Superstitions

Picture Credit: “Happy Halloween (if a black cat lays under a ladder, does that negate all bad luck?)” by LouevilBelle is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A superstition is “a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation” or “an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition

The British Museum website introduces (at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/membership/events/ancient-origins-modern-superstition) the subject of superstitions, asking: Do you touch wood for luck or avoid hotel rooms on floor thirteen? Would you cross the path of a black cat or step under a ladder? Is breaking a mirror just an expensive waste of glass or something rather more sinister?

Despite the dominance of science in today’s world, superstitious beliefs – both traditional and new – remain intact and surprisingly popular. The concept of superstition has existed for millennia, and some of today’s most popular superstitions had their beginnings in ancient Babylonia.

An explanation for why we cross our fingers stems from a pagan belief that spirits could be found at ‘crossings’, the idea being that by simulating a crossing with one’s fingers, a good spirit could be invoked to help make a wish come true.

Boudicca (or Boudica), queen of the Iceni people of Eastern England, led a major uprising against occupying Roman forces. She was said to have released rabbits onto the battlefield before a battle started so she could predict whether or not she’d be victorious. The relevance of a rabbit’s foot bringing good luck is not known. Like most superstitions, it’s a case of being aware of what people said and going along with it just in case it were true.

One horseshoe-related superstition says that if you sleep with a horseshoe under your pillow on New Year’s Eve, you’ll have good luck throughout the forthcoming year, or that if you dream of a horseshoe, it means that good luck is on the way.

Whatever you believe, here is a list of some common superstitions:

• If you have an itchy palm, good luck is coming
• If you find a penny, pick it up (for good luck)
• It’s unlucky to walk under a ladder
• A black cat crossing before you can be a sign of bad luck (most of Europe considers the black cat a symbol of bad luck, particularly if one walks across the path in front of a person, which is believed to be an omen of misfortune and death) but in Britain, Ireland and Germany it is lucky to see a black cat – as long as it crosses your path from left to right
• A rabbit’s foot will bring you good luck
• Finding a horseshoe means good luck
• Bad luck comes in threes
• Don’t break a mirror or you’ll have 7 years of bad luck
• Cross your fingers for good luck
• The number 666 equals the mark of Satan – avoid it all costs
• Knock on wood for good luck, three knocks gets rid of bad luck
• Make a wish on a wishbone
• It’s unlucky to put up an umbrella inside the house
• Friday the 13^th is an unlucky day
• Tossing spilled salt over your shoulder brings good luck
• Seeing magpies can be good or bad, depending on how many you see (according to the rhyme): “One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl and four for a boy,  five for silver, six for gold and seven for a secret never to be told, eight for a wish, nine for a kiss, ten for a bird that’s best to miss.

READ MORE:

• Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition (OUP, 1997) by Stuart A Vyse: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Believing-Magic-Superstition-Stuart-Vyse/dp/0195136349
• Superstition: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2020) by Stuart Vyse: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Superstition-Very-Short-Introduction-Introductions/dp/0198819250/
• 55 of the Strangest Superstitions From Around the World: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g4489/strangest-superstitions/
• 13 Common and Silly Superstitions: https://www.livescience.com/14141-13-common-silly-superstitions.html

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Martin Pollins

Managing Director at One Smart Place

Martin Pollins is a Chartered Accountant and MBA with wide experience in corporate finance and business management. He has served on the boards of several companies, including those listed on the London Stock Exchange, AIM and OFEX. He is Chairman and Founder of OneSmartPlace and was a Council member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales from 1988 to 1996. He was managing partner of PRB Martin Pollins, based in Sussex, the first Accountancy firm to advertise on British television.He went on to create and launch the CharterGroup Partnership (the UK’s first Accountancy network) and then LawGroup UK (at the time, one of the largest networks of lawyers in the UK). In recent years, he helped to raise several £millions to fund British films such as The Da Vinci Code, Bridge of San Luis Rey, Head in the Clouds and Merchant of Venice with actors such as Charlize Theron, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, F. Murray Abraham. Kathy Bates, Gabriel Byrne, Geraldine Chaplin, Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen, Audrey Tautou, Penélope Cruz, Steven Berkoff, Lynn Collins, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes and many more.

He has written over 700 business publications (see Glossaries at https://onesmartplace.com/resources/glossaries/) and is editor of Better Business Focus (see https://onesmartplace.com/resources/better-business-focus-magazine). His Blog, on a wide range of subjects can be found at: https://onesmartplace.com/blog/

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