Superstitions

Why is it considered bad luck to walk under a ladder? A ladder leaning against a wall forms triangles, the symbol of the trinity and the mystic number three. It was once believed that to walk through the triangle would be to defy the trinity and be succeptible to the Devil's ploys.

excellent topic marcia! thanks for posting it. i do the knock on wood thing because i don't believe in tempting God. and because as soon as one brags the opposite happens quite soon after unless you say something like God Forbid or knock on wood.

Yup! I always do that and throw salt over my left shoulder if I spill any. Talked about the knock on wood somewhere in Geo...

(I hoped you would be pleased - I thought about waiting to ask your permission, but I had a post to put somewhere and, like a little kid, I could not resist)

but i'm glad that you did! maybe we can use it to post the origin of superstitions and experiences of people who have broken them. we already know about borrowing lava from your volcano and i believe that's something i won't test!

Excellent idea, Wolfie. I'll get that knock on wood whipped into better shape and post it here and hunt up the other ones I can think of. I can post one regarding the bad luck if you take lava from the Mme Pele, the Hawaiian Volcano Godess. My son=the=geologist won't test her ire and I won't either by taking lava off island. I nearly sent you a bottle of olivines (peridots), but am still waiting to hear if they qualify as bad luck bringers. (Your package is beside me all sealed and addressed waiting for a ride to the Post office...tomorrow, hopefully! Anyway, did not want to bring evil upon you so I shall wait till I hear if they qualify as lava. (That's where they come from!)

well, don't worry about the peridot then.....*smile*

I was just thinking about that as I wrote. Let me tell you about the little bottle of olivines I took to my Dad in Arizona. He put it on the mantle along with other rock specimens he and I had collected. Shortly after we returned to Hawaii, my mother and dad were out shopping. When they returned home they found the house had been broken into and all of my mother's good jewelry (she did not have much) and that little bottle of peridots-cum-olivines were gone along with my Dad's antique sword which his Father had given to him...

yup, let's not test such long-standing superstitions *grin*

here's a website i came upon: http://www.cam.org/~jennyb/super.html

This is a real email I received and I also received the rocks in question back into the protection of the Volcano: I have a question my friend who visited your lovely islands has asked. Of course I have no reply so here goes. When she visited back in June she picked up some black & white sand and a lava rock. Someone told her that these bring bad luck and that the natives believe in its curse. Is it true? Whether yes or no she wants to return them. What do you suggest we could do about it. I don't want to bother you with this but I'd appreciate your help and feed back. She would like to return them as she does feel that things have gone wrong since her return at work and personally. I suggested that she buy a seat sale ticket that airline companies are offering out of Canada and revisit to return them but she hasn't got time right now. Sorry to drag you into this but it's been down-hill for this poor woman

closing my tags...*sigh*

That is one amazing website. Great stuff, Wolfie - we can just 'borrow' stuff from that website and move it here *grin*

yup, maybe they have a list we can join!

Oooh! What a great idea. I am still waiting for someone to join Geo to an appropriate webring. (I know we had this discussion before but I was asked to wait for someone to do it for me...)

Then we can maybe entice some new posters into your conference!

well, i did mention i could do it for us.....lemme see if they are any good ones out there and i'll let you know *wink*

(and i know of whom you were speaking when you said "someone")

(*grin* I know you do...*hugs*) We were locked out of the one we wanted and none of the others seemed to be juxt right. I'll have to check again. It has been a while.

