At some point during my childhood, I developed a few strange superstitions. As an adult, I often think back on the superstitions I believed in as a child and laugh. Some of which I still believe to this day. I have learned that superstitions can be both cultural and/or religious and develop from a belief system. They can even be subconscious, and in my case, that’s what they’ve always been.
As a child, I had the somewhat common and typical superstition to not ever sleep with my legs or arms hanging off the bed. Perhaps my strangest superstition was that I believed that if I were in trouble, I could walk outside of my house, do a 180 spin, and walk back into my house. Suddenly, I’d be free of my punishment. The one superstition I still follow to this day is always lifting my legs when I am crossing over railroad tracks.
I have compiled a list of both common and uncommon superstitions believed around the world.
- Finding a horseshoe brings good luck.
- Never open an umbrella inside the house.
- Never walk underneath a ladder.
- Don’t cheers with water.
- Keep shoes off the table.
- Bird poop brings good luck.
- Black cats and owls are bad omens.
- Beginner’s luck.
- Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue on your wedding day.
- Catch the bouquet, and you’re next to wed.
- Find a penny, pick it up, all day long, you’ll have good luck.
- If you spill salt, throw some over your left shoulder.
- Picking daisy petals, “He loves me, he loves me not…”
- Don’t see your bride/groom the night before your wedding.
- Saying, “God Bless You” after a sneeze.
- Friday the 13th brings bad luck.
- If you have an itchy palm, it means good fortune is coming your way.
- Knocking on wood reverses bad luck.
- A broken mirror means seven years of bad luck.
- There should be no 13th floor in a hotel.
Some people believe a superstition is a belief in magic, a misunderstanding of science, developed from fear, or a perceived supernatural influence. If taken too seriously, they can cause anxiety or obsessive-compulsive tendencies. For me, they’ve always just been for fun.
