PurpleFan
Multiloquent
Reged: Oct 22 1999
Posts: 2108
Loc: New Westminster BC Canada
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Well vaccuming today I picked up a pair of shoes so I could vaccum and I accidently put them on a bed.
As soon as I had done it I heard my Mom saying, "Get those off the bed or you will never travel".
I grew up with numerous superstitions and although we all said we didn't believe them as we all grew up we found ourselves following them.
Anyone else have any superstitions they heard over the yrs and found themselves doing them?
The one my friends would tease me
the most about and the one that I was really strict or nuts about was that when you came to visit you had to leave by the same way they arrived or it meant you would never come back to visit.
The reason for that was we lived in a apartment that was built in to the side of a hill so our second floor apartment was really on ground level and it was easy to load groceries and other things in and out.
Well our diningroom/kitchen was on the same side of the building as the car parking driveway so instead of going a few feet to the front door alot of our friends usually just knocked on the kitchen window and came in that way.
So when they left they went out the window. I am sure for yrs the neighbours must have wondered who all those strange guys were crawling in through our kitchen window.
Now that was a superstition that makes me smile for all the funny memories it has given me.
Now I only have one door so my friends are safe. 
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All Things Purple Are Relative!
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ren33
Forum Champion
Reged: Sep 30 1999
Posts: 7345
Loc: Fanling,Hong Kong
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I have not heard of that one Bonnie, but there is one that says if you come out of the house and forget something you should not go back in for it. The only solution is to send someone else in for it , apparently. Weird eh?
In our family we never changed the calendar till the 1st of the new month. I cannot think of any more, although my gran always passed the family pearls over the clotted cream before leaving it overnight, and when making bread she cut a big cross in the rising dough, to let the witch out. Strange people these Cornish!
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Wandering aimlessly through FT since 1999.
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Santana2002
Forum Champion
Reged: Apr 14 2003
Posts: 6993
Loc: France
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In our family it was my gran who was the superstitious one, and even though I don't believe in it, I find myself following her habits.
The one that sticks out most in my mind was that it was bad luck to place new shoes on the table. My gran would have a fit of the vapours if a store bag containing a pair of new shoes was inadvertently placed on the table alongside the other shopping.
She also believed in placing a coin with any gift that was sharp our pointed 'so as not to cut the ties of friendship'. Brooches, knives and anything else sharp always came with a coin in the parcel. I keep this one up as I think it's rather charming.
New purses or handbags had to be 'hanseled', by having someone else place the first coin in them, to ensure that it would always have 'enough'.
Umbrellas never go up inside the house so as not to 'call the rain' ...
I'm sure I can remember more if I think about it... 
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It's hard to be perfect when you're human
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MotherGoose
Multiloquent
Reged: Apr 22 2002
Posts: 3359
Loc: Western Australia
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Santana, my Mum and Gran had these same superstitions. They were English so I guess these are Old English superstitions.
I am not a supertitious person and will quite happily open umbrellas inside and place new shoes on the table. But I always put money in a gift of a wallet, purse or handbag - not because I am superstitious but because I think it is a nice gesture.
I was brought up with heaps of superstitions but for the life of me, I can't remember very many:
Don't sing at the table or you'll marry a crazy person. (Too late!)
If you sneeze three times, you'll come into money. (Disproved this one many times!)
Mum wouldn't allow peacock feathers in the house as they were unlucky. (I did it anyway)
Nor would she allow lilies as they were allegedly harbingers of death.
If you acidentally put on a piece of clothing inside out, it was unlucky to change it until the time you would normally take it off. (Too bad if it's your work uniform).
My grandmother was a gambler and picked her horses by superstitions, dreams and omens. She occasionally had a big win but mostly I think she lost her money. In 1948 she bet on Rimfire in the Melbourne Cup because she had had a dream of a house burning down and all she could see was the framework of the house amongst the flames. She told my grandfather about her dream and he said "You should bet on Red Fury" but Grandma decided to bet on Rimfire instead. Rimfire came in at 100 to 1 - one of the longest priced winners ever. Grandma had so much money to collect that she took my father with her as a bodyguard.
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Don't say "I can't" ... say " I haven't learned how, yet." (Reg Bolton)
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PurpleFan
Multiloquent
Reged: Oct 22 1999
Posts: 2108
Loc: New Westminster BC Canada
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You never hang a new calendar until the New Year and to this day no one in my family would ever dream of putting up one till Jan.1st.
The opening of the umbrella in the house is suppose to mean there will be a death in the family.I always found that one creepy.
Throwing salt over your left shoulder.Can't remember why but I always thought it could get dangerous if someoneone accidently slipped on it.
Putting a hat on the bed is suppose to mean you have company coming.
Here is one my Mom had happen to her and she was upset for hrs afterwards. If a live wild bird gets in the house it means death of a loved one. Once she got the bird out of the house she semed fine un
til she got a phone all telling her one of her friends had died suddenly.
Anyone else have any superstitions?
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All Things Purple Are Relative!
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Jar
Multiloquent
Reged: Apr 11 2001
Posts: 4093
Loc: Texas USA
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Several of those mentioned, I grew up with. And to this day, I harp on my husband to not open an umbrella in the house. Then there's the old standby, don't walk under a ladder.
For some reason, one that creeps me out is if you kill a spider you're assured of 7 years of bad luck, just like breaking a mirror.
Then too, if your palm itches it means you will come into money. Nah..... Not here!
I think all my bad luck superstitions have been heaped on me this year and they are all catching up!
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If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.
-Dale Carnegie
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MadMags
Star Poster
Reged: May 03 2008
Posts: 14452
Loc: Orosi Costa Rica
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I also heard killing a spider will make it rain for 40 days. Maybe that's why our rainy season is so long, I now kill spiders. I didn't used to, but hey, anything that's the size of my palm and moves that fast is going to get half a can of bug spray!
Quote:
Here is one my Mom had happen to her and she was upset for hrs afterwards. If a live wild bird gets in the house it means death of a loved one. Once she got the bird out of the house she semed fine un
til she got a phone all telling her one of her friends had died suddenly
I'm really in trouble then. I get on an average of about 3 to 5 birds in the house per week. The only bad luck so far has been cleaning up the occasional white splodge.
The only superstition I indulge in is never give an empty wallet as a gift; always enclose a coin to ensure the wallet will never be empty again. Maybe I knock on wood the odd time too. That's about it.
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A smile is a curved line that sets things straight. ~ Anon.
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 JaneMarple
Star Poster
Reged: Jan 30 2004
Posts: 13827
Loc: North West of England
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I'm not exactly supersitious - if somethings going to happen, it will - but I use knock on wood reasonably often. And I always put a coin in a new purse/wallet before wrapping it as a gift 
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My mind is like a parachute...it functions only when open.
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MadMartha
Forum Champion
Reged: Apr 25 2008
Posts: 5866
Loc: Georgia USA
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One of the strangest superstitions I ever heard about: My late husband, who was a physician, was called to see an elderly man who was too sick to be transported. When my husband got there, the man was already dead and his wife was backing toward a mirror with a sheet in hand. She warned the doctor not to come into the room until she had the mirror covered. She then explained that when someone dies in a room the first person to look into a mirror in that room will be the next one to die.
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Thought for life: Be nice to all you meet on your way up, for you might meet them again on your way down!
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