It's bad luck to walk under a ladder. This came from the early Christian belief that a leaning ladder formed a triangle with the wall and ground. You must never violate the Holy Trinity by walking through a triangle, lest you be considered in league with the devil. (And you all know what good Christians did to people they suspected of being in league with the devil.) Beware of Friday the Thirteenth. Those who know about these things, inform us that Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden on a Friday, Noah's flood started on a Friday, and Christ was crucified on a Friday. Christians also noted that twelve witches plus one devil are present at Satanic ceremonies so Friday and 13 make a deadly combination. God Bless You. During the sixth century, it was customary to congratulate people who sneezed because they were expelling evil from their bodies. Later, when a great plague took hold of Europe, and people began sneezing violently, the Pope passed a law. Since sneezing meant that the person was going to die of plague, people were required to bless the sneezer. Don't spill the salt. Although some people believe that Judas spilt salt during the last supper, this claim can't be proven. Salt was a very precious expensive commodity in the middle ages. It was also used for medicinal purposes. If you spilled any, you must immediately throw it over your left shoulder to strike the nasty spirits in the eye, thus preventing sickness. Black cats are evil. In ancient Egypt, the Goddess Bast, was a black female cat. Christian priests wanted to wipe out all traces of other religions so convinced their ignorant followers to destroy the evil demons that were black cats. While they were at it, they destroyed the kindly little old ladies who cared for the cats believing them to be witches. Pie In The Sky. Of course, this means to search for the impossible dream but it originated in the early 1900's. A famous labor organizer named Joe Hill was extremely critical of the clergy's treatment of slaves. He wrote a tune called 'The Preacher and the Slave" accusing the clergy of making false promises of a better life in heaven while people starved on earth. The song goes: 'Work and pray, live on hay. You'll get pie in the sky when you die. That's a lie!' Skin Of Your Teeth. This saying means to barely escape from a harrowing situation. It comes from Job 19:20, where God inflicts all sorts of terrible things on one of those who love him. Poor Job had all his animals stolen, his children die, his house collapse and his body covered with sores. Job has this to say; "My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth." Fleshpot. - Today 'fleshpot' describes decadence. In the time of Moses, it was a large pot in which to boil meat. Somehow, preachers managed to change the meaning to scare their flock about 'sins of the flesh'. To make a scapegoat. - The poor scapegoat gets the punishment for everyone else's mistakes. God condoned this cruelty to animals in Leviticus 16:7-10 "And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other for the scapegoat." The scapegoat got to escape, and carry the tribe's sins into the wilderness, to be eaten by some animal instead of being offered alive as a sacrifice for the Lord. "I have heard that the number 13 is unlucky because of the number of attendees of the last supper. I don't have a handy reference however." - pbunt@indiana.edu "I read in a book on superstitions some time ago that the reason we are encouraged to hold our hand over our mouth when we yawn so as not to let the Devil into our mouth." - Corey Moore4 - cleo@olywa.net "Of course I don't have a definitive source to cite, but people in my neck of the wood (So. Cal.) have held that it was once believed that when a person sneezed their soul might be expelled from their body at the same time. Therefore it was necessary to bless the sneezer to keep this from happening. Of course, it doesn't make much sense to bless the sneezer *after* the sneeze, when the soul has had its opportunity for escape, but who said superstitions were logical?" - Ken Thompson (MonkeyBoy) kthom@earthlink.net "Friday the 13th is considered unlucky because of the combination of the day with the number: Friday is the Goddess' day, (Frida in Norse, Venus in Latin languages) and 13 is the number of the moon goddess (13 lunations in a solar year). When originally Saturday was the 7th day (of rest) it was Saturn's day, who needed the rest after spending the previous day with the goddess." - Kimberly McCrea - First.M.Last@CI.Eugene.OR.US "Don't forget "knock on wood". Supposed to keep the devils living in the wood from hearing your ill-considered idle comments." - Bob Vincent - inocent@exis.net "I believe the Dec 25th also had something to do with Saturnalia, a popular Roman Holiday, and the Dec 21st solstace (Celebrated in many ancient cultures). The Christian fathers were trying to compete with the old pagen religions and needed to provide holidays in order to distract their "flocks" from their previous pagan celebrations." - Alex Hopmann - hopmann@holonet.net "Years ago, someone in school told me you were supposed to hold your breath when passing a cemetary so as not to make the dead jealous." - Pamela - myrrdin@interaccess.com " Breaking Mirrors = 7 years bad luck. Some time ago (ancient Romans, if I remember right), people believed that reflections were actually glimpses of the viewers soul. People had gazing pools in their gardens in which they could look at themselves. A really mean thing to do was wait until a person was gazing at their reflection and throw a stone in the water because the distruption of the reflection affected their soul and brought about bad luck. We don't have gazing pools anymore, but the mirror breaking superstition still lives on." - Donald Wilson - dpwilson@ualr.edu "When I was a child in Detroit, Michigan, fifty years ago, no one dared open an umbrella in the house. It was said that doing so would cause a death in the family. Someone was always around who knew of a case where someone had opened an umbrella in the house and someone else had died. Surprise! Now I have been living in California for thirty years and no one thinks about the open umbrella superstition. In fact, it is common for people (including me) to leave them open to dry in a corner of a room. Of course, my generation was the first to have the benefit of antibiotics and other effective treatments to prevent sudden death from diseases which were always lurking nearby. We must not forget how different things are today from the way they were when a superstition was formed." - Roger Zabkie - rzabkie@calweb.com "Before we knew about electricity, Christians thought that lightening bolts were thrown at them by devils. During storms, the Christians had people ring the bells in the church towers to scare away the devils. Not suprisingly, many Christians, who were ringing the bells in the towers, got electricuted by these lightening bolts that would hit the towers. This is because in those days the church tower was the tallest thing around and, if you remember, lightening likes to hit the tallest things. But the Christians thought the devils were throwing those lightening bolts at their churches. When