41 replies to this topic

[arawa]

I didn't know where else to post this, but I'm hoping this is the right place  

I was brought up in the UK, with some superstitions (thanks to my Mother) that not many other people I've met seem to know of, I was wondering if anyone here could shed some light on them - is there a reason for these?

The two ones noone ever seems to have heard of were

"Putting shoes on the table is bad luck"

and "Saying thank-you after someone says "bless you" (after you sneeze) is bad luck"

Anyone got any other weird ones. or reasons as to why these two particular things were such bad luck?

[mellilotflower]

I've heard of both of those, though I don't follow the thankyou one I'll never put new shoes on the table.

One of my favourites is throwing spilled salt over the left shoulder to hit the devil in the eye... it's just so silly!

And I've never been able to work out, is a black cat across your path lucky or unlucky?

[hunnyfire]

I heard that if a black cat does cross your path, it is bad luck.

Or if a window breaks, you will have 7 years of bad luck.

Or if you cutt between a pole, you will have bad luck.

[whispers_of_fire]

Hawk, I've never heard of either

LOL, Mel, salt's a cleanser and purifier and you have to remember that at the time it originated bad luck was attributed to demons.

My own fave is walking under a ladder, now when a ladder's against a wall, the shadow forms a triangle, the triangle's
symbolic of the Christian Trinity and to walk beneath it...to break up that Triangle is the worst of bad luck. Personally, I think it has more to do with a 300# carpenter landing on the person

[mellilotflower]

See, I always found too much sense in the ladder thing, mainly because I saw how easy it was for someone to drop things on your head from that position... thanks for the explanation, of both the ladder and the salt...

[MoonChild]

Quote

See, I always found too much sense in the ladder thing, mainly because I saw how easy it was for someone to drop things on your head from that position... thanks for the explanation, of both the ladder and the salt...

I won't come near the ladder if you are on, Mell

[mellilotflower]

Hey! I'm not that clumsy... honest- just a little cruel sometimes

[NocturnalCantaloupe]

Honesty can be the most brutal of cruelties at times.  I love it!

I like the shoes on the table one.  I think that goes along with putting things like hats and socks on the table (or feet for that matter).  Probably becuase it is considered poor form.

[trudy_causey]

I have heard of 7 years bad luck for breaking a mirror but not a window, and every time I have had a black cat cross my path especially driving a car something has always happened.

[trudy_causey]

I have a book on superstitions and under shoes there's nothing there about putting shoes on a table.here goes for the ladder. a ladder leaned against a wall completes a triangle with the wall and the ground. The triangle is said to be the sign of the Holy Trinity, so anyone who walks straight through it is showing disrespect for God and possibly sympathy with the Devil.

[whispers_of_fire]

No worries, Mel ;D

I think a lot of them have religious connotations, possibly dating back to the Middle Ages where anything bad was attributed to the workings of the Devil or a demon, another thing I find interesting was rhymes we learned as children that refer to the plague outbreak, "Ring around the rosey (Refers, I think, to the rash that was one of the early signs of plague) a pocket full of posies<posies were thought to ward off the plague>Ashes! Ashes! They all fall down" (Possibly due to the fever that was one of the last symptoms or the fact that plague victims were burned)

Kind of a maverick thought, guys, is a superstition a learned behavior? In Classic conditioning a gentleman named BF Skinner created a multi-level box called the Skinner box, the box was designed as a set of increasingly difficult tests for small animals and birds, on a simple level, a rat presses a bar and a food pellet is dispensed, whereas on a more complicated level, the rat only gets the reinforcer if the bar is pressed and an overhead light is green. In many trials the rats would exhibit seemingly bizarre behavior, spinning, jumping, acts that they had exhibited when the reinforcer criterion was less demanding,
was this the ratly equivalent of lucky boxers?

[arawa]

Thats a really interesting question - I know my Mother for one would go insane if you left shoes on the table (any shows, not just new ones) and I tend to do the same without even thinking - my poor husband swears I'm making superstitions up as I go along

Perhaps there is some sort of "conditioned" response to superstitions - I know that people who have had "bad days" on Friday 13ths seem to be very much more aware of any future Friday 13ths, much the same as I'm down to two colors of hairband I can wear at work, because the other colors are obviously responisble for me having horrible days, rather than my job

[arawa]

A small bunch of flowers.