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Superstition

James_H

And I like to roam the land
Joined
May 18, 2002
Messages
7,626
Are you a superstitious person? Do you follow any particular superstitions? Any reason for it? Do you actually believe it, or is it just a habit?

I spit whenever I see single magpies (I'm aware that spitting in public is disgusting). I don't believe that anything specific will happen if I don't, although I do tend to become a bit anxious for no reason and get a feeling of forboding.

I remember reading an article about how superstitious people were stupid, according to some study (and feeling quite affronted) - does anyone have any information on this?

Any other information on the subject is welcome.
 
Although my rational mind (and I do have one...somewhere) tells me there's nothing to it, I still can't open an umbrella indoors or spill salt without chucking some over my left shoulder. I think the discomfort that surrounds breaking either of these self-imposed rules is as significant as whatever evil I'm supposed to be preventing with my observances.
 
I pride myself on not being superstitious but still have to force myself to walk under ladders.
 
A lot of superstitions are actually common sense in disguise.
Walking under ladders - the hazards of dropped objects.
Leaving scissors open - danger of cutting accident.
Whistling on the stage - old habits die hard, even when sailors no longer do the rigging in theatres.
Most are inherited, distorted memories of old rituals and social conventions.

I'm not very superstitious but I've found if I "daydream" about something I look forward to, it doesn't happen or something goes wrong. So, as odd as it sounds, I try not to think about something I want to happen ...
:confused:
 
Not really superstitious, but I am very concious of not ' tempting fate ', of saying something along the lines of ' well, that ( insert whatever ) hasn't happened to me/them yet, ' in case ' fate ' puts the finger up at me.
Since I was chased out of the house like a stray chicken at the age of 5, by my mother and grandmother, for bringing May blossom into the house ( I vaguely think it was something to do with death? ) I have also avoided that, as I was so shocked that it left a very big impression on my little brain.
And new shoes on the table. I have no idea why that's unlucky, but it was a big taboo when I was growing up.
 
The only superstition I have is to knock on wood whenever I say something that I don't want to happen to me, although it unfortunately doesn't always work.
However, this made me think of the movie Drugstore Cowboy. If you haven't seen it superstition plays a big part in the characters lives, especially Matt Dillion's character. Apparently the biggest no-no anyone can do is place a hat on a bed. I've never heard of this superstition. Has anyone ever heard of this and if so do you know why it is supposed to be so bad? In the movie he says something to the effect of if he sees a hat on a bed he'll just start walking and never come back to that house or town again.
 
Lethe said:
Not really superstitious, but I am very concious of not ' tempting fate ', of saying something along the lines of ' well, that ( insert whatever ) hasn't happened to me/them yet, ' in case ' fate ' puts the finger up at me.
...

And new shoes on the table. I have no idea why that's unlucky, but it was a big taboo when I was growing up.

Old shoes on the table are OK, though?:eek!!!!:

re: the 1st paragraph, I remember that in my early teens I remarked that I'd never been in a major accident before. Or, come to think of it, broken a bone. Or stayed in the hospital. Or had surgery.

Well, when I was 14 (IIRC not too long after saying such things) I was in a car accident that broke my femur and required surgery and a hospital stay!

Happily, it was a nice clean break and healed well. And I'm not superstitious (isn't that always the disclaimer)...
 
highvoltage said:
However, this made me think of the movie Drugstore Cowboy. If you haven't seen it superstition plays a big part in the characters lives, especially Matt Dillion's character. Apparently the biggest no-no anyone can do is place a hat on a bed. I've never heard of this superstition. Has anyone ever heard of this and if so do you know why it is supposed to be so bad? In the movie he says something to the effect of if he sees a hat on a bed he'll just start walking and never come back to that house or town again.

I think it relates to an old tradition of placing a dead person's hat on their bed when they've been "laid out" after they died. Putting someone's hat on a bed was considered to be bad luck as it "foretold" the hat owner's soon-to-be death
 
I'm quite supersitious, even though I know there's nothing in it . . .

  • Never put shoes on a table
  • Never wear red and green together
  • Don't walk under ladders
  • Don't wear green on a Monday

to name but a few . . .

Oh, and I always pick up a pin if I see one lying on the ground.

Carole
 
I wouldn't say I'm superstitious. Just eccentric ;)

It's not that I believe certain things cause bad luck; I just have certain things I don't like.

I salute magpies.
I throw salt over my left shoulder.
I don't like shoes on the table - at all
I don't like crossed cutlery.
I don't like slammed doors.
I don't like Welcome mats, as I'm rather particular about who I invite into my home.
I don't like peacock feathers.
I'm aware that Opals are bad luck. So are emeralds in certain circumstances.

Walking under a ladder doesn't bother me, unless someone is up it. Opening an umbrella indoors doesn't bother me either.

A lot of the superstitions I adhere to are simply me being awkward, I'm afraid. I like traditions, so I like keeping them alive.

Mind you, I'm quite serious about the Welcome mat.
 
We've had this subject before but I have no problems about repeating myself.

Angels. :eek!!!!:
You fools who dress your kids up in old white sheets and tinsel for the xmas play, don't you know you're marking them out for DEATH??

Angels are (according to my Methodist upbringing) dead people.

Letting kids play angels is TEMPTING FATE.

Don't do it, 'rents. :(
 
A jeweller I know tells me that opals are considered unlucky because they are quite fragile and easily chipped or shattered.

When I was in hospital having my twins, one of the sisters asked me if she could take a yellow flower from one of my vases to put in a bouquet of one of the other patients, who'd been given a bunch of red and white flowers.

Red and white = blood and bandages, apparently. I think that supersition comes from the time of the first world war.