Ben Franklin invented the lightening rod and said that lightening was really electricity, not something some devil carried around, the Christians scoffed at installing lightening rods on their churches. But, like the fact that the Christians got over Galileo's odd thought that all the planets revolve around the sun, not like the Christian view that the planets and sun revolve around the earth. And it took them about twenty years before it became an accepted practice to install lightening rods on churches (and of course - remove those bell ringers during the storms)." - Frank Becker - fb12990@deere.com "I thought you might be entertained by some observations about Christians. One of their primary religious services involves ritual symbolic cannibalism (the Lord's supper features the Lord as the main course after all.) Also, the majority of congregations that have sufficient finances choose to build their houses of worship in the form of, and display very prominently, the form of an ancient instrument of torture, execution and political oppression (this would be the cross.) One wonders when some genius will sell communion wafers that are guaranteed to transubstantiate (sp) only into red meat, without any of Christ's bone, teeth, gristle or hair (not to mention his unmentionables.)" "If this isn't a fair treatment of Christianity, tough. It's representative of what far too many Christians do to others they hate (Pro-Choicers and homosexuals come to mind.) It's pretty tough to watch half-truths being told and not notice." - C Shaffer - shaffer@fsheb2.hep.fsu.edu "I read that the word "pagan" actually means one of the country. Pagans were farm people, and farm people were often behind in fashion as compared to those in the city. Those city dwellers first started wearing those pointy black hats we know to be witches' hats. When the fashion hit the countryside, they were behind with the fashions of the city and pagans (witches) became synonymous with the hats. "Also, the idea of witches flying on broomsticks comes from when the pagans were viewed hopping up and down on broomsticks in the fields...a harvest ritual. (Not actually flying) "These things aren't superstitions, but neither is Christmas and the Star of Bethlehem, so I thought maybe it would be of interest. :)" - c00kie - (c00kie has 2 zeros, not o's) "Concerning the Star of Bethlehem: During the year 1 AD there was a quadruple conjuction of the brightest planets. Although Mercury supplied very little in the brightness of the conjuction,it is included. The major players were Jupiter, Mars amd Venus. This was also at a time when Venus was at it closest to the Earth. From the deserts of the Middle East, the view would be to the East before Sun rise. It is also interesting that this conjuction occured in the constelation 'Virgo'. Neat, huh!? Confirm this by using StarMap or similar shareware. Also if you ignore this, it is important that you know that there are only observable PLANETARY connjuctions in the nature you describe. Not 'star' or stellar conjunctions, unless they moved faster then. You need to replace 'star' with 'planets'." - Larry Laird - lairdl@cvn.net "My Mom always told me to say "Bless You" after a sneeze because your heart skips a beat when you sneeze, and it may not start beating again. She's an LPN, so I thought she'd been told that in nursing school. She also told me never to put a hat on a bed because it means someone is going to die." - Kelly Walker - kwalker@mhpagency.com "I don't have any reference for this other than my family, but when I was young my mother told me that you knocked on wood after saying something that might jinx yourself so that the evil spirts in the wood would not hear you and act upon the idea that you might have given them." - PC Warehouse Sales Representative - jessica@techmart-inc.com "I heard that if you stumble over a threshhold, you need to snap at it to send away all the demons. If you get up on the left side of the bed, you have to go back into the bed by taking 9 steps backward, then getting up on the right side of the bed. " - Melissa - TGO810304@AOL.Com "My wife is pregnant. A bird (sparrow) flew into our house. She was told it's bad luck. Now she's concerned about losing the baby (probably because she recently watched the movie "Seventh Sign" with Demi Moore, etc.)" - Windsound@aol.com "Concerning December 25 as the celebration of Christmas: I heard that because the Roman Empire had made Christianity illegal at some point, so Christians chose to celebrate Christmas on December 25 to escape detection. Since their Christmas celebration coincided with a Roman holiday, they could say that their celebrations were for that holiday, not for Christian purposes, and thus, escape arrest, attack, etc. Sorry, no source." - Ramey Ko - erick@computek.net Here are some additions to the origins of superstitions and holidays: 1. We cover our mouths when we yawn because it was believed that evil spirits could enter our bodies via our mouths. 2. We say "God Bless You" when someone sneezes because it was believed that your soul could escape from your body during a sneeze, and saying "God Bless You" immediately after someone sneezed would stuff it back in. 3. Since the actual date of the birth of Christ isn't known, the early Christians took the date of an existing holiday, the birth of Mithras, an ancient Persian sun-god. The date of December 25th is also meaningful because at the time of the Winter Solstice, when the daylight lessens, people thought that the world was ending...Thus, after a couple days or so, when the days began to lengthen, people celebrated. If you want to figure out the "actual" date of the birth of Christ from clues in the Bible (the sheep at pasture, the alignment of the stars in the sky, later clues of the age of Jesus) he was probably born in late summer or fall. When the cult of Christianity (The Romans)wanted to destroy all the earlier pagan religions that were flourishing, they adopted the days that were sacred to the other religions to keep the followers happy. Sidenote: The Evergreen tree is used as a symbol because its year-round green branches suggested everlasting life. 4. Knocking on wood was supposed to keep the evil spirits that lived in the wood from coming out to spoil our good fortune. 