Did Your Parents Have Some Interesting Superstitions?

Question

My mother particularly was very superstitious. No tossing food to one another outside at night or a ghost might catch it, you'll eat it and get sick. I thought of this when I was going to toss an apple to my brother as he was getting into his car and he stopped me, walked back and got it. Still listening to her after all these years.

Linz-b that's what I was trying to explain, it's firmly imbedded our brain, these superstitions. Thanks.

Frank, you just reminded me, my father said never eat with your hat on or you'll go bald. I always take mine off to this day before eating. Thanks.

Sammy, my mother insisted we eat till we were stuffed full on the New Years day meal so we will never run out of food throughout the year. Thanks.

Bass I see the reasoning behind that one. I wish I could tell you what I read on YA about a week ago about God killing kittens everytime.... (he added, "I never liked cats anyway.")

Joey my mother used to tell us not to tickle the bottom of baby's feet too or he/she will studder. She said never to put bells on their shoes too or they'll be hard of hearing later in life. Thanks. (I didn't give you a thumbs up earlier because I didn't know what "fa" meant, I gave you one now).

Luvspbr2, I've been told about the picture falling from the wall too. Also if a bird flies in your home, they are bringing news of death. Thanks.

JustMe, I've heard if you saw an owl, news of death would come to your home VERY shortly after. That night, or the next day. It came true the three times I saw an owl so I tend to think that one is true from seeing proof.

We were also told not to whistle at night or we'll call the ghosts. Thanks.

Answer 1

We couldn't put our hats on the kitchen table or on the bed, and no new shoes on the table or the bed.

As children we would pile cabbage stalks around the doors and windows of the house on Halloween, mom would say that fairies will bring us a new brother or sister.

Never tickle a baby's feet or you'll make him stutter.

A two dollar bill is a sign of bad luck, to remove the curse from the bill, tear off one of it's corners and make a triangle, which is an ancient sign of good luck.

Yellow underwear is good luck.

Leaving your house from a different door than from the one you entered is bad luck.

Answer 2

Some may have some practicality since if you sing at the table you might choke on your food... Although we sing sometimes after we eat at the table. (No, we don't eat the table at all!) It seems most of these are from Irish folklore. I wonder if I'm right? My mother and grandmother were Irish and I remember grandma telling me I'd grow up to be mean since I could wrinkle my lip a certain way. Maybe she thought it looked rude or showed attitude like Elvis Presley showed in his picture. I think that's why I copied it. The other places I've heard superstitions were from songs-- "Hi said the little leatherwing bat, I'll tell you the reason that I fly by night is because I've lost my heart's delight." Maybe that's not superstition but just a saying, like "Red sky in morning, sailor take warning, and Red sky at night, sailor's delight" which has observable truth to it, at least many times, too.

Another place I've enjoyed the superstitions shared was in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn by Samuel T. Clemens or aka Mark Twain! (Make sure you don't look at the moon over your shoulder...)

It's fun, but nothing to them. I don't put no trust in them. I am not at all superstitious, but I am a Believer in the Loving Father who gave us a great book, The Bible, to both teach us how to live, but also show we don't meet up to His perfect standard, and we need His life in ours to have Supernatural Life beyond this world. This world is NOT all there is. "For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son, Jesus, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. God did not sent His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that we might have life through Him."
(John 3:16-17)

Answer 3

My mom still throws salt over her shoulder when she spills, it and she says its good luck to bet on a gray horse to show at a horse race. My whole family eats cabbage on New Years day for good luck through out the rest of the year. We hide a dime in the pot and whoever finds it will have good financial luck the rest of the year. There are a thousand others, we are a big Irish family so I guess that where it comes from. I had never heard the one about throwing food at night, though.

Answer 4

The usual: spilled salt means you have to toss some over your shoulder.

Don't touch a frog when you're pregnant

People with eyes too close together are not to be trusted, nor is a man with no chin! lol

Don't open an umbrella inside

If you tell a lie to get out of something, it will come true

and my grandaddy's - if you eat the seed of something it will grow inside your tummy! lol

Answer 5

The ones I read were a lot more interesting than mine.
Anyway my parents always insisted we eat Crowder peas on New Years Day. If you didn't you could go hungry sometime during the year. If you couldn't get them you could substitute Blackeyed peas.
When we were little they had been taught that you couldn't drink milk with fish. You would get sick. Well my brothers and I wanted milk so they decided to let us once. We didn't get sick and drank it after that.

Answer 6

With an Irish mother and Grandparents! All said in an Irish accent!
1) If an owl so much as came near our house, someone was going to die. It still freaks me,to this day!
2).................!( To me) "Stop whistling, don't' ya know that, a whistling women and a crowing hen, wakens the devil out of his den?!"
3).................!(To me). When I came home and put my tennis shoes on the kitchen table! "Get those there shoes off that there table! It's unlucky"! I still won't have shoes on the table!
4)..................! (To Me) "Don;t cross the knives on the table, you will bring bad luck on this house!"
5)..................! (My Granny to my Dad after grandfather died and she came to live with us) "I will not have a room that is painted green, it's unlucky. Paint it white!"
Whe my mother was out I used to climb a high tree, and she used to shout at me to come down. I never figured out if that was unlucky. It just drove her mad, which is exactly what I wanted to do. She was a lovely lady. I did love her.

Answer 7

Yeah, they did and a lot of them have already been mentioned. Also:
If you tell your dream before breakfast it will come true.
If a picture falls off the wall someone is going to die.
Only pick up a penny if it's heads up.
And of course the-four leaf clovers are good luck.

Answer 8

like what? let me see uhmmm...ok,dont whistle inside the house,snakes will come in. dont open an unbrella inside the house,brings bad luck. if you dont share a bad dream,it will become reality.spill the salt on the table,grab a handfull and toss it behind you over your right shoulder.if you brake a mirror in order to brake the seven years of bad luck you must pour salted water over it and dispose of it on a crossing road.if a fork falls for no reason ,a male visitor,if a spoon,a female.if a huge fly comes in the house and hoovers around and leaves,an important letter is to arrive.if a green grasshopper comes in,good luck and hopes of problems to end on a good note.keep a turtle at home and let it crawl around the house every tuesday,to clean up bad vibes and dark energy.if a bird at home dies suddenly,someone at home was about to get really ill and the bird took the wrap.want more ?i have 500 years of supersticions ,hexes and witchcraft in my fam. go ahead go crazy,lol...

Answer 9

My grandmother believed you could "mark" a baby by doing something while you were pregnant. She often (too often) told me this story about my mother marking me. My mother died when I was a baby so I couldn't verify it.
My grandmother was in the car with my mother. My mother ran over their Irish setter who had twelve babies and it killed her. My mother put her hand over her stomach and my grandmother said, "Well, you just marked your baby." When I was born, I had an egg shaped birthmark on my stomach, the color of an Irish setter.

Answer 10

Funny you should bring that up. My mom had the strangest idea that people with short upper lips or eyes close together were bad or mean-spirited people. Whenever I'd get her riled, she told me my eyes were getting closer together or that my upper lip was getting shorter! (I riled her a lot. When you're No. 5, you don't have to try very hard!)