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Top 10 Crazy Superstitious Things People Do
Wouldn’t it be great to wake up in the morning and have everything go right? No red lights, no spilled coffee, no turning up late for appointments, no conflict, no bad news.
Obviously, this is next to impossible, but apparently there are some things you can do to keep bad luck at bay no matter what the activity.
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10 Buy a house
When people start looking for a new home, they typically include things such as modern kitchens, en suite bathrooms and wide windows that offer a fantastic view on their wish list. Some wish for happy, lasting memories with their family and friends.
To ensure a new house is protected from dark forces that threaten the happiness of the family within its walls, some people paint their porch ceilings haint blue. It is believed that this particular shade of blue repels evil and restricts the undead from entering a home because it confuses them into thinking that the ceiling is a body of water. Some homeowners choose to also paint their shutters and window frames in this shade for extra protection.
This superstition was very common in the American South where the term ‘haint blue’ became popular in the 19th century as a description of Caribbean blue. Haint actually means haunt, which was the Southern term for ghost.
9 Drive a car
Driving is often very mundane and experienced drivers agree that it becomes such an automatic activity that half the time they don’t know how they got to their destinations. Driving comes with a lot of risk however and as the saying goes: ‘You don’t only drive for yourself; you also drive for others.’ Not to mention the dangers of rockfalls, carjacking, collapsing tunnels, unexpected obstacles and more.
For these reasons, some drivers have taken to performing certain ‘safety rituals’ before and while driving to keep bad luck at bay. These include holding your breath while passing a cemetery or driving through a tunnel, as it will ensure the dead remain undisturbed and that your wishes will come true, respectively.
It will also bode well for you to never buy a new car on Friday the 13th or drive on a road with the number 13 in it as this can only send disaster your way.
8 Have a meal
Some people can’t just sit down and have a meal. There are many things to do and consider before any food can be consumed, all in the name of warding off evil. For instance, if they are having a cup of tea before dinner, they never add milk to it before the sugar as this would mean being single for life. If they’re more of a coffee person and spot some bubbles in their cup, they might scoop them up with a teaspoon and eat them because they believe it will cause them to become wealthy.
Should you find yourself the host of a meal, especially dinner, ensure that you don’t seat 13 people at your dinner table as one unlucky guest will die within a year. Also, don’t let anyone sing at the dinner table, because they will end up with a crazy spouse.
7 Attend a funeral
Death is an inevitable part of life, and by extension funerals. Every day all over the world thousands of people get up and ready themselves to go to a funeral, whether that of a loved one or an acquaintance.
A funeral event can attract a host of superstitions with some people placing coins on the eyes of the deceased and burying them facing east. When a body is removed from a home, many believe and insist that it should be moved with the feet leaving the building first. If a corpse leaves ‘headfirst’ it might just look back to the living and beckon them to join the journey to the afterlife.
Those who are very superstitious also make sure that they choose a different route from the cemetery when returning home, so that ghosts are unable to follow them.
6 Get dressed
If you get up really early on a cold, dark winters morning, you will be forgiven for putting on your socks inside out. Apparently socks that are inside out bring good luck, so it may prove to be the best thing you did that day anyway.
But if you happen to be dressing on a cold, dark winters morning for your own wedding, ensure that you add a few bells to your wedding dress to ward off the demons that may be hiding unseen in the dark corners of your bedroom. And add a fancy belt for protection against sorcery.
People who feel particularly lucky on any given day, often wear clothes with polka dots or carry polka dot accessories with them. Especially when they plan to place bets at a local casino or play the lottery. The round dots are said to resemble money making a sudden appearance in one’s life.
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5 Fall pregnant
It is natural for expectant mothers to go to any length to ensure their unborn baby is healthy and protected. This includes eating healthy foods, making regular doctor’s appointments, taking supplements and so on.
Some go even further and wear keys around their neck when a full moon shines brightly from above. It is believed that the keys deflect the moon’s rays from a pregnant woman’s belly and keeps it from eating the baby’s lip which would lead to a cleft palate.
Some mothers-to-be who plan baby showers with their friends and family, insist on having them in either the seventh or ninth month of their pregnancy as the numbers seven and nine are considered to bring good luck. There are also pregnant women who refuse to have their hair cut while expecting as they believe it would lead to a problem with their baby’s eyes.
4 Travel the world
Even though traveling to far-off exotic locations is problematic at the moment, those who love the open road or plane journeys are at the edge of their seats waiting for the coronavirus pandemic to subside so they may yet again explore foreign countries around the globe.
Depending on the destination, there are several ‘rules’ to follow if you want to have a bad luck-free trip. For instance, when you have arrived in Russia and are waiting at the airport for a friend or family member to come and pick you up, sitting on your luggage will bring you good luck.
Some people who leave their accommodation in Bulgaria after a holiday, try to ensure that their host doesn’t start sweeping the place right after they leave as their very breath might be swept from their body.
Those who take a trip to China on their own will want to keep unwanted spirits at bay in a room with two beds. They can place their personal items such as suitcases on the spare bed to indicate to unseen guests that the bed occupied. They should also pat the pillows a couple of times to signal to the undead that the bed is not available.
3 Celebrate Halloween
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of superstitions surrounding holidays such as Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Of course, Halloween has a list of its own to ensure people stay out of the clutches of evil beings during the spookiest holiday of them all. If you find yourself in Wales on 31 October, be sure to avoid all crossroads and stiles as a ghost will be waiting there for you. The country also has a long-standing tradition whereby each member of a family would throw a white stone into a bonfire. Each stone would be marked. When they looked for the stones the next day and one was missing, it meant that particular family member would die within the year. So, you know, don’t do go throwing stones if you want to live.
If you are in desperate need of some good luck, light an orange candle at midnight on Halloween and allow it to burn until the sun rises. Also, while you are keeping an eye on the candle (as you should!) and you happen to hear footsteps behind you, don’t turn around. Death himself might be standing behind you looking over your shoulder.
2 Go to bed
If you want to avoid having nightmares and bad luck in general when you go to bed, never turn your mattress on a Sunday and arrange your pillows to face north. (But then again, other superstitions say that your pillows should never face north.) You can also adopt the practice of feng shui and place your bed as far away from the door as possible and never directly in front of it.
Don’t allow your cat into your bedroom unless you want to be cursed for years on end and definitely don’t hang a painting of the Titanic or anyone other picture that depicts a disastrous event in your bedroom as this could lead to distress in your household.
Also, never leave your hat on your bed, as it will attract years of bad luck that not even a dreamcatcher will be able to scare away.
1 Get married
A wedding is a joyous occasion. Provided that you have made sure not to drop your bride or groom’s ring during the ceremony of course, as this would mean your partner will die soon. Never plan a May wedding as this might lead you to ‘marry in May, rue the day’. You may still, however, carry the bride over the threshold of your new home as this would prevent evil spirits from latching on to her.
Once the coronavirus is gone for good, you may want your wedding guests to spit on you and your partner as this is considered a blessing. And if this really doesn’t sound like your thing, you could bury a bottle of Bourbon upside down at the wedding venue a month before the ceremony to ensure good luck and good weather on the day. Afterwards, you can also enjoy a well-deserved drink and sigh a sigh of relief that everything went down according to plan.
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