5. Walking under a ladder was bad luck because a ladder leaning against a wall formed a triangle and the Egyptians believed very strongly in the power of pyramids and triangles. To break the triangle was considered very dangerous. Sidenote: Sleeping with a pyramid over your head is supposed to either bring good (prophetic) dreams or is supposed to bring good luck (I can't quite remember). - Ruth L Capella - RLCAPELLA@BICS.BWH.HARVARD.EDU "The reason Friday the 13th is considered unlucky according to the book "Dungeon, Fire, and Sword" is that on that day, I forget the year, the King of France, I forget his name, put the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jaques DeMolay, to the stake and burned him alive along with other Knights. The reason for the executions according to the King was because the Templars were secretly Satanists. In reality he was jealous of their wealth and power and had his Anit-Pope excommunicate them and condem them as heretics. The Knights Templar were the richest group in Europe at the time and were loved by most of the 'common' folk. As he was burning, DeMolay cursed the Pope and King of France to die within the year, which they both did. So that is the true reason that Friday the 13th is considered unlucky." - Peter Siegel - psiege@roinet.com "The new testament states that there were no rooms available in any of the inns as there was a festival on, so Mary & Joseph were stuck in a stable. This festival was the Feast of the Tabernacles, as the goyim call it, or 'Succot' in Hebrew, which is held in October. So Christmas has NOTHING to do with christianity. The pagan festivals held around the mid-winter solstice (Saturnalia to the Romans) were very popular so instead of banning them, the church merely renamed them, and made Jesus the centre of attention. As for Jesus' birthplace being Bethlehem in Judea, that too might be inaccurate. There is a village called Beitlehem HaGlalit (Bethlehem of the Galilee) which lies just north of Nazereth, where Joseph and Mary lived. Herods' decree for a population census required people to return to their native towns. Some people hold that the Bethlehem referred to in the new testament is Galilean, not Judean." - David Ommanney - t03do@abdn.ac.uk "I just had to add something. The habit of knocking on wood to prevent bad luck was first a Roman custom, to communicate with the dryads, or tree spirits. So when one said something good about oneself or one's luck, one would also knock on the wood of a nearby object because it was also good luck to have the dryads in one's favor. (And being remembered in the wood was nice.) Latin professor was my source." - Mirj - mirjen@ibm.net "When my father was a boy he went to a friends house. He placed his hat on his friends bed and his childhood friend told him it was bad luck. My father did not believe his warning and the two of them ran off to play. Upon returning to the house, the house was burnt to the ground. My father was never a person to heed superstitious warnings, but until the day he passed on, I was never allowed to place any hat, on any bed, at any time. He actually used to spank me when I left hats on beds! Anyway I was wanting to know if you could possible share the origin of this superstition or connect me to some source of information regarding the rule." - Johnny Chance - JChance@ensemble.net "I remember, when I was a kid, when the family would drive past a cemetary, we would all hold our breath, to avoid inhaling evil spirits. Also, it was thought good luck to carry a handcuff key with you. It would get you out of trouble. - Felix Xavier Jinx - President, Skitzophrenic Pyromaniacs, Incorperated - sdhslib@cyberg8t.com "The true reason that breaking a mirror was 7 years bad luck is because when mirrors were first made they were so expensive that if you broke on you would serve 7 years as an indentured servant to the owner of the mirror because not too many people could afford to buy another one to replace it." - JUMPMAS842@aol.com "I have learned growing up that if you see a penny on the ground and it is heads up you should pick it up and it will bring you good luck. Also, it is said that while you drive over railroad tracks to lift your feet and make a wish for good luck. Finally, good luck charms are used by many people. Things such as rabbit's feet, horseshoes, four-leaf clovers, and other things to peoples interests will bring them good luck." - Brian Prince - dprince@ccpl.carr.lib.md.us "Now the bride and groom kiss at the ceremony but at one time they made love in front of the village. In the days of arranged mariages this was the only way they could be sure that the mariage would be properly consummated. Also, the ring was placed on the third finger until science discovered that there was no nerve directly from that finger to the heart, making it irrational to employ it in any romantiic connection." - Yggdrasil4@aol.com "I am not sure if this is true but when you enter a car you are suppose to enter it with your right leg for good Luck." - KimBear444@.aol.com "Living in Hawaii all my life, I have heard lots of superstitions, like for instance, never give an empty wallet, because if you do, it will be empty forever. Never wear your shoes in the house, because it brings the devil in your house. A pregnant lady should never wear a lei, 'cause the umbilical cord might choke the baby. These are all super silly, But the one I am about to tell you is the mother of all superstitions that I have heard. Never sleep with your feet toward the door, because the mysteries night marchers will come to your home, and steal your soul." - Megan Shibuya - shibuya@aloha.net "If you secretly put your toe-nail clippings in a glass of lemonade and make someone drink it, then that person is supposed to fall in love with you. I got this superstition from a book called "Cross Your Fingers, Spit In Your Hat.", by A. Shwartz." - Sabrina Beaudoin - SUEMSA@SILK.NET "I do not recall where I heard this superstition from, but when someone sneezes their heart stops a beat. By saying "God bless you", it merely thanks God for allowing the heart to continue beating again considering if it had stopped they would not be alive." - Patricia Rose - plrose@bond.net "When I was younger my little brother would tell me to lift my feet when we rode past a cemetary because the people buried there would sneak their spirits into your body (via the wheels of the auto I think). I also was told (by a "witch" at a convention) that the number 13 was considered strange because the five pointed-star represents the maiden, the mother, the crone and the two faces of the gods. The maiden also wore the face of the motherly maiden and the cronly maiden, the mother had the face of the maiden, the mother and the crone - and so on. When you add all of these many faces you end up with the number 13. It represents the power that comes in many forms. If you want to know my opinion I think it kinda scared most (if not all) of the Christians who were rapidly gaining popularity." - Amber Strom - kbell@theshivers.com "How about the idea of not stepping on sidewalk cracks? "Step on a crack break your mothers back" was the alleged justification. I know nothing of the origin of this one. I do remember a few kids who stomped the hell out of some cracks! Made me wonder about how things were going around home!" - DOWNING - gwhiz@interoz.com"@Interoz.com "Did you ever hear the superstion that a woman could tell who her future husband would be by standing at the side of the road, waiting until she counted 10 red cars, then saw a red-haired girl in a purple dress, then a man in a green tie, and THEN the next young man she saw would be her husband?&quo; - Jason Mojica - JMojica@aol.com 1. It is bad luck to walk under a ladder because they used to be used only by painters, so if you walked under one, paint or anything else could fall on you. 2 .Friday the 13th is only bad luck for males. The calendars used to have 13 months for the 13 phases of the moon in a year. Men changed the calendar to 12 months. Women also generally have 13 cycles in a year. Friday is also ruled by Venus which represents women. 