Thread: Local Superstitions

Originally Posted by gratewhitehuntr

like you couldn't use the search function instead of inviting him to talk about it AGAIN?

drop bear

Repeat myself? I do not repeat myself! I repeat, I do not repeat myself!

James.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Heres a couple of my mothers favorites. If a bird flys inside of your house, someone is going to die. The second one is that people die in threes, meaning that if yoyu hear of one death, you will shortly hear of two more.

This raises many questions for me. Does that mean that if a bird flies into your house you should be expecting two more in the near future? What if your house is an aviary? What should you expect to fly into your house if someone dies of a bird-related accident or disease? If a hummingbird flies into your house backwards, does that mean someone will come back from the dead?

James.

I dunno, Ill have to ask mom.

I am married to a woman of Polish-Irish descent (Catholic too, none-the-less) and she brings with her many superstitions.

Two come to mind (I hope I get this right),

1.) If you rock a rocking chair without anyone sitting in it, someone will die.

2.) If you put your shoes on the bed, those shoes will shrink.

Go figure

I've heard many times if you hand someone a closed knife they should return it closed and vice versa. Folks are very superstitious about it around here, (NC), usually backing away, refusing the knife until you either close or open it the way they had it. I figure it has its origins in safety, but folks swear it's bad luck.
The sweeping thing, I think has its origins in "jumping the broom". Married couples used to jump or walk over a broom after their wedding ceremonies. It varies, but it's pretty wide spread. Things like this have pagan roots and tend to attract negative stigma as time passes and they fall out of fashion.

Never give someone an empty wallet or purse lest they be forever broke.

If you hang a dead snake on the fence, it will rain.

A dropped piece of silverware means company's coming.

Since my day job is at a casino, I see crazy/unusual/cultural/funny superstitions all the time.

Here's just a couple that I have found interesting:

• In some cultures, it is considered very bad luck, and insulting/threatening, to give a time piece as a gift, especially as a birthday gift. It's supposed to signify that "your time is running out"
• Not tipping is bad luck.
• If there are multiple doors to an entrance, you should always enter through the one closest to the center.
• You should never exit a building through the same door your entered because bad luck might follow you.
• You should always exit a building through the same door you entered, because otherwise good luck can't follow you.
• If somebody dies while gambling, it's lucky to play from the same position they died in. (I wish I was joking, but we've had people drop with a heart attack at a slot machine, and had people fighting over their machine before the paramedics could move the patient or body)
• In many east-asian cultures, 8 is a lucky number. Sort of like lucky 7's here, but a much more widely, and firmly, held belief.
• In some cultures, a whole family will pool their extra money, and a family elder will pick the "luckiest" member of the family to take all the money to gamble with.
• I have seen so many crazy gambling rituals and lucky charms I don't even know where to begin. There's one woman who sits at a machine right across from the counter my office is hidden behind, and she waves her right hand back and forth 3 times across the face of the machine before every spin.

Being of Italian (among other) descent(s), superstition is an every day thing. I don't buy any of it, nor do I participate, but I'll go along with it.

1. In every car I have ever owned, my mother has to put a red ribbon in the trunk for good luck.
2. In ever car I've owned since being with my girl, she's thrown loose change in my back seat (I hate this one - dirtying up the new car).
3. I know an Italian lady who will not get out of the bed from the opposite side from which she got in.



Also, for a laugh -- go back and watch the "Sea Bass" scene from Dumb & Dumber.

Eating black eyed peas on New Year's Eve will leave you healthy, wealthy, and wise. Having done this with my older family for a while, I can either say it's not working or I could be really sick, poor, and dumb. I never liked black eyed peas anyway...

I was told as a child if someone handed you a knife, always return it to them in the same conditions as it was handed to you.

Old Railroad Superstitution. Train wrecks happen in threes.

An old panhandler told me never to try and hustle a man wearing a red tie.

A Gypsy told me that a man wearing a red tie was easy to fool because they had big egos.

An old man told me that if you bring a puppy home, cut off the tip of its tail and put it under the backdoor step and it would never leave home.

In the military it was common not to accept the third light for your cigarette as it was bad luck.

A friend of mine ran a variety store and he had a slight stroke, an ambulance was called and he was loaded onto it. They started moving him out the door with his head going first. An old black lady stopped them and would not let him go out unless he went feet first. She said if he went out feet first he would live and be able to walk back in. If he went out head first he would die.

There are countless superstitions i have heard and it amazes me that some people believe them. You are never free from surprises.