ACORN
An acorn should be carried to bring luck and ensure a long life.
An acorn at the window will keep lightning out
AMBER
Amber beads, worn as a necklace, can protect against illness
or cure colds.
AMBULANCE
Seeing an ambulance is very unlucky unless you pinch
your nose or hold your breath until you see a black or a
brown dog.
APPLE
Think of five or six names of boys or girls you might
marry, As you twist the stem of an apple, recite the names
until the stem comes off. You will marry
the person whose name you were saying when the stem fell off.
An apple a day
Keeps the doctor away.
If you cut an apple in half and count how many seeds are inside, you will also
know how many children you will have.
BABY
To predict the sex of a baby: Suspend a wedding band held by
a piece of thread over the palm of the pregnant girl. If the
ring swings in an oval or circular
motion the baby will be a girl. If the ring swings in a straight line the baby
will be a boy.
BASEBALL BAT
Spit on a new bat before using it for the first time to make
it lucky
BED
It's bad luck to put a hat on a bed.
If you make a bedspread, or a quilt, be sure to finish it or
marriage will never
come to you
Placing a bed facing north and south brings misfortune.
You must get out of bed on the same side that you get in or you will have bad
luck.
When making the bed, don't interrupt your work, or you will spend a restless
night in it.
BEE
If a bee enters your home, it's a sign that you will soon have
a visitor. If you kill the bee, you will have bad luck, or
the visitor will be unpleasant.
A swarm of bees settling on a roof is an omen that the house will burn down.
BELL
The sound of bells drives away demons because they're afraid
of the loud noise.
When a bell rings, a new angel has received his wings.
BIRD
A bird in the house is a sign of a death.
If a robin flies into a room through a window, death will shortly
follow.
BIRTH
Monday's child is fair of face;
Tuesday's child is full of grace;
Wednesday's child is full of woe;
Thursday's child has far to go;
Friday's child is loving and giving;
Saturday's child works hard for a living.
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
is fair and wise, good and gay.
BIRTHDAY CAKE
If you blow out all the candles on your birthday cake with
the first puff you
will get your wish.
BLARNEY STONE
The Blarney Stone is a stone set in the wall of the Blarney
Castle tower in the Irish village of Blarney. Kissing the stone
is supposed to bring the kisser the
gift of persuasive eloquence (blarney.)
BLUE
To protect yourself from witches, wear a blue bead.
Touch blue
And your wish
Will come true.
BREAD
Before slicing a new loaf of bread, make the sign of the cross
on it.
A loaf of bread should never be turned upside down after a
slice has been cut
from it.
BRIDGE
If you say good-bye to a friend on a bridge, you will never
see each other again.
BROOM
Do not lean a broom against a bed. The evil spirits in the
broom will cast a
spell on the bed.
If you sweep trash out the door after dark, it will bring a stranger to visit.
If someone is sweeping the floor and sweeps over your feet, you'll never get
married.
Never take a broom along when you move. Throw it out and buy a new one.
To prevent an unwelcome guest from returning, sweep out the room they stayed
in immediately after they leave.
BUTTERFLY
If the first butterfly you see in the year is white, you will
have good luck
all year.
Three butterflies together mean good luck.
CANDLE
If a candle lighted as part of a ceremony blows out, it is
a sign that evil spirits
are nearby.
CALF If the first calf born during the winter is white, the
winter will be a
bad one.
CAT
If a black cat walks towards you, it brings good fortune, but
if it walks away,
it takes the good luck with it.
Keep cats away from babies because they "suck the breath" of the child.
A cat onboard a ship is considered to bring luck.
CHEEKS
If your cheeks suddenly feel on fire, someone is talking about
you.
CHILL
If you get a chill up your back or goosebumps, it means that
someone is walking
over your grave.
CHIMNEY SWEEP
It's very lucky to meet a chimney sweep by chance. Make a wish
when sighting
one, and the wish will come true.
CIGARETTES
It is bad luck to light three cigarettes with the same match.
CIRCLE
Evil spirits can't harm you when you stand inside a circle.
CLOCK
If a clock which has not been working suddenly chimes, there
will be a death
in the family.
CLOVER
It's good luck to find a four-leaf clover.