3. A person is supposedly closest to death when they sneeze. You say "God bless you" so that if they die they may go to Heaven. 4. When passing a cemetary hold your breath because every breath you take supposedly wakes up a spirit. - CAMSILVER@aol.com "My grandmother would never say "thank you" when she was given a plant as a gift or handed a knife. She believed that the plant would die and she would cut herself, respectively. She would also never point her finger at a plant because it would then begin to wither and die. Also, to this day, opening an umbrella indoors is a BIG no-no in my family." - Jessica Jacques - jjacques@sprintmail.com "The 'walking under a ladder thing' started in northern Europe, and its purpose was that the only time a latter was used, that was big enough to walk under, was for getting a body off the lynching pole. If one were to walk under it, they would meet death. Friday the 13th...Friday was considered to be a bad day any time of the year. The 13th...the unlucky number had, again little to do with early christians too. In fact most of Central Europe, being mainly christian at the time, Friday the 13th meant nothing to them. Tuesday the 13th was the worst day of the year. The term 'bless you' came from Egypt about 600 years before your claim. Tyberius Caesar would roam the city and bless all whom would sneeze, because of a sickness. Salt was considered to be a pure substance. There are many superstitions involving salt. Evil spirits lurk over the left shoulder and if salt was spilt then the person who did the act was open for attack by the spirit. Black Cats... The Goddess Bias was many colors, and the fear of the cat....not black cat, just cat, came years before Christians took over Europe. In Druid Celtics belief, the cat was a dark and evil verminous creature. If a black, or other cat was to walk to you, this was a good omen, if it were to walk away from you, this was bad. The ladybug was considered a good omen centuries before Christ was thought of in most of Europe. It meant a good crop and if you killed one, your crop was shit. - Matthew - mdjacks@okstate.edu "My mother used to say that dropping the silverware meant that company was coming." - Lee Dowler - dowler@alltel.net "My grandmother is very superstitious and she always told me never to leave shoes on a bed because it would bring you bad luck and if you every left the house and forgot something, when you went back to get it, you had to sit back down on a chair before leaving or your trip would be a disaster. She also taught our entire family that when you ate a piece of pie, or anything pointy, you had to cut off the point and push it to the side. After you had eaten the entire pie piece, you put the point in your mouth and made a wish." - Tricia Bull - Tbull@worldnet.att.net "Jewish homes have a mezzuzah, or good-luck charm, on their door jambs. Orthodox (very religious) Jews kiss it each time they enter or leave. It contains some religious writing inside and symbolizes the blood left on the doors of Jewish homes (reference the Passover miracle). You are supposed to nail it to your door jamb diagonally, supposedly to symbolize the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem (all that's left is the Wailing Wall). I heard - sorry, can't remember where- that it really is due to some rabbis arguing whether to nail it horizontally or vertically. Therefore, diagonally is a compromise." "There are some that are fairly normal, like leaving the front door open for the prophet Elijah at Passover, so the kids think he drank the wine you left on the table for him, when in reality it was just evaporation." "I still like to offer the orthodox jews rides on saturday mornings on their way back and forth to shul (temple). They walk, because they aren't allowed to operate machinery on the sabbath (who said so, anyway?)." "People would say that spirits could not walk upon a path, so after dark don't leave the path/road. REALLY FOR: So people wouldn't get lost at night." "If you stare into a mirror by candlelight you will see the spirit of a lost loved one. TRUTH: Your eyes just get so screwed up that you see anything." "13 is unlucky. EXPLANATION: If you count the original Christian gang with Jesus as 1 and go up Judas is 13 and he betrayed Jesus (According to the Bible." - Jerry Pelton - panda_bear@hotmail.com "At least as recently as the 1960's, there were fields in certain farms in Northern Ireland (doubtless also the Republic) where a tree, especially a hawthorn, would be left standing in spite of the inconvenience to ploughing, rather than incur the hostility of the fairies who used it for their celebrations. Sometimes I think that such superstitions offer a welcome counterbalance to the destruction caused by the worship of the most worthless of all gods, Mammon." - Albert Rogers - theSkeptic@angelfire.com "A woman that used to work as a housekeeper while I was growing up had several superstitions that I never forgot: 1.Don't watch an animal defacating or you'll get a stye on your eye. 2.A red-tipped match will cure a case of the hiccups. 3.If your nose itches, it means that someone is thinking about you. The concept of 13 being unlucky originated before Moses, much less JC. If you take a look at the Code of Hammurabi, available in electronic form in many places on the web, you will notice that the laws are numbered - but law 12 is followed by law 14 (just like the floors on many buildings today). Notes in several translations point out that 13 was considered very unlucky in ancient Babylon - just exactly why is still a conjecture, but we DO know that 7 and 12 were very sacred to them." - Joe Jackson - jjackson@flash.net "The four leaves in a four leaf clover represented good luck in fame (first leaf to the left of the stem), wealth, lover, and health. My source is "The Complete Book Of Amulets and Talismans"" - Robert Crix - rob@nmbrokers.com "If your nose itches, that means someone is thinking about you. If your left ear rings, someone is saying good things about you. If your right ear rings, someone is saying bad things about you. If your left hand itches, you're going to be rich. If your right hand itches, you're going to be poor. I dont know where these came from, my friends told me this." - Egypt31611@aol.com "The word witch is a misspelling of Wicce, a female practitioner of the Wiccan religion. A male is known as Wicca, not Warlock, which is celtic (I think, maybe anglo-saxon?) for Oathbreaker. I have this on good authority from several Wiccans, as well as the Witches League for Public awareness (yes, the WLPA does use the better known spelling). Also, a great number of Christian holidays fall on the eight Wiccan Sabbats (not Black Sabbaths--another Christian corruption). Lastly, the pentagram (point-downwards) is the satanic symbol; the pentacle (point-upwards) is not. Things to think about." - Matt Hackell - mdragon1@hotmail.com "This may not be considered a superstition, however it is a tradition. The wedding ring is actually a ancient symbol of completion. Far older than the Christian religion. The ring signifies that which does not end or begin but it a circle of forever. Ah how sweet..... " - Tiffany Popham - tpopham@theatrix.com "My great grandmother from

