Are you superstitious?
 

I am not at all, (had a black cat for many years), with ONE BIG exception -- I have to Knock Wood when I make certain statements. I don't know, to me it is just tempting fate to say, "I've never been struck by lightning" or "no one in my family ever died of the bubonic plague". I know it does not make sense, but I do it anyway.

So how about you, are you superstitious in any way?

The only thing I haven't chanced is renaming a pet. My great grandmother said renaming an animal would cause it to die. Kinda harsh but that is what she was told by her great grandparents and her parents too. She said it was common to know that from long ago and all the kids learned what not to do as much as what to do.

I guess I am, tho I never thought about it that way. I have a lucky # (11). I make wishes on stuff (3 pop-eyes, 11:11 on the clock, white horses). I knock on wood. So, yeah... I guess I am.

possibly.......but I don't think I really am.

1: I won't walk under a ladder......sometimes in the stores they have displays going across the isle and I won't walk under those either. I Don't walk under them NOT for the fear of bad luck it is the fear of something falling on me.

2: I won't allow elephants in the house...meaning stuffed...ceramic...God forbid a real one...HA!! But all that comes from my mother she never let us kids have elephants in the house as she said it was bad luck.

3: I like even numbers and seldom ever by one thing it is usually two things.....have NO idea why as I live in an odd number house.

I am sure there are a few more things that I do that most would consider superstitious.

Jazzmyn, it is only the elephants with the trunks facing down that are bad luck. With the trunk up it is supposed to be good luck.


And is THAT what you are supposed to do on 11:11??!! I never knew. I went through a period where I would wake up at 11:11 PM almost every night. Weird.

Now I will start making wishes when I see it.

about baseball

Nope. I walk under ladders, love black cats (used to have one), break chain letters, etc. :)

I HATE chain letters with that implied threat if one doesn't do what it says!!

I also hate those letters/posts, that say if you love God, your child, whomever, you'll re-send/post! :thumbdown: I break those, as well!

I am Irish...need I say more??

DH rides bikes and once was bumped by a semi. Not hurt, thankfully. Now I have to tell him not to get hit by an 18 wheeler every time he goes.

We did a rescue on a dog and his name was Cody. Well, my son and grandson, Cody, were living with us at the time, so.. We renamed dog Cody, Timmy. And hasn't hurt him a bit. He is laying here at my feet, curled up in his blankie, happy as a clam. ( And how do you know if a clam is happy?) LOL

Apparently my son-in-law is superstitious. His name is Frank. His uncle Frank was shot down in WWII and he was shot down over Hanoi and spent several months in the Hanoi Hilton so he would not use the name Frank with either one of his sons. He did, however, name them for two of his crew that were shot down with him and did not survive.

Oh, speaking of breaking... I would FREAK OUT if I broke a mirror (& no... not with my looks! You guys! LOL!). I also always strart new stuff on either the 1st of the month or on Thursdays (whichever works out best for the project).

My DH says the British royalty are the same way about the name "Arthur". It's "bad luck" so they only use it for one of their hundred middle names.

LOL! That cracks me up... wait... is that bad luck? LOL!

I always knock on wood -better safe than sorry-My Gramma was German and she brought a few from the old country with her.The bird hitting the window always brought out the rosary to pray that no family member passed in the next 24 hrs.Her prayers were always answered.My other Grandmother was Irish and all things were bad omens -but she was the only Irish person I ever met that was mean and hateful.Her twin sister seemed to spread lots of love and light where ever she went -a true Faerie she was..
'' One should always send forth a cheery smile for it will brighten all who enter your path....

The only superstition I learned from my Irish Nana was, if you get lost in the woods at night from following a Will O'the Wisp, turn a piece of clothing inside out and put it back on that way. Then you won't be lost anymore.

I have a few superstitions. One is knocking on wood. The other is that I won't divulge what I think is pending good news before it is confirmed. Example ... a job interview that went really well - I won't tell anyone until an offer is made (and accepted) because I always think the moment I say "I might get ....." my karma will change.

Ladders, mirrors, black cats, cracks on sidewalks, and spilt milk or salt ... no superstitions.

And ALL my dogs have multiple names that develop over the years. With some, the original name was eventually lost.

my black cat came to me named "Shadow". I changed it to "Spook". DH changed it to "Mr. Spook".

i hate the chain letters too. I almost always break them. If I have had bad luck, I'm sure it was my due time to have it, not because of some stupid chain letter. If God really wanted to do us harm, would he send us a form letter first??

In some ways, I do knock on wood! But I always break those chain letters- hate em!

I am probably one of the most superstitious person(S) in TN---ask my kids---I don't start anything on Friday unless I know I can finish it, don't cut my hair in Dog Days (and will probably really look like a witch on Aug 11th), no washing on New Year's Day (meaning laundry), wear red for good luck, find every 4-leaf clover in my yard come Springtime, don't give scissors/knives as gifts (make the recipient pay for them). Give me time, I could come up with lots more. I had one lady ask me one time how I manage to get from one end of the day to the next......hahaha

Bit of both rational/superstitious....I kind of keep the superstitions going, mainly due to family tradition/quirks. Interestingly, where I am from black cats are lucky....and if a white cat crosses your path, it means someone close to you will die. My mother will not buy/drive a green car....I on the other hand have owned 2 (and never had an accident in either of them). I'm keen on myths/legends....old stories and family tales....have really enjoyed your posts.

