Supernaturalearth.myfreeforum.org

admin sinfulldude · Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:09 pm Post subject: General English Superstitions 3

General Superstitions

It is unlucky to see your face in a mirror by candlelight.

It's bad luck to let milk boil over.

Clairvoyants use mandrake to increase their visions to enable them to see strange and wonderful things.

Mandrake is thought to have aphrodisiac and fertilizing properties.

Mandrake is a mysterious plant believed to have powers of preventing sterility in men and animals, causing barren women to bear children, and compelling love.

To dream of a lizard is a sign that you have a secret enemy.

Lettuce promotes child bearing if eaten by young women, and certain types of salad can bring on labor in pregnant women.

Lettuce is believed to have magical and healing properties, including the power to arouse love and counteract the effects of wine.

If you catch a falling leaf on the first day of autumn you will not catch a cold all winter.

A cricket in the house brings good luck.

Counting Crows: One's bad, Two's luck, Three's health, Four's wealth, Five's sickness, Six is death.

Pick a dandelion that has gone to seed. Take a deep breath and blow the seeds into the wind. Count the seeds that remain on the stem. That is the number of children you will have.

It's bad luck to leave a house through a different door than the one used to come into it.

If your right ear itches, someone is speaking well of you.

If your left ear itches, someone is speaking ill of you.

For good luck throughout the year, wear new clothes on Easter.

Pictures of an elephant bring luck, but only if they face a door.

If your right eye twitches there will soon be a birth in the family. If the left eye twitches there will soon be a death in the family.

To cure a sty, stand at a crossroads and recite “Sty, sty, leave my eye, take the next one coming by.

If an eyelash falls out, put it on the back of the hand, make a wish and throw it over your shoulder. If it flies off the hand the wish will be granted.

A fish should always be eaten from the head toward the tail.

Dream of fish: someone you know is pregnant.

Throw back the first fish you catch then you'll be lucky the whole day fishing.

If you count the number of fish you caught, you will catch no more that day.

It's bad luck to say the word pig while fishing at sea.

It brings bad luck for a flag to touch the ground.

First Flower of Spring: The day you find the first flower of the season can be used as an omen: Monday means good fortune, Tuesday means greatest attempts will be successful, Wednesday means marriage, Thursday means warning of small profits, Friday means wealth, Saturday means misfortune, Sunday means excellent luck for weeks.

If the bottom of your right foot itches, you are going to take a trip.

To drop a fork means a man is coming to visit.

it is bad luck to kill a ladybug.

If a young girl catches a ladybug and then releases it, the direction in which it flies away will be the direction from which her future husband will come.

If a friend gives you a knife, you should give him a coin, or your friendship will soon be broken.

A knife placed under the bed during childbirth will ease the pain of labor.

A knife as a gift from a lover means that the love will soon end.

Ivy growing on a house protects the inhabitants from witchcraft and evil.

If your nose itches Your mouth is in danger. You'll kiss a fool, And meet a stranger. Rub an itch to wood It will come to good.

If your nose itches you will soon be kissed by a fool.

A horseshoe hung in the bedroom will keep nightmares away.

Pulling out a gray or white hair will cause ten more to grow in its place.

Shed no blood on Good Friday, work no wood, hammer no nail.

A person who dies on Good Friday will go right to heaven.

Cut your hair on Good Friday to prevent headaches in the year to come

A child born on Good Friday and baptized on Easter Sunday has a gift of healing. If a boy, he should go into the ministry.

The dried body of a frog worn in a silk bag around the neck averts epilepsy and other fits.

A frog brings good luck to the house it enters

Never start to make a garment on Friday unless you can finish it the same day.

You should never start a trip on Friday or you will meet misfortune.

A bed changed on Friday will bring bad dreams.

Never eat beef on New Year's, it roots backwards, and that is bad luck. Pork roots forward for it's food, and that means moving forward for good luck.

People would say that spirits could not walk upon a path, so after dark don't leave the path/road.

Don't step on sidewalk cracks. "Step on a crack break your mothers back" people say.

It is considered bad luck to pass a black cat after 9pm

If your feet itch it means that you will be walking on new grounds.

If you wash your face in the dew on the morning of the first of May, and you will either see faeries or see your future spouse.

If you are ever in an accident, you should be wearing clean underwear.

The groom should never see the bride the eve of their wedding or their marriage will fail.

If you put a broom outside your door, a witch will have to count each strand before entering your house and by then it will be dawn and time to stop the witching.

If you stare into a mirror by candlelight you will see the spirit of a lost loved one.

Christians used to think that lightening bolts were thrown at them by devils.

If you secretly put your toenail clippings in a glass of lemonade and make someone drink it, then that person is supposed to fall in love with you.

God Bless You - When someone sneezes his or her heart stops a beat. By saying God bless you; it merely thanks God for allowing the heart to continue beating again considering if it had stopped they would not be alive.

Witches fly on broomsticks - comes from when the pagans were viewed hopping up and down on broomsticks in the fields, which was a harvest ritual.

Leaving the front door open for the prophet Elijah at Passover, so the kids think he drank the wine you left on the table for him, when in reality it was just evaporation.

There were fields in certain farms in Northern Ireland where a tree, especially a hawthorn, would be left standing in spite of the inconvenience to ploughing, rather than incur the hostility of the fairies who used it for their celebrations

Don't watch an animal defecating or you'll get a stye on your eye.

A red-tipped match will cure a case of the hiccups.

A wedding ring - An ancient symbol of completion, far older than the Christian religion. The ring signifies that which does not end or begin but it a circle of forever

When a couple is walking down the street holding hands and an obstacle (like a lamp post) comes between them you say bread and butter...thereby keeping the union until the hands meet again on the other side of the lamp post.

Counting a person's teeth robs them of one year of life for every tooth counted, this is why some people cover their mouths when they laugh, smile or yawn.

Whippoorwills call for the souls of the dead.

If an owl is staring at your house, someone there will die.

Clink two glasses of alcohol to scare the demon out of the alcohol.

It is bad luck to put up a calendar early or write in next year's diary before the New Year

When you cross a railroad track you need to touch a screw so you won't get pregnant.

If a woman's menstrual cycle begins while she is seated in a church the next child she has will be born dead.

If a bat gets in your hair you are possessed by the Devil.

Never take flowers from a grave or you will be the next to be in a grave.

If a single pigeon sits on your roof someone close is going to die soon.

A loud ticking from a clock means that a death is coming in the house soon.

Dropping silverware causes company. Drop a spoon and the company will be female, drop a fork and the company will be male. Dropping a knife will break the spell.