Icelandic Superstitions, If sheep gnash their teeth during round-up in the autumn, the winter will be hard. If sheep gnash their teeth somewhere else, it presages very bad weather. If the first calf born during the winter is white, the winter will be a bad one. The first snows of winter are called winter-calves. If these happen early in the season that means the winter will be good. If somebody throws away a dead mouse, the wind will soon start to blow from that direction. Seldom the rains of Saturday last till Sunday Mass. If cows lick trees you can expect rain. The usage of firewood depends on the weather on Maundy Thursday. Good hay drying weather can be expected if a falcon or a merlin sit on a haystack in the field. If your head itches, you can expect wet weather. In late winter it is forbidden to knit on the doorstep, as that is known to lengthen the winter. If someone drops a knife, while cleaning fish, and the knife points to the sea, that presages good fishing when next you go to sea. If someone drops a knife, while cleaning fish, and the knife points to the land, that presages bad fishing when next you go to sea. If something is spilled, a drunken man will soon visit. If you itch in the mouth, you will receive a mouthful of knuckles. If a sick person sneezes three times on a Sunday, that is considered a sign of better health. If you sneeze three times before breaking fast on a Sunday, you will gain something in that week. If it rains when someone moves house, it bodes the wealth of those moving. If you see nine cows in a shed with a gray bull next to the door, and all of them lie on the same side, you are in luck, because you will be granted one wish.