Clover protects human beings and animals from the spell of
magicians and the wiles of fairies, and brings good luck to
those who keep it in the house.
COIN
It's bad luck to pick up a coin if it's tails side up. Good
luck comes if it's
heads up.
COMB
To drop a comb while you are combing your hair is a sign of
a coming disappointment.
COUGH To cure a cough: take a hair from the coughing person's
head, put it between two slices of buttered bread, feed it
to a dog, and say, "Eat well you hound,
may you be sick and I be sound."
COW
Cows lifting their tails is a sure sign that rain is coming.
CRACK
Don't step on a crack on a sidewalk or walkway.
Step on a crack
Break your mother's back.
CRICKET
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.
DANDELION
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.
DOG
A dog howling at night when someone in the house is sick is
a bad omen.
DOOR
It's bad luck to leave a house through a different door than
the one used to
come into it.
EARS
If your right ear itches, someone is speaking well of you.
If your left ear itches, someone is speaking ill of you.
Left for love and right for spite:
Left or right, good at night.
EASTER
For good luck throughout the year, wear new clothes on Easter.
ELEPHANT
Pictures of an elephant bring luck, but only if they
face a door.
EYE
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.
EYELASH
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.
FINGERNAILS
It is bad luck to cut your fingernails on Friday or Sunday.
Fingernail cuttings should be saved, burned, or buried.
FISH
A fish should always be eaten from the head toward the tail.
Dream of fish: someone you know is pregnant.
FISHING
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.
FLAG
It brings bad luck for a flag to touch the ground.
FLOWER
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.
FOOT If the bottom of your right foot itches, you are going
to take a trip.
FORK
To drop a fork means a man is coming to visit.
FRIDAY
A bed changed on Friday will bring bad dreams.
Any ship that sails on Friday will have bad luck.
You should never start a trip on Friday or you will meet
misfortune.
Never start to make a garment on Friday unless you
can finish it the same day.
FRIDAY THE 13TH - how did Friday the thirteenth become
such an unlucky day?
fear of Friday the 13th is rooted in ancient, separate
bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the
day Friday. The two unlucky entities combine to
make one super unlucky day.
There is a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla,
their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous
Loki. Once there,
Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder
the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped
arrow.
Balder died and
the Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned.
There is a Biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas, the
apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper.
A particularly bad Friday the 13th occurred in the middle ages. On
a Friday the 13th in 1306, King Philip of France arrested the revered
Knights
Templar
and
began torturing them, marking the occasion as a day of evil.
In ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The
13th was believed to be the devil.
Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment.
In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings,
and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.
It is traditionally believed that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday.
Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower
of Babel, and the death of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday.
Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months
in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules,
12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus. In exceeding 12 by 1, 13's association
with bad luck has to do with just being a little beyond completeness.
FRIDAY THE 13TH - how is fear of the number thirteen demonstarted?
More than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor.
Many airports skip the 13th gate.
Airplanes have no 13th aisle.
Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.
Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.
On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12
and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half.
Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue
In France, socialites known as the quatorziens (fourteeners) once made themselves
available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.
Many triskaidekaphobes, as those who fear the unlucky integer are known, point
to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.
If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck . Jack
the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo
all have 13 letters in their names.
FROG
A frog brings good luck to the house it enters.
The dried body of a frog worn in a silk bag around the neck
averts epilepsy and other fits.
GOOD FRIDAY
(The Friday before Easter)
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.
Cut your hair on Good Friday to prevent headaches in the year to come
A person who dies on Good Friday will go right to heaven.
Shed no blood on Good Friday, work no wood, hammer no nail.
HAIR Pulling out a gray or white hair will cause ten more to
grow in its place.
HAND
If the palm of your right hand itches it means you will soon
be getting money.
If the palm of your left hand itches it means you will soon
be paying out money.
HORSESHOE
A horseshoe, hung above the doorway, will bring good luck to
a home. In most of Europe protective horseshoes are placed
in a downward facing position, but
in some parts of Ireland and Britain people believe that the shoes must be
turned upward or "the luck will run out."
A horseshoe hung in the bedroom will keep nightmares away.
ITCH
If your nose itches you will soon be kissed by a fool.
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.
