Magical thinking and superstitions are not as far removed from a rational and pragmatic life as it seems. Who more and who less has hesitated when it comes to partying that Friday the 13th or has changed the appointment with the gynecologist because it was the 13th and Tuesday. And who hasn’t knocked on wood to avoid bad luck? But there is more. We tell you some things that only superstitious people will understand. Do they ring a bell?
The most frequent superstitions
Superstitious people know that happiness is based on small daily gestures, but they also know that happiness or emotional stability is brittle. In a moment everything can change and a tiny detail such as spilling a pinch of salt can change the course of events. How not to be alert? Good luck and bad luck depend entirely on being aware of these superstitions.
- Touch wood
Admit it, you’ve done it more than once. It’s listening to the typical phrase “I haven’t had the flu for 5 years” and looking for a wooden surface to avoid conjuring up bad luck or Murphy’s law, you never know. Do you know why you do it? The wood comes from the trees, just the place where the fairies live. It is a way to touch your home and invoke your protection.
- black cats
A beautiful black kitten crosses your path and you don’t know whether to think what a bad luck or to stay playing for a while with that beauty. What a nuisance of superstition, that of the black cat, and all because in the Middle Ages these little animals were associated with witches and sorcery. Of course, if this belief of the black cat bothers you a lot, you can always go to the Egyptian cultural tradition and think that this black cat cannot bring you bad luck, since it is the reincarnation of some god.
- Under the stairs
You are walking down the street and you find a staircase. Do you go under it or go around it? You walk around it, but not out of superstition, of course, but out of common sense, so you don’t drop any material just as you’re passing by. The belief that going under a ladder brings bad luck also comes from the Middle Ages because in public executions when someone was hanged, there was always a ladder.
- Tuesday 13
’13 and Tuesday, neither get married nor embark’ And if popular wisdom says so, it will be true. The bad vibes with this date are attributed to the fall of the Roman Empire in Constantinople, although the number 13 also has its own component of negativity in many traditions. 13 diners were at Jesu s’ last dinner and we already know how the meeting of friends ended, according to Kabbalah there are 13 evil spirits and in the Tarot card number 13 is that of death.
- Friday the 13th
The superstition with this date also has its origin in some historical events such as defeats, betrayals and various executions, but its evil power has been fostered in recent years thanks to the horror movie ‘Friday the 13th’. Its influence is such that there is even a phobia to this day with the complicated but eloquent name of Paraskevi dekatria phobia.
- Broken mirror
One of the greatest domestic misfortunes is that a mirror breaks. Mirrors, once another divination tool, are broken so as not to tell us what they see about our future, which must be pretty terrible if it is capable of self-destructing so as not to tell us the prediction. Anyway, a broken mirror is 7 years of bad luck unless…tradition says that if you don’t throw away the pieces you can avoid bad omens. What it doesn’t say is what to do with all that broken glass.
- Give me the salt
Clumsiness also attracts bad luck when you ask for the salt to be passed to you and due to an oversight the salt shaker falls. There are those who think that this is nothing, but the fact is that the most direct way to invoke the devil. The solution? Take another pinch of salt and throw it over your left shoulder, thus neutralizing its evil effects.
- four leaf clover
Not everything is going to be negative in this luck and that’s where the amulets come from. One of the oldest amulets, belonging to the Celtic culture, is that chance encounter with a four-leaf clover that will give you good luck because thanks to it, they say, the fairies regained their strength and good energy. Go around the neighbor’s garden to see if you can find it.
- Don’t sweep my feet!
After a family meal, you start to clean up everything and get ready to wash the dishes when your sister arrives with her broom and starts sweeping around you. There a dance is formed, you trying not to sweep your feet because everyone knows that if they do you will never get married. Look at it from the bright side, being single has many advantages, so don’t dodge that broom.
- The umbrella inside the house
Many daring people risk coming home after a rainy day and leaving it open inside the bathtub to dry. They are not superstitious people, of course, since opening the umbrella inside the house is totally prohibited. If you are wondering about the origin of this superstition, do not look in the Middle Ages, in magic or in witchcraft. When the habitual use of umbrellas began, many people realized that opening it inside the house caused small domestic accidents.
And you, do you have any superstitions?