Superstition

Pennies on the ground - if they're 'heads up', I pick them up for good luck and give them to the next person I see. Heads down, I leave 'em alone.

Black cats - they're good luck as far as I'm concerned.

Spilled salt - I throw a pinch over my left shoulder. I don't even know why.

When I got married, and when we renewed our vows, I stuck to the 'something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue' advice. Again... I don't know why.

Even though I'm Pagan/Wiccan, I believe angels get their wings when a bell rings.

Here's a comprehensive list of superstitions I didn't even know were superstitions!

Ol' Fashioned Girl said:

Pennies on the ground - if they're 'heads up', I pick them up for good luck and give them to the next person I see. Heads down, I leave 'em alone.

Click to expand...

Whereas when I find heads-up pennies, I stick them in my left shoe (opposite of my dominate hand) overnight to change the luck. Tails-up pennies brings a wish.

If you want an explanation for this--heads up means the spirit granting the wish will know who you are and might jinx up your wish.

Spilled salt - I throw a pinch over my left shoulder. I don't even know why.

Click to expand...

Salt is a cleanser and a preserver and, while a necessity of life, was often quite expensive. If you spill salt, it's bad fortune. Thus, you throw a pinch of it over your shoulder and into the eye of whatever bad influence is lurking there.

And I do this too, without thinking about it.

When I got married, and when we renewed our vows, I stuck to the 'something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue' advice. Again... I don't know why.

Click to expand...

Something old signifies the couple's honoring of traditions and family values.
Something new signifies the couple's new life together.
Something borrowed signifies the community's part and commitment in the couple's life together.
Something blue signifies good fortune since blue was an expensive dye in days gone by.

Then there's also knocking on wood when you're saying something positive or negative about self or future or plans. (Again, that's to deafen the wood spirits from jinxing good fortune or playing into doubts.)

I dunno. I tend to walk under ladders, open umbrellas inside, own black cats, have great expectations on Friday the 13th. Superstitions don't really get to me much.

I do seem to knock on wood whenever speaking about someting that hasn't happened that I'd rather not have happen.

I'm not superstitious in general, though back when I did a lot of theatre I did find there was quite a bit of truth to the curse of the Scottish play. I've seen first hand things go horribly wrong when someone decides it's all a big joke. Could everything have been coincidental? Sure, but I still have trouble saying the title out loud, actually.

Friday the 13ths, black cats, umbrellas = these are a few of my favorite things.

If I turned around whenever I saw a black cat, I'd never get out of the yard. One superstition that I picked up, and somehow passed to some of my family and friends, is to always put the right shoe on first. Always. I read it in a calendar full of regional superstitions when I was a kid, and it stuck. Left shoe goes on first, bad luck.

So that's my problem, eh? I always put my left shoe on first

Pulling the wishbone of a cooked chicken with someone and making a wish.

Saying. "Break a leg" to actors before a first night performance.

The only superstitions I'm aware of are that I don't anticipate the outcomes of things important to me, and I don't celebrate my successes.

I know other people who'd describe these 'tempting fate' etc..., but I consider it more to be a form of mental hygeine. I seem to work better when my mind is clear.

Ol' Fashioned Girl said:

Pennies on the ground - if they're 'heads up', I pick them up for good luck and give them to the next person I see. Heads down, I leave 'em alone.

I flip them over and then pick them up myself.

Black cats - they're good luck as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah. Me, too. Wonder why? >''<

Spilled salt - I throw a pinch over my left shoulder. I don't even know why.

I used to do that. Now I lick my finger and put some in my mouth. Don't know why - I'm just not the same person I was and that makes more sense for me now.Salt is vital to life. That might be part of it.

Click to expand...

qwerty said:

Pulling the wishbone of a cooked chicken with someone and making a wish.

I did that when I was a kid. After I was grown, a friend gave me onea wishbone one time with a bow attached to hang in my kitchen. She told me it was good luck or something. Now I just save them in kind of a chain (still in kitchen) ... but I'm a weird sort that will bring home a jawbone of a .... whatever that I found out on a walk. Just cuz. Cuz I think it's cool. <shrug>
Saying. "Break a leg" to actors before a first night performance.

Click to expand...

I might not tell them 'break a leg' but I sure won't tell them 'good luck'. That gives them bad luck. A friend of mine was an old vaudeville performer told me that so I took her word for it.

She also told me not to put my shoes on if my foot was above waist level - and I still don't like to keep my shoes stored above that level (?) I really don't know why. It just seemed to make an odd kind of sense somehow.

