An elderly lady once told me that if you spill salt it's because the devil's trying to distract you so you should throw it over your shoulder into his eye so he'll stop whispering in your ear. I've also heard a rhyme which goes: "If you spill the salt, do it over your shoulder, or you won't live, to be much older."
The cigarette one originated from WW1 teachings: 1.) The sniper sees your location 2.) The sniper looks down his scope 3.) The sniper pulls the trigger
Mirrors always gave me the willies. I was maybe three when I sat at my mothers big vanity and saw the bedroom all ass backwards. It would make me anxious.
Actually historically it has always been pronounced Seltic, it's only since the football team became well known that people have started pronouncing it Keltic.
knocking on wood originated in Ireland. If you wanted to tell someone a secret you made sure to knock on wood first to shake out any fairies in the nearby woods who might be listening.
Wait, I'm sorry, did you just say "Selts"? My ancestors were not a damned sports team! They were a culture killed by the Romans and then ostrasized by the rest of Europe. The letter C in the word Celt is pronounced like a K, thank you. Also, OMG! Do these people do any research? Nearly all, modern, Christian, wedding traditions come from the dark ages. Victorious warlords would usually abduct women who they thought were the best looking or would produce good children. This is why he would need his best man at his side and also why he would have to carry the woman across the threshold.
I read that knocking on wood came from knocking on trees as you passed by in the woods, to wake up faeries/tree spirits and have them bless you as you continue on.
#6 happened to my dad. We were in a very large zoo in Australia and we were in the part with a lot of free-roaming birds. At one point my dad took his hat off and a bird crapped on his head. However, it didn't bring him luck. Just a bunch of laughs from my brother and I.
The origin of throwing salt over your shoulder started many years ago when salt was extremely valuable and when someone would spill salt is believed that the devil made them spill it so throwing the salt over your shoulder would cause the salt to go in to the devil's eyes and repel him
Saying bless you after someone sneezes - Reason: In the Victorian or older times people believed sneezing was your soul trying to escape, so people said bless you to bring it back in, relating to God.
Another reason is because this originated when the plague was around and people believed sneezing was a sign of the plague so saying bless you was because you was gonna die and they felt sorry for you
Actually it's not a superstition at all. When you sneeze your heart stops for a second and pumps again, that's why people say bless you so your heart pumps again. Or so I've heard.
Plutarch: "It continues also a custom at this very day for the bride not of herself to pass her husband's threshold, but to be lifted over, in memory that the Sabine virgins were carried in by violence, and did not go in of their own will." - I heard this a long time ago - I think it was in a college course.
The superstition I learned in Nova Scotia, Canada was stepping on a line breaks the devil's spine. So as a little kid I stepped on every line I could find. :)
What's really weird is that the first time I heard the graveyard holding breath thing was this video. Except ever since I've been very young I've always felt that I should hold my breath near a cemetery. I'm fairly certain the first time I've heard that superstition is today...
I spilt the salt once and I forgot to the the toss it over you left shoulder thing and about a week later I was putting salt on my dinner and the shaker broke spilling all of the salt on my food. Yummy!
I like the 4 leaf clover superstition, since I've found over 60 in 2 years, and also 5 leaf clovers, which are said to bring bad luck, so I don't touch them just for the lollygag, and I've even found one day a 6 leaf clover
Number 13: it originates from the Last Supper, the 13th person there being Judas. Also, Friday the 13th is unlucky because arresting of Knights Templar was ordered on Friday, 13 October 1307. Tossing coins: Ancient people tossed silver coins into wells and reservoirs to keep them sterile. It may be one of the origins of this superstition.
I read that the knock on wood goes back to earliest religions which taught that all things had spirits. The oldest spirits being most powerful, so when someone spoke something they wanted they would hit a tree to wake the spirit so it could hear the request.
You have to ask them. They have learned through the years not to shout all their beliefs from the street corner. But they have had a bunch of lulu's. And the list isn't much shorter now.
It was the Celts that primarily started this, as the Druidic teachings were very specific on the power of trees and other plants. They also believed that the spirit of the tree lived on in the things made from ot, which is why knocking on a wooden door, wall, etc. is just as viable as a living tree.
The salt one was because salt was so valuable that spilling it was considered to be the devil making you do it, so you take a pinch and throw it over your left shoulder into his eyes to make him go away.
3 on a match IS bad luck. Strike a match and light your cigarette, the enemy saw you. Light your buddy's cig, the enemy sighted you in. Light another buddy's cig, BANG! No more buddy. Matches, lighters, and pretty much anything that lights up doesn't just illuminate your surroundings, they illuminate YOU!
It was pronounced Selts in English, for hundreds of years. Re-written "history!" It's an industry. A liberal Jew industry, no less. Note how much money Hillary Clinton and Mike Savage are making on publishing books these days. It's related. A little vague to most I'm sure...but, related - you can bet on that.