IVY
Ivy growing on a house protects the inhabitants from witchcraft
and evil.
KNIFE
A knife as a gift from a lover means that the love will
soon end.
A knife placed under the bed during childbirth will ease
the pain of labor.
If a friend gives you a knife, you should give him a
coin, or your friendship will soon be broken.
It will cause a quarrel if knives are crossed at the
table.
It is bad luck to close a pocket knife unless you were
the one who opened it.
Knife falls, gentleman calls;
Fork falls, lady calls;
Spoon falls, baby calls.
KNITTING It's bad luck to leave a project unfinished.
The intended recepient will get bad luck from the unfinished
item.
Stabbing your needles though your yarn balls brings
bad luck to anyone who wears something made from that
yarn.
Don't knit a pair of socks for your boyfriend or he'll walk away from
you.
If you knit one of your own hairs into a garment, it will bind the
recipient to you.
Knitting for children you may have in the future, but before you are
pregnant, is bad luck (it may prevent one from getting pregnant, or
bring ill health
to the baby).
LADDER
It is bad luck to walk under a ladder.
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.
It is bad luck to kill a ladybug.
Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home.
Your house is on fire,
Your children all roam.
LEAF
If you catch a falling leaf on the first day of autumn you
will not catch a cold all winter.
LETTUCE
Lettuce is believed to have magical and healing properties,
including the power to arouse love and counteract the effects
of wine.
Lettuce promotes child bearing if eaten by young women, and
certain types of salad can bring on labor in pregnant women.
LIE
Cross my heart and hope to die,
Cut my throat if I tell a lie.
LIZARD
To dream of a lizard is a sign that you have a secret enemy.
MANDRAKE
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.
Mandrake is thought to have aphrodisiac and fertilizing properties.
Clairvoyants use mandrake to increase their visions to enable them to see strange
and wonderful things.
MILK It's bad luck to let milk boil over.
MIRROR
To break a mirror means 7 years bad luck.
It is unlucky to see your face in a mirror by candlelight.
A mirror should be covered during a thunderstorm because
it attracts lightning.
If a mirror in the house falls and breaks by itself,
someone in the house will die soon.
MISTLETOE
Mistletoe in the house protects it from thunder and lightning.
It also cures many diseases, is an antidote to poison
and brings good luck and fertility.
A girl standing under a mistletoe cannot refuse to
be kissed by anyone who claims the privilege.
MOTH
A white moth inside the house or trying to enter the
house means death.
NOSE
If your nose itches, someone is coming to see you.
If it's the right nostril, the visitor will be
a female, left nostril, male.
ONION
An onion cut in half and placed under the bed of
a sick person will draw off fever and poisons.
A wish will come true if you make it while
burning onions.
OPAL
Unless you were born in October, it's unlucky
to wear opals.
OWL
It is bad luck to see an owl in the sunlight.
PENCIL
If you use the same pencil to take a test
that you used for studying for the test,
the pencil
will remember the answers.
PEPPER
If you spill pepper you will have a serious
argument with your best friend.
PHOTOGRAPH
If 3 people are photographed together,
the one in the middle will die first.
RABBIT'S FOOT A rabbit's foot will
bring luck and protect the owner
from evil
spirits if carried in the pocket.
RAINBOW
A rainbow in the Eastern sky,
The morrow will be fine and dry.
A rainbow in the West that gleams,
Rain tomorrow falls in streams.
RAVEN
To kill a raven is to harm the
spirit of King Arthur who visits
the world
in the
form of a raven.
RED
A red ribbon should be placed
on a child who has been sick
to keep
the
illness
from returning.
ROBIN
A wish made upon seeing the
first robin in spring will
come true
- but only
if you complete the wish
before the robin
flies away.
ROCKING CHAIR
If you leave a rocking chair rocking when
empty, it invites evil spirits to come
into your house
to sit
in the rocking
chair.
ROSEMARY
Rosemary planted by the doorstep will keep
witches away.
SALT
Bad luck will follow the spilling of
salt unless a pinch is thrown over
the left
shoulder into
the face
of the
devil waiting
there.
Put salt on the doorstep of a new house
and no evil can enter.
Salty soup is a sign that the cook
is in love.
