As I was getting dressed this morning I happened to grab my purple polo shirt from the closet. I’ve developed a bit of a superstition about that particular shirt. Sometime in the last few years, perhaps during my cancer treatment, I decided that purple shirt was good luck when visiting a doctor or dentist. Wear it and the test or exam results would bring no bad news. So far it seems to work. And who am I to tempt fate? Besides, I have to wear something. (Ye gods and little fishes. I just realized I wrote about this same shirt a year ago. Something about the weather? The time of year? My age? I dunno, but I just spent several hours writing all this so I’m jolly well going to post it!)
That got me thinking about superstitions in general. There are some that many if not most people seem to observe and respect, whether or not they actually believe them. The earliest one I remember from childhood: Step on a crack, break your mother’s back. (Glad I didn’t think of that yesterday.)
Over the years I’ve encountered a lot of superstitions: A black cat crossing your path is bad luck. Toss a pinch of spilled salt over your shoulder to ward off bad luck. Broken mirrors bring seven years of bad luck. Walking under a ladder is bad luck. Carrying a rabbit’s foot brings good luck. Wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day ensures no one will pinch you. Opening an umbrella indoors brings bad luck. Finding a four-leaf clover brings good luck. Friday the Thirteenth is an unlucky day.
Some of these we observe reflexively, like saying “Bless you” or “gesundheit” when someone sneezes, or knocking wood to ward off any bad luck we might have just incurred. I suppose one might classify those as “habits” rather than superstitions.
In addition, it’s said that finding and picking up a penny brings good luck. 666 is the sign of the devil. 13 is an unlucky number; 7 is a lucky number. It’s good luck if you get the bigger half when breaking a wishbone with someone (and a sibling putting a thumb on top is not allowed).
I haven’t seen any in ages, but remember chain letters? It was considered bad luck to break the chain. And for good luck the whole year, you should eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day. (I usually remember this a few days too late. But if I think of it in time, well, I’ve got to eat something that day, right? Can’t hurt; might help. Like so many little things we do.
What about prayers? Or exorcisms? Or crossing oneself? Are these habits, rituals, or superstitions? Opinions may vary but when appropriate, just do it. Why tempt fate?
I’ve a few other, er, preferences, besides the purple shirt. For example, in a horse race, if there’s a gray horse in the field, that’s the one I cheer for. (I happen to like gray horses and most of the horses are usually brown.) In choosing numbers for any reason, I lean heavily toward either 3 or 7; I tend to avoid 5 because it seems too common, too widely used for too many things. Given a choice, in many situations I prefer odd numbers to even, asymmetry to symmetry. But that’s maybe more a design preference than anything else.
So what about you? Got any personal superstitions? Er, foibles? Remember, we’re not superstitious; we’re just careful.
-30-
you can’t be took careful these days
So true
I confess I’ve become a bit worried about years ending in 4. In my smallish clan of blood relatives, my mother died in 1984; my dad in 1994, one of my nieces in 2004. No such thing occurred in 2014, but one begins to wonder. My sister died in late 2023. Does that count? Maybe — at least, none of us threw in the towel in 2024.
At least you have 9 years before the next 4 rolls around. But I can see how that 4, once you noticed it, might be hard to forget. I don’t know that you can deliberately forget (unremember?) it since consciously trying to forget it would require thinking about it. Maybe, like me, as you get older it will be among the things you forget. Good luck with that.
As an engineer by education I consider myself science-oriented and not superstitious. That said, I also am very aware that the human brain functions on patterns, and patterns coupled with emotional events like accidents protect us from repeating, even if the accident happened to someone else. Statistically speaking, walking under a ladder is more likely to entail an accident than if you avoid doing so. So is getting poked in the eye by an umbrella opening indoors. Habit is an essential part of learning. So, I’m with you all the way on this. There’s safety in superstition, but understanding it is important so it doesn’t get out of control. (Religion)
There might be emotional comfort in superstition, but not necessarily physical safety. Humans were given brains, so using them and being sensible about things, uh … makes sense. Religion? We agreed on that years ago.
Colorado ! – tsk tsk !!! You must have better things to think about than these old wives’ tales, surely ?
If not, I’ll send some by email. [grin]
Nah, I don’t believe any of this stuff. But now you’ve made me wonder, does Australia have any interesting superstitions that we don’t observe here?
Not really … I found some on Reddit that rang a bell, though:
“My grandmother would point at dust devils and repeat the day of the week over and over till it left. Wouldn’t break eye contact with it either.
Don’t put brand new shoes on the table. It’s bad luck.
You don’t gift knives to friends. You’ll sever the relationship. They need to pay some token amount for them.”
The last time I heard about the knife thing was when I was much, much younger and going to bridal showers. As I recall the deal was if you gave a bride a knife, you had to include a coin to ensure it didn’t give her bad luck/sever the friendship.
I’ve seen dozens of dust devils in my life, driving between here and Oklahoma City. But never heard about repeating the day of the week and not breaking eye contact. That’s an interesting one.
Also never heard about new shoes on a table. Most likely I’ve done that a few times. Might well have done it if the new shoes were still in their box.
I figured you might have some like it’s bad luck if a kangaroo crosses your path. Or a platypus’s foot brings good luck.
If I don’t ‘misremember’, a platypus’ foot has a poisonous spur !!!
Now that you mention it … hmm … well, you’re more likely to encounter one than I am. So be careful.
Loved reading this! I don’t have a lucky shirt, but I do find myself knocking on wood way more than I should admit. Funny timing too—while waiting for my furniture cleaners to finish, I caught myself avoiding a ladder my husband left out.. Why tempt fate, right? 😅
Right! No doubt that superstition started when somebody walked under a ladder and something fell on them. And yes, I do knock on wood now and then. I never stop to think that it’s a superstition. It’s just a gesture, like crossing your fingers for good luck. But then, I suppose that’s yet another superstition.