Try not to be but know that I am. Do the knock on wood thing. Sometimes hate to say something for fear it will change after that.

when we move i look for houses that either have 3's in the street number, or add up to a number divisible by three. for instance, my current address is 24. 2+4=6, and six is divisible by 3. 3 is my lucky number. and the digits 3 and 1 are doubly lucky.the only time i won at bingo was with n31. my dad made a nantucket basket purse for me, his last one, and it was number 13. my birthday is the 3rd, both grandmothers were born on the third and my grandaughter was born on the third. my dad and his sister were both born on the 13th. one son was born on the 24th, the other on the 15th. i was born in '51. i rest my case!:D

After having 2 serious bike accidents, my DH had me to buy him a bell/charm that the Harley shop & probably other bike places sell. It says something about protecting the rider and it hangs on his bike, about 3-4 inches long. Apparently for the "good luck" to work it has to be given to the rider by someone.

No shoes on the bed, don't buy a green car, and my late mother's favorite "don't jinx yourself".

My mom had lots of superstitions she learned from her mother. She said she didn't really believe them, but I think she did. The only one that seems to have stuck with me is not giving knives and scissors as gifts because it will cause the relationship to be severed. I don't believe it, but I don't do it. Don't know why. Actually, now that I think of it, we gave our son and his wife some flatware for a wedding present, and I guess that didn't count because the knives were not sharp, except maybe the steak knives... Actually, that was more than 15 years ago, and so for no problem!

I, too, have had black cats, and the only bad luck is that they didn't live forever. We have renamed every dog we've ever owned because we get them from shelters, and there's no way to know their previous names. One dog seemed hard to name. We asked her over and over, "What's your name?" One time she responded "Rooo-rooo!" So we named her Roux.

I don't think of myself as such, but things my grandmother said and did, don't leave thing over for the new year--take down the tree before Jan 1., pay bills and so on. If you give a knife, or scissors, you always put a coin in with the gift-- you don't want 'to cut your love' . If you give gifts like a purse or wallet once again you put a coin or bill in it--you don't want the receiver to be poor. These superstitions have worked their way into our family's habits. I don't really think any bad thing will come of not doing these things, but it is another way to show your love, so I am for it!

I was raised with superstitons. What a fun post. I have enjoyed all the responces!
Some that I was taught not mentioned earlier : drop a dish towl while drying dishes and you will get company, don't put your hat on a bed - bad luck..don't pass any one one the stairs- bad luck ( school stairs were so stressful during class change) don't sing at the table-bad luck ( happy birthday song always confused me on that one) , say "bread and butter" when walking side by side and a sign or person comes between the two of you.

These are all off top of my head beyond already posted ones. Wow, as I think about this....how stressful to have so much to respond to while growing up! Ha ha!

My former stepmother had a few, like , Drop a fork, company is coming. My favorite was, if you hit your mother, your hand will stick out of your grave!

OK, so today is Friday the 13th. I just heard on TV that there are 3 Friday the 13th's this year... & they're 13 weeks apart (Jan, Apr, & now). Does that freak people out? It doesn't me. There is a "superstitions expert"on right now. He says we have supstitions because our brains are wired to look for patterns. Our psyches can't stand randomness. And fear of Friday the 13th if called "triskaidekaphobia" (I didn;t leanr that when I was getting my psych degree!). Just a little FYI...

I break them all the time mainly because I never received the good fortune they promised when I didn't break them.

"My favorite was, if you hit your mother, your hand will stick out of your grave!"

Never heard this one before but it made me LOL!

No, I am not at all.

Same here. It drives me nuts when my husband does the opposite, and before I can stop it, "Shh, you'll jinx it"! will come out of my mouth!!

I didn't know a lot of these that have been mentioned already!!

I never step on cracks (don't want a mother with a broken back!), and I always hold my breath when going thru a tunnel. I make a wish on the first star. I never tell my wishes. I raise my feet when going over railroad tracks, and hold a button when I'm going under a train.

I've always known that bad things would happen when I was 28 and that good things would happen in 2004. I was right on both. Probably a coincidence, because good things happened to me in 2008 and I didn't see that coming!

I break chain letters, never do the forwards even when they say if I don't I dont love Jesus and something bad will happen, and today I signed a contract on Friday the 13th.

No superstitions at all, despite the Irish side of my family. My mother would freak if you rocked an empty chair and when my great uncle gave me a Barlow knife, I had to 'pay' him a penny to stave off the bad luck of giving/receiving a blade. At the turn of the new year we were supposed to hold a silver coin to insure prosperity and the first visitor of the new year should be a 'dark man' for good luck.