SCISSORS
If you drop scissors, it means your
lover is being unfaithful to you.
SEA GULL
Three seagulls flying together, directly
overhead, are a warning of death
soon to come.
SEVEN To break a mirror brings
seven years of bad luck. The
cure: to bury
the pieces,
or run
them
in a stream. The seventh son of a seventh son has magic powers, according
to Irish folklore, but is a vampire in Romanian legend.
SHOES
Do not place shoes upon a table, for this will bring bad luck for the day,
cause trouble with your mate and you might even lose your job as a result.
It's bad luck to leave shoes upside down.
SINGING If you sing before
seven, you will cry before
eleven.
SLEEP
You sleep best with your head
to the north and your feet
to the south.
SNEEZE
Place a hand in front of your
mouth when sneezing. Your soul
may escape otherwise.
The devil can enter your body
when you sneeze. Having someone
say, "God
bless you," drives the devil away.
If you sneeze on a Monday, you sneeze for danger;
Sneeze on a Tuesday, kiss a stranger;
Sneeze on a Wednesday, sneeze for a letter;
Sneeze on a Thursday, something better;
Sneeze on a Friday, sneeze for sorrow;
Sneeze on a Saturday, see your sweetheart tomorrow.
Sneeze on a Sunday, and the devil will have domination over you all week.
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a letter
Four for a boy.
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret, never to be told
SPARROW
Sparrows carry the souls
of the dead, it's unlucky
to kill one.
SPIDER Seeing a spider run
down a web in the afternoon
means you'll take a trip.
A spider is a repellent
against plague when worn
around the neck in a walnut
shell.
STARS
All wishes on shooting stars
come true.
Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.
SWAN
A swan's feather, sewed into
the husband's pillow, will
ensure fidelity.
THIRTEEN
If 13 people sit down at
a table to eat, one of
them will die before the
year
is over.
FRIDAY THE 13TH - how is
fear of the number thirteen
demonstarted?
More than 80 percent
of high-rises lack a
13th
floor.
Many airports skip the
13th gate.
Airplanes have no 13th
aisle.
Hospitals and hotels
regularly have no room
number 13.
Italians omit the number
13 from their national
lottery.
On streets in Florence,
Italy, the house between
number 12 and 14 is addressed
as 12 and a half.
Many cities do not have
a 13th Street or a 13th
Avenue
In France, socialites
known as the quatorziens
(fourteeners) once made
themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an
unlucky fate.
Many triskaidekaphobes, as those who fear the unlucky integer are
known, point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.
If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck
. Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy
and Albert
De
Salvo all have 13 letters in their names.
TONGUE
If you bite your tongue while
eating, it is because you
have recently told a lie.
UMBRELLA
Dropping an umbrella on the
floor means that there will
be a murder in the house.
It's bad luck to open an umbrella inside the house, especially
if you put it over your head.
VALENTINE'S
DAY If a woman sees a robin
flying overhead on Valentine's
Day, it means she will marry
a sailor. If she sees a sparrow,
she
will marry
a poor
man and be
very happy. If she sees a goldfinch, she will marry a millionaire.
VEIL
A bride's veil protects her
from evil spirits who are
jealous of happy people.
WATERMELON
A watermelon will grow in
your stomach if you swallow
a watermelon seed.
WEATHER
Red sky at night,
Sailor's delight.
Red sky at morning
Sailors take warning
Rain, rain, go away,
Come again another day.
Rain on the green grass
Rain on the hillside,
But not on me.
WOOD
Knock three times on wood
after mentioning good fortune
so evil spirits won't ruin it.
WINDOW
All windows should be opened
at the moment of death so
that the soul can leave.
WISH
If you make a wish while
throwing a coin into a well
or fountain, the wish will come true.
Wish I may,
Wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.
If you tell someone your wish, it won't come true.
WISHBONE
Two people pull apart the
dried breastbone of a chicken
or turkey until it cracks
and breaks, each
one making
a wish
while doing
so. The person
who
gets the long half of the wishbone will have
his or her wish come true.
X
The number of Xs in the palm
of your right hand is the
number of children you will
have.
YAWN
A yawn is a sign that danger
is near.
Cover your mouth when you
yawn, or your soul can go
out of your body along with
the yawn.
|