Superstitions are part of everyday life: even if you’ve never had one, you know someone who does. And they’re so strange that you can’t help but wonder: who was the “madman” who invented each one?
We went after the folklore and historical origins of the main ones.
lucky superstitions
1. Throw salt over your left shoulder
It is a popular legend among Turkic peoples. For them, every misfortune would be the fault of a bad angel who lives on our left shoulder and is there trying to harm us. To avoid misfortunes, the secret would be to blind him with a little salt in his eyes.
2. Cross your fingers
In places and times where being a Christian was dangerous, such as the Roman Empire, crossing your fingers was a way of referring to the cross and asking for the protection of Jesus Christ without being noticed. Little by little, the religious meaning was lost and the gesture came to be interpreted simply as a request for good luck.
3. Horseshoe
– (Chiquinha/)
Legend has it that Saint Dunstan, who was a blacksmith and lived in the 10th century, would have received a customer one day requesting a horseshoe for himself (instead of a horse). Taking the man’s measurements, Dunstan realized that his foot was cracked and had only two toes: he was the devil himself.
To teach him a lesson, the blacksmith pressed the nails right in the middle of the mangy man’s foot, causing so much pain that the devil never dared go near a horseshoe. In the USA and England, the horseshoe must be worn with the open part upwards, so that good luck does not “fall out”.
4. Turkish eye (or Greek eye)
– (Chiquinha/)
This protection against the evil eye has been used by different peoples throughout history, but it started in the Mediterranean. The legend said that a man would have managed to burst, just with the power of an envious look, a rock that until then had not been broken even by a thousand men together. If your Turkish eye appears cracked, it means that it fulfilled the function of protecting you from something and therefore should be thrown away.
5. Four leaf clover
– (Chiquinha/)
According to a Christian legend, when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, she brought one of these clovers with her. Because it is a piece of paradise, it is a positive symbol that brings luck to whoever finds it.
For druids (Celtic priests), whoever had a four-leaf clover could see demons and thus escape them.
Saint Patrick already used a shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Some believers came to see the eventual fourth leaf as one more element, the “Grace of God”.
6. Rabbit’s foot
– (Chiquinha/)
It comes from a religion called hoodoo, created by black Americans. One of his magical amulets is precisely the rabbit’s foot. But not just any: only the left foot of a rabbit shot dead or in a cemetery would do. If his death occurs on top of a tomb, on a full moon night or on a Friday the 13th, so much the better.
7. fig
– (Chiquinha/)
It was a common amulet in ancient Greece and Rome, especially among women, as it was considered a symbol of fertility: the thumb between the fingers represents the male organ penetrating the female. Over time, the symbol lost its sexual connotation.
bad luck superstitions
8. Knock down salt
– (Chiquinha/)
Before refrigerators existed, the only way to preserve perishable foods was to add salt. However, the lack of technology made the extraction of grains very expensive and wasting them meant loss for sure. To increase people’s care, it was said that dropping salt was bad luck. The myth was reinforced thanks to the painter Leonardo da Vinci, who portrayed a fallen salt shaker in front of Judas in the painting. The last supper.
9. Pass under the stairs
– (Chiquinha/)
Whether leaning against a wall or open, the ladder ends up forming a triangle, one of the symbols of the Holy Trinity. Passing through his center, then, would represent a threat to the balance between Father, Son and Holy Spirit and, consequently, a sin. Therefore, it became synonymous with bad luck. It is not just the Catholic Church that gives a peculiar interpretation to the triangle: the ancient Egyptians said that it is the symbol of life.
10. Leaving the slipper upside down causes the death of the mother
– (Chiquinha/)
This story is related to the fashion for flip-flops in Brazil in the 60’s. As many houses still didn’t have floor finishing, shoes got dirtier if they were with the sole up. Hence this false curse, which aimed to make children not let go of their shoes anyway.
11. Break mirror
– (Chiquinha/)
Catoptromancy, divination by means of reflections in water, was very popular in antiquity. However, if the container fell and broke, the curious would have a hard time ahead. The Romans said it was seven years bad luck because, according to a theory at the time, a man’s body completely renewed itself over the course of seven years.
12. Groom sees the bride in the dress before the wedding
– (Chiquinha/)
For most of our history, marriage was a business relationship. For fear that the groom would not like his future wife and give up, the girl’s family hid her until the time of the ceremony, under the excuse that seeing her before would bring bad luck.
13. Black cat
– (Chiquinha/)
In the Middle Ages, they were associated with witches due to their nocturnal habits. Pope Innocent VIII even included cats of that color on the list of those persecuted by the Catholic Church. To make matters worse, in 1561 the English author William Baldwin wrote a satirical work called Beware the Catin which the black cats were actually witches in disguise who had nine lives, helping to further spread the legend.
Due to superstitions, black cats are less often adopted from shelters – there are even studies proving this! Don’t get caught up in this: black-coated kittens have just as much potential to be your pet as any other. When adopting, why not give it a chance?
14. Open umbrella at home
– (Chiquinha/)
Umbrellas only became a widely used item in Victorian England (18th century). These first umbrellas had a mechanism made of metal that could cause serious injury if it hit someone. To avoid accidents, people started talking about bad luck for anyone who opened an umbrella indoors.
15. Burnt ears indicate that someone is talking bad about you
– (Chiquinha/)
The myth gained strength in the Middle Ages, as it was thought that the person was the victim of a spell. The recommendation would be to lick the tip of the finger and press it on the cheek, saying the names of the suspects: it would cool down the moment the culprit was mentioned.
16. Number 13
– (Chiquinha/)
Disgusted at having lost space for Christianity, the Nordic goddess of love and beauty, Friga, would have exiled herself on top of a mountain where, on Fridays, she would meet with 11 witches and the devil himself (total: 13 people ) to curse humanity.
According to a Nordic legend, 12 deities were participating in a banquet when, unexpectedly, a 13th guest appeared, Loki, a figure associated with trickery. Malicious, he induced the blind god Hoder to shoot an arrow at his own brother, Balder.
In ancient Persia, it was believed that there were 12 constellations and each of them would rule the world for a millennium. In the 13th millennium, chaos would reign as there would be no dominant constellation.
And, at the Last Supper, Jesus Christ invited his 12 apostles to dinner, making a total of 13 people. Furthermore, Jesus was crucified precisely on a Friday.