One thing I won't do - I never say, "I'm b*red. Why? Because it seems like whenever I've said that in the last 10 years or so, quite soon after that, the Universe made sure I wasn't b*red anymore. So I make it a point NOT to say that out loud. I try not to even *think* it. <shudders> Cuz it's almost always not in a good way if you know what I mean.

I never say, "What ELSE could go wrong?"

There are demons, sprites, ghoulies, long-leggedy beasties, and things that go 'bump' in the night just waiting for some fool to say "What ELSE could go wrong?" so they can show 'em.

How's business (or anything else), you never say, "It's GREAT!" You say, "I'm comfortable." This is more a a Jewish thing, but you never want to tempt luck and good fortune to leave by bragging.

Of course, since I do this, this is real – not superstition. Superstition is silly. What I do is perfectly justified.

I'm wondering why you first thought of agnostics when you went looking for superstition. That seems a little odd. Just wonderin'.

LOL, I knock wood all the time and don't even realize I'm doing it half the time.

Here's a weird Stacey-specific superstition. On Sept 11, 2001, it was a gorgeous fall day, really breathtaking. I walked outside, told my husband, "We'll never see a prettier day." An hour later a plane crashed into the Pentagon where my neighbors worked (they were unhurt). I haven't said that phrase again. Baaaaaad mojo.

Well, if you must know -- I'm superstitious about being superstitious. . . .

I'm affected by superstitions I don't have.

Like. My mother will not take anything sharp from someone else. You have to lay it on a table or something, and then she'll pick it up. The superstition being, if you take something sharp from someone, you'll fight with them.

I do not believe this. I remember when it entered our household. But. It makes me deeply uncomfortable to give or take sharp objects.

Similarly (this is more a religious prohibition) I'm not supposed to let my feet or shoes touch paper. It's disrespect to the goddess of learning. So anytime they do, I get extremely uncomfortable.

Ditto with stepping over people older than you. It's associated with their death. So I don't do it, and if someone is about to step over (mostly) my stretched-out legs, I will pull them back pretty quickly. Even though I don't actually believe that.

In all these cases, it's association. These things make me uncomfortable, even though I believe the reason is social and not magical. But discomfort is discomfort, so I avoid 'em.

You reminded me of something, Shweta. In my world a woman doesn't give a man a gift of a knife unless they marry. It means something. (yeah - like I'm gonna give you something you can kill me with - not.)

You also don't pass between a person and a campfire. You go behind them.

What was the other one I read about yesterday? Shoot. I forgot.

Unique said:

You reminded me of something, Shweta. In my world a woman doesn't give a man a gift of a knife unless they marry. It means something. (yeah - like I'm gonna give you something you can kill me with - not.)

Click to expand...

Huh, that's really interesting.

You also don't pass between a person and a campfire. You go behind them.

Click to expand...

Might that have anything to do with not being a target?

Never borrow salt from a neighbour else you'll end up bad friends.

How wierd is that?

qwerty said:

Never borrow salt from a neighbour else you'll end up bad friends.

How wierd is that?

Click to expand...

That IS weird, but what is the definition of a "bad friend." Seems kind of oxymoronic. . . .

You're right, that is an oxymoron! (Not to mention I'm a moron cos I misspelled weird. But then, I can't do diesel without checking)

Should have said you'll fall out with your neighbour - no, don't ask.

qwerty said:

You're right, that is an oxymoron! (Not to mention I'm a moron cos I misspelled weird. But then, I can't do diesel without checking)

Should have said you'll fall out with your neighbour - no, don't ask.

Click to expand...

No big deal. I do it all the time myself.

Forums should be less formal anyway; be more like holding conversations instead of turning in college term papers.

Brief derail

It's only oxymoronic if you think about "bad" as an absolute, or buy into the silliness that is truth-based semantics.

"Bad" functions to modify a value along a scale. A bad friend is someone who does not succeed along the axes of friendship. Similarly a "bad apple" is one that's failing by human standards. Language isn't about absolute truth, it's about communicating human-relevant meaning.

Okay, back to the regularly scheduled programming.

Never light three ciggies off one match ( yes I know it's from the First World War and because of snipers. Still won't do it though - who knows when there'll be a sniper about? )

IdiotsRUs said:

Never light three ciggies off one match ( yes I know it's from the First World War and because of snipers. Still won't do it though - who knows when there'll be a sniper about? )

Click to expand...

Is it that the match is then lit for too long and they get time to aim?