Common Western Superstitions

 If you blow out all of the candles on your birthday cake with the first
breath you will get whatever you wish for

 Friday the 13th is a bad day. The reason that Friday 13th in
particular is unlucky is due to the massacre of the Knights Templar
by Phillip IV of France on Friday the 13th.

 A black cat crossing your path is considered bad luck. In the old,
superstitious days, people thought that witches could transform
themselves into black cats. If one crossed your path, it meant a witch
was watching you.

 A rabbit’s foot brings good luck

 Blessing a person that sneezed. This comes from a plague that was
spreading in 590 A.D. Italy where most people who sneezed would
die. The pope urged others to bless such people and pray for them
that they might become better.

 Crossing your fingers brings good luck. One theory of this is that
during the Hundred Years War between France and England,
archers would cross their fingers before pulling the bow string in
order to grant them good luck. Before that, it was also a secret sign
between members of Christianity (when it was illegal).

 Broken mirror will result in seven years bad luck. Breaking a mirror
is bad luck because at one time mirrors were very expensive. If a
palace maid broke a mirror she was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

 Spilling salt is bad luck because in Roman times, salt was so valuable
that soldiers were paid in salt rather than money. Spilling it
 wasequal to burning money. I’m not sure where throwing a pinch of
salt over your left shoulder negates the action of spilling, but I can
tellyou that it is where the word ‘salary’ came from.

 An apple a day keeps the doctor away

 To find a four-leaf clover is to find good luck

 If you walk under a ladder, you will have bad luck

 To find a horseshoe brings good luck

 You can break a bad luck spell by turning seven times in a clockwise
circle

 Garlic protects from evil spirits and vampires

 Our fate is written in the stars

 At the end of a rainbow is a pot of gold

 Clothes worn inside out will bring good luck

 Wearing your birthstone will bring you good luck

 To have a wish come true using a wishbone, two people make a wish,
then take hold of each end of the bone and pull it until it separates.
The person with the longer end gets his or her wish

 A beginner will always have good luck: beginner’s luck

 A cat has nine lives

 Eating fish makes you smart

 Toads cause warts

 Crossing your fingers helps to avoid bad luck and helps a wish come
true
 To refuse a kiss under mistletoe causes bad luck

 For good luck, wear new clothes on Easte

 Throwing a penny in a pond can grant wishes

 God will give you what you want if you tell god what you want in a
night time prayer

 To make a happy marriage, the bride must wear: something old,

something new, something borrowed, something blue

 The wedding veil protects the bride from the evil eye

 Knocking on wood: Knocking is a modern spin on it — originally, the

superstition just involved touching wood. “Medieval churches would
be filled with wood that claimed to be from the cross,” explains
Radford. The devout believed that touching the wood would give
them a link to the divine and, consequently, good luck. The
superstition grew from there. (Radford notes that pagans also
revered wood for its strength.)

 Wishing on a star

 Bad news comes in threes

 Don’t open an umbrella inside

 Beginner’s luck

 Four-leaf clover: Clovers were once believed to keep away witches

and allow the finder to see fairies. “A four-leaf clover was especially
rare, and therefore even more powerful”