Do you have any superstitions?

[jumptheshadow]

I am one of those people who feels lucky when I find a heads-up penny. (And sometimes that penny will turn out to be the one I need to pay for something without getting a slew of change in return.) I will also pick up a heads-down penny but will turn it right-side up to change its luck.

My partner's grandmother in Ireland believes it is bad luck to have a bird fly into your house or even to hang pictures of birds in your house. (I have a couple in this room I'm in right now, which could explain things.) :)

[patdem]

1. NO WAY....knock on wood!!

[True_Blue]

2. OMG! I do the same thing

Once I dropped some pennies after receiving change at a store and flipped them over before I picked them up. The people behind me looked at me like I was strange. I figure why take chances? :silly:

[Nikia]

3. I do the penny thing too

I've also looked for four leaf clovers and was good at finding them for a while. I started giving them away to show my concern for others, giving them luck.
I don't know if the superstition I take most seriously is a superstition in the normal sense. I won't kill anything unless it is a mosquito in the act of attacking me. I think it is bad luck to kill any creature, even insects, needlessly.

[ret5hd]

4. i have this never-ending fear that if i...

vote republican pigs will fly out my ass.

[trof]

5. Y'all ain't quite right on the penny thing.

You DO turn a tails-up penny to heads, BUT DO NOT PICK IT UP.
TERRIBLE THINGS WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DO.
You have to leave it on the ground heads up for the next guy to find.
It's not just common courtesy, it's the law.

Never put a hat on the bed.
This may have originated when a husband found a hat on the bed THAT WAS NOT HIS.

Never open an umbrella indoors.
I have no idea why.

If you give a knife or scissors as a gift, you must include some money with the gift (a penny will do) so that you don't "cut" the friendship. Same thing if you give a purse or wallet, so the friend will always have money in his purse.

A pinch of spilled salt must be thrown over the left shoulder.
I have no idea why.

My granny would never start a journey or an important project on a Friday.

[True_Blue]

6. Thanks!

I didn't know the penny law.

Also shoes on a table....VERY BAD LUCK!

[trof]

7. Plus, not very sanitary.

Never heard that one.

[jumptheshadow]

10. The tails-up penny thing

I never had heard of the "turn it up for the next guy to find" thing.

It's food for thought.

My partner, whose formative experience in Ireland qualifies her as an expert, also says:

* If you drop a spoon, then company's coming.

* If you wake up with your right hand itching then money's coming in. If your left hand's itching then it's going out. If both hands are itching then it will go out as quickly as it comes in.

The first conversation I heard in Ireland was literally about the superstition that if someone messes with "fairy" mounds or "fairy" trees, then they are a goner. They had specific local examples of young lads who had fallen to the curse.

The second night I was in Ireland Grandma swore she heard the banshees wailing. I chuckled, but then we got news that a close neighbor had passed away the previous evening. He hadn't been sick. And for those of you who don't know Irish lore, the Banshees are reputed to wail for the "O's" and the "Mc's" whenever a family member passes on.

Interesting stuff.

[trof]

8. My Cajun father-in-law

said if you wear a straw hat in the winter the goats will eat it.
????????????????????????

[hippiechick]

9. Salt over my shoulder

...when I spill anything in the kitchen.
Guess it wards off the evil spirits lurking behind me.

I also wear a hematite ring to repel negative energy forces.

I'm spiritually inclined - have totems hanging over the door and window ways of my house, regularly meditate and hold a smudging ceremony twice a year.


Just a lil' superstitious .....


:hippie:

[Meshuga]

11. Only during hockey playoffs...

I have my lucky spot on the couch. I have to compete for the spot with my cat...

[Skittles]

12. I absolutely believe in knock on wood

absolutely

[Rashind]

13. Never, ever, EVER talk shit about your car.

Your car absolutely has to know that you love it, or it will punish you mercilessly. :scared:

Not that I am driving these days, but I won't ride with people who insist on calling their car "piece of shit" or the like. I don't wanna get stranded.

[Wolfman 11]

14. don't ever leave a hat on a bed

I heard that it was bad luck when I was a kid so I have tried to avoid this. My luck is bad enough as it is.

[Lizz612]

15. Heads up nickles.

But thats because twice in one day my friend was pointing down (first her toenails, and then the floor) and both times there was a heads up nickle at her feet. She didn't notice, but I pointed them out, the second time she was weirded out. That was a really fun day, and heads up nickles remind me of that day. I don't think thats superstition quite but whatever.

[The Lone Liberal]

16. I have one...

"even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night may become a wolfe when the wolfebane blooms and the autumn moon is bright"