You made a booboo with the coins thing. We Celts and their ancestors have been doing similar since the Bronze Age, at least. Granted, coinage wasn't a big thing back when Ugg first swung a club at an auroch, but our waterways are littered with offerings of swords, figurines, shields and similarly valuable things. Back in the day, it was de rigueur to thus honour the water gods and thus come by good fortune.
Superstitions are usually rooted in some common sense (umbrella, ladders) while others are rooted in fear. Eg: I have a black cat b/c they are often not adopted due to superstitions. There is nothing wrong with cats (or dogs or any animal)!
The thing about knocking on wood. Was to prevent evil spirits who were thought to live in trees. So the evil spirits would not here what you were saying. So they couldn't twist it.
My mom had some grandma, that believed in those kind of superstitions. One day when my mom came over for a visit, she (temperarily) put her shoes on the table. Her grandma died the next day...
The reason the bride is carried over the threshold is because fear or evil coming in on her shoes, it was to baffle evil for the same reason shoes and tin cans were tied to the back of the new couples car. These and many other marital superstitions I found in a bridal magazine several years ago.
What's seltic, I know what Celtic is but not seltic. Celtic is pronounced with a hard K, not a soft s sound. Walking under a ladder is a Christian superstition, represents violating the Trinity or Triune God.
*Holds Breezepelt, Nightcloud, Ravenpaw, Hollyleaf, Leopardfoot and Tigerstar's sister tightly* Don't worry, you're not bad luck. *glares at Ravenwing* But you are
Everyone knows that the umbrella thing is bad luck because it offends the Greek sun god Helios because it implies that you need extra protection from him.
About Salt over your left shoulder...comes from the belief that good stands on your right side & bad or evil stands on your left side, both of witch you cannot see. When you would spill Salt by accident, you would take Salt in your right hand and throw it into the eyes of the demon on your left side, so he could not see the accident and take advantage of it. (Sub Aramean Origin)
The Fae and supposedly, Witches, cannot be around iron and horseshoes were made of iron. Also, the two points up keep good luck from draining away, they also symbolized the Horned Moon (Goddess and the Horned God).
I don't know why it is considered unlucky to spill salt but in many cultures salt has purifying properties it is still traditional in sumo wrestling to purify the ring with salt to ward off evil spirits
I always thought the four leaf clover was considered good luck because you have to be lucky to find one, so it symbolizes that you have good luck, not grants you good luck. The true origin was the general superstitious nonsense, which disappointed me a little. Ialso always held my breath near the dead because I didn't want to smell them, I had no idea that it was a legitimate superstition.
I believe that the Knock On Wood Belief came from people who believed that spirits or demons lived inside trees, and knocking on the tree bark or wood, would keep them at bay. Not sure what people these were, though.
#22 salt was really expensive and valuable so ppl believed by soiling it the devil was coming for you. Throw it over the left shoulder bc that's the shoulder the devil is on (angel on the right shoulder)
It's actually rare to find a rabbits foot these days, some hunters have one on their keychain, and some truck drivers keep one on the rear view mirror for good luck.
BobSkiz1 I think most rabbits who's left feet were taken were given the name 'stew' and not allowed to hop around with three legs, geeze hunters have compassion you know!.
knocking on wood is a Celtic tradition from a time when it was believed that knocking on a tree would invoke the spirit of the to bless the knocker with favor. also the "c" in Celtic is pronounced like a "K"
In my country you cant give 2,4,6,8 ect flowers as a gift considered as a bad luck and only to be given to dead people in cementaries. Instead u need to gift an uneven number such as 1,3,5,7 ect. :D
The actually carrying the wife over the threshold originated from the ancient Norse . The tombstone of the first founder of the homestead was a guardian and buried under the thresholds. If the bride tripped it was the Guardian saying they didnt like the wife who would predominatly own/ use the home and that was bad luck cause they would haunt the wife.
in another superstition video, apparently knocking on wood comes from believing that there is a good spirit in wood. so knocking on wood brings the good spirit into it. I believe that the video which I got this from is one of yours list 25
#21: you knock on wood, to get the wood dwelling (good) fairies attention. by doing this you sort of plea to the fairy, without directly acknowledging the fairy. Irish origin.
Yes that's correct, thousands of bits of space debris, usually the size of marbles or occasionally golf or tennis balls burn up in the atmosphere and streak across the sky. You can see them clearly on a clear night sky.
To spontaneously see a "shooting star" when you are not actively looking for a shooting star portends a death of someone near or moderately near to you, soon. Happened to me several times.
When you stare into a mirror it generates a dark matter in your mirror so when you break it, it releases all the dark matter and it follows you giving you bad luck.