Carole
 
Ah Peacock feathers! I'd forgotten that. My friend had a fan of peacock feathers which I thought was very beautiful when I was young and often admired. My friend was quite a lucky person, but whenever I was at her house and playing with the thing, afterwards things often went a bit pear shaped for me. When I mentioned it to my grandmother she said that the feathers were unlucky and that the shape on them had always represented the ' Evil Eye '. So I left it alone.
I think opals are beautiful stones, and if I was lucky enough to have any jewellry given to me bearing opals I think I'd wear it, regardless of superstition - until something bad happened :D
 
Ah yes! Blood and bandages. That's another of mine.

And stepping in fairy rings.

Emeralds are considered unlucky for the same reason as opals, although they are also green, of course.

And saying 'thank you' if someone says 'bless you' after sneezing. That kills fairies, that does :D. Mind you, if you believe in the kind of fairies I believe in, you really don't want to be stepping in any fairy rings, and you really don't mind some of them dying!
 
More habits that superstition really, but I don't walk under ladders, I salute magpies, if I spill salt I throw it behind my shoulder, don't open umbrellas indoors, and when performing it's break a leg not good luck. Oh, and it's the Scottish Play too.
 
This salt chucking thing - it has to be the left shoulder, you know...:eek!!!!:
 
The Magpie thing......do people just salute them or do you say something too?

I always thought you had to say "Hello Mr Magpie, how are your wife and children" or "Hello Major, I hope you are well".......Even when walking down a busy street I still mutter this, under my breath of course, and salute (usually by scratching my temple and then flicking my wrist out to look at my watch....)

Is it just me?????

Im superstitious about taps too. Every night before I go to bed I have to check to make sure none are dripping, only in the bathroom though. I think this may have something to do with obsessive compulsive disorder........do you think?
 
"I think this may have something to do with obsessive compulsive disorder........do you think?"

The whole superstition thing appears to be the same as obsessive-compulsive: performing ritual acts to give yourself an illusion of control.

The human/magpie one is interesting though: what species are unlucky for other species? Do rabbits salute dragonflies, are giraffes unlucky for kangaroos...?
 
I can walk under ladders if I've got my fingers crossed.

No new shoes on the table.

BUT...after years with my husband, I can now leave an umbrella open in the hall to dry out, and I don't feel the need to pinch and punch on the first day of the month anymore.

There's a thought - since May is an unlucky month for weddings, and may flowers can be unlucky, perhaps emeralds were either assigned to May because they were unlucky too, or stigmatised by the connection?
 
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I love these quirkies, but am not prey myself.

Having debated with many of you on numerous issues and knowing healthy skepticism to exist here, I must honestly ask, do any of you really believe that your response to these things, be it saluting magpies or driving may blossom from your abode, has any effect whatsoever, and if so explain how?

LD
 
In my deepest self, I know it has no effect ( there are so many damn magpies around here that I'm lucky I have no superstitions regarding them) , but there's that little niggling, ' what if ' that flashes on at some moments. Having had the unverse fequently drop piles of ill fortune on my head, I ' know ' that sticking a finger up at the whole thing would result in something walloping me over the head. :)
 
My personal superstition about angels being associated with death springs from religious teaching in my childhood that people who die are chosen and sent to become angels. This idea fills me with deep horror even now and gave me nightmares as a child.

I don't think it's even a real superstition, except that I hated to hear people call my children angels when they were small.
'Angel' is a common compliment here up north for well-behaved or pretty children.
Seemed like tempting fate, as if 'someone' might hear that they had suitably angelic qualities and whisk them away. :eek!!!!:
 
Fair enough.

I must admit to the though occuring when I see pairs of magpies, that were I superstitious, that would be lucky, but that's as far as I go.

I was just wondering whether people actually took them seriously. I do think however that in certian cases, extreme superstition is actually OC disorder begining to manifest itself outwardly.

LD
 
Having debated with many of you on numerous issues and knowing healthy skepticism to exist here, I must honestly ask, do any of you really believe that your response to these things, be it saluting magpies or driving may blossom from your abode, has any effect whatsoever, and if so explain how?

I don't believe in the slightest that it has any effect. Just... well... just in case... *looks sheepish*

Actually this magpie thing for me, there's one that hangs out near the first tee at my golf course. Golf, well, it's such a thin line between a good day and a bad day, I kind of think, well it can't hurt, can it?!? :D
 
I've got a morbid fear of sharks, so I always carry a towel, as someone once told me that sharks only ever attack wet people. Don't know how true that is. Sounds a bit silly to me, but so far, so good!
 
It is also said that a lost item will only be found in the last place you look for it.

Why this belief came about, I cannot say.
 
bugmum said:
There's a thought - since May is an unlucky month for weddings, and may flowers can be unlucky, perhaps emeralds were either assigned to May because they were unlucky too, or stigmatised by the connection?

Could it be that May is considered unlucky for marriage because it was, in fact, the BEST month for marriage to pre-Christain (i.e., pagan) Romans? Early Christians would certainly have wanted to discredit this belief by starting the tradition of its being unlucky.

I'm sure they weren't overly fond of the sensuality of pagan May/marriage celebrations either... ;)
 
I've noticed in folk songs, often unlucky events happen "in the month of may".

What about the researches that were in the papers a few years back proving that superstitious people were less intelligent? I felt somewhat affronted by that :p
 
Im not that superstitious, but I still wont walk under a ladder.
My mum is very superstitious though, she wont pick up a comb or brush if she drops it, she does the salt thing, and she also wont allow certain flowers into the house at certain times of the year. I really dont have a clue as to why though :?
 
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