
You have to salute them and say good morning mr magpie 3 times...
Whenever I see alone magpie I try to see another else bad news will come. One week a saw a magpie in the same place every morning on my way 2work,so when a phonecall came with news of a death I kind of already knew in my heart.(long story as to why it took 5days for me to find out).

I have loads of magpies living near me. One morning i saw 13 together.
Not sure if thats good or bad luck

[pammy]

I know we all do it but I dont understand how something like 'cutting your nails on sunday' can make anything bad happen.
There is nothing physical that could make bad things happen by doing that.

What about all the things that we dont know about, if we are ignorant to the superstitions does that mean they wont work on us. At new years I didnt know about the washing thing but I was always told open the back door, let the old year out open the front door let the new year in. I didnt do it this year, maybe thats why I got made redundant!

Honestly though, I think things would happen anyway even if we didnt have the superstitions and maybe we just like to think that they were the cause of it. And mentally with the bad luck side of things we think something bad is going to happen and it then usually does! (thats the pessimist in me)

[Cinderella]

I know we all do it but I dont understand how something like 'cutting your nails on sunday' can make anything bad happen.
There is nothing physical that could make bad things happen by doing that.



my mil is mega superstitious- it's all pagan :lol:

there's no cutting hair on a sunday as well... well i'm doomed:)

[pammy]

I still cant see how something that we do will change the fate of us. I think if it is going to happen it will happen
What do you all think?
I think we have just been brought up to do it and its habit.

[colman]

i do everso many listed:-

never open an umbrella indoors
never wash on NY day...
do the whole magpie thing
dont walk under a ladder
no new shoes on the table
throw salt over my shoulder if i spill some
knock on wood
noticed that one wasnt on the list that i do:- you always have to leave the house by the same door you entered it...

[muppet11]

whenever i see a magpie on his own i have to salute and say 'morning mr magpie hows your wife and kids' totally blinking stupid i know because if you see a solitairey magpie it means its partner is dead!

over to you........

[siennahue]

Well I'm not superstitious as such but I did sit back a bit when I realised my DD would be coming back from a school trip to the Isle of Wight on Friday 13th June :o

[Jules_2005]

I've revived an old thread for you muppet. I knew I'd read one ages ago on here

[Maldives]

Well I'm not superstitious as such but I did sit back a bit when I realised my DD would be coming back from a school trip to the Isle of Wight on Friday 13th June :o

Love Friday 13th June... can't wait for it this year.....

[siennahue]

Love Friday 13th June... can't wait for it this year.....

You can't leave it like that Maldives, share! :D

[NitWit]

I think I read the no shoes on the table goes back to when the mines were open. Something to do with if your loved one was involved in an accident, someone they worked with would bring his shoes home and put them on the table to tell the loved one.

I am very superstitious. Magpies, Crossing on the stairs, ladders, Old year out new year in etc....

[Maldives]

You can't leave it like that Maldives, share! :D

I was born on a Friday and it was the 13th June.... so I love this day, nothing sinister just my Birthday :)

[siennahue]

Oh bless! :D Well it's got to be good one then!

[clairespiggin]

whenever i see a magpie on his own i have to salute and say 'morning mr magpie hows your wife and kids' totally blinking stupid i know because if you see a solitairey magpie it means its partner is dead!

over to you........

My mum taught me the saying 'Hello Mr Magpie how's your lady wife' for a single magpie, even my kids say it now, so the tradition goes on.:):)

[clairespiggin]

Did anyone else do the tossing of a coin at a new moon for good luck/make a wish or was that my mum's idea of passing the time

[montygingercat]

I always salute a single magpie and say good day my lord - don't know why!! and never wash on New Year's Day or you will wash your luck away.

[jamsandwhich]

I guess I'm a bit backward - if I see a ladder I have to walk under it, I put new shoes on tables - I do all the things people would class as bad luck (although I own a black cat that is always walking in front of me!)


Me Too - just for the badness of it I think!!!

But - I was in borders with my then five month old twin girls a couple of months ago and I saw a shiny new penny on the floor so I picked it up (see a penny, pick it up, all day long you will have good luck), walked outside and a lady from the local paper asked if I would like to do the £100.00 cash dash - you get half an hour to spend £100.00 in any shop you like within the shopping park - so of course I said yes!!! Spent most of it on the girls!

[Ragtimeplayer]

I dislike the number 13, badly.

It even transmits to similiar numbers so I also avoid 31!

(Yes I know I am weird)

[Dormouse]

I'd not heard the washing on New Years Day one until my MIL told me that when she was widowed a neighbour told her she'd caused it by doing her washing on New Year's Day.
I thought it was a very cruel thing to say to a young, newly bereaved woman. She had 3 young children and one still in nappies with no washing machines in those days. She probably had to do her washing every day.
You're right, that is so cruel! :(:eek::nono:

[Dormouse]

I don't think I'm superstitious. I do pick up pennies though (but that's just because I'm tight, LOL :D) and I don't put new shoes on a table because I hate seeing shoes on tables, new ones, old ones, whatever! :nono:

[angelic]

You must be psychic Pammy :) I couldn't sleep last night and was thinking of starting a superstition thread....came on tonight and you've done one :)

I am a total nutter when it comes to superstitions -
Magpies are the worst, I hate them and have to nod 12 times (no idea why 12?) when I see a single one and don't care where I am or who I am with if I see one as I just have to do this ritual :(

I also refuse to walk under a ladder - window cleaner laughs as he knows he has to move his ladder when he comes so I can go out of the front door to open the side gate for him :o

I *touch wood*, throw spilt salt over my left shoulder, won't put new shoes on a table, won't open an umbrella indoors and love black cats who walk across my path :)

Is there any hope for me :confused:
DS2 has inherited most of the above from me, although DH and DS1 just think I have lost the plot :rolleyes:

[janice mac]

Well I'm not superstitious as such but I did sit back a bit when I realised my DD would be coming back from a school trip to the Isle of Wight on Friday 13th June :o

I only noticed this today too sienna!

[sullieb]

I salute a single magpie "Good morning Mr Magpie, how is Mrs Magpie and the children", it drives my OH loopey but I can't help it.

Also never wash on New Years Day or Ash Wednesday, again something else that bothers my OH....but, as I say how can you possibly risk it.....I would never forgive myself if someone in the family died!

If you give knives as a pressie then you must also give a piece of silver. Also applies to money boxes and purses!

[WorcsSaver]

Magpies...1 for sorrow- 2 for joy - 3 for a girl- 4 for a boy etc etc.
You have to salute them and say good morning mr magpie 3 times...
Whenever I see alone magpie I try to see another else bad news will come. One week a saw a magpie in the same place every morning on my way 2work,so when a phonecall came with news of a death I kind of already knew in my heart.(long story as to why it took 5days for me to find out).

Totally agree, I salute them then shoot them if just one, then if see another unshoot it LOL

Also 'touch wood'!

WS :)

[WorcsSaver]

I salute a single magpie "Good morning Mr Magpie, how is Mrs Magpie and the children", it drives my OH loopey but I can't help it.

Also never wash on New Years Day or Ash Wednesday, again something else that bothers my OH....but, as I say how can you possibly risk it.....I would never forgive myself if someone in the family died!

If you give knives as a pressie then you must also give a piece of silver. Also applies to money boxes and purses!

sullieb

What if you give silver knives - is that killing two birds with one stone LOL

Best make sure they aren't magpies :p

LOL

WS :)