someone has been busy.... bless you when you sneeze, it is said that sneezing causes the heart to stop for a second, which is why a blessing is given. a yawn can allow your soul to escape which is why you cover your mouth.

Yup! Those are both in the first of the posts of collective superstitions. I am busy because I am bored. John is in Kona to call the game over there which we did not go to see (see what happens when your old man really IS an old man?!)and he is not here to entertain me like he did at last night's game which was like a one-way conversation with me - and very funny at points. Rattling round the Spring. Think I'll look for gems.

gems.......oooooooohhhhhh......

Concerning the entry on the death of the Templar Grand Master, Jacques de Molay. He was burned at the stake on October 13, 1307 by order of the French king, Philip the Fair, (Philippe le Bel).

On Friday the 13th, actually!

That's my wedding anniversary!

Lucky number for the Celts, you know!

Well, it didn't do me any harm.

My parents got married on Friday the 13th.

Nice to hear I thought we were the only ones!!!!

My niece was born on Friday the 13th, her bother on Hallowe'en, and her mother on April Fool's Day. Interesting family...that one!

nice interesting or wierd interesting?

Kinda off the wall. It is my sister who is the April Fool...nothing at all like me. If anyone in my family had not her feet firmly on the ground, it was her. She can be vastly amusing.

Here, we say funny peculiar, or funny haha...?!

So do we, but I was being circumspect!!