Strange Superstitions and The Superstitious Among Us

[Starius]

Spiders. I won't kill spiders. I will kill most anything, well bugs and most critters but not spiders. Someone had told me, don't ask who as I don't even remember, that it was badluck to do so and it just registered in me. Till this day I would pick up spiders and throw them outside but not kill them.

Thats interesting. The superstition around here is if you kill a spider - it might rain. So, being a farming community dependent on crops, killing a spider is often good luck.

 

[RIOT]

Did a search and came up with this http://www.oldsuperstitions.com/animal.html (scroll down to the spider part)

 

[Starius]

Did a search and came up with this http://www.oldsuperstitions.com/animal.html (scroll down to the spider part)

This site mentions some of those and a few others... including the bringing on the rain one:

http://www.spiderzrule.com/superstitions.htm

I imagine that bringing rain was generally considered a unlucky thing in many areas, but not here!

Also of interest, and a complete opposite to everything else we've seen, is the cajun superstition that killing a spider after dark is good luck.

 

[RIOT]

Yeah, much of the same on those links. Has the rainfall been good in Iowa this year?

 

[Starius]

Yeah, much of the same on those links. Has the rainfall been good in Iowa this year?

In my area of the state, its been a bit on the dry side as far as averages go. But enough little showers every so often to keep things going okay. A lot of lawns have had noticeable brown patches but they're finally all starting to look healthy green.

Been some good mornings for dew to form, which does help too.
My great-grandfather once raised a crop of corn on just 2/10th of an inch of rain and excellent morning dews which occurred for many summer days.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

I have no superstitions or superstitious habits, whatsoever.

Lee
___________________

Does that make me strange?

 

[Diamondback]

Not even some little quirk?

 

[MrNewportCustom]

Not even some little quirk?

Nope. Nothing any quirkier than setting my alarm clock to wake me at the same time every workday morning, or turning the key everytime I want to start the car.

Here's why I have no susperstitions: My parents met on a Friday the 13th. They were happily married for forty-eight and a half years, until the day my father died.

My family has had many black cats over the years, and my older brother has one now. We cross each other's paths all the time, to no ill effects.

Not only do I walk under ladders, but will do so purposely when with superstitious friends. And when I'd work in the photo studio in college, I'd walk under the 12-foot A-frame ladder and pick it up from beneath, then carry it to where I needed it, put it down and continue through. I'd do that numerous times in a couple of hours.

I don't even watch for cracks in the sidewalk and my mother's back is just fine, even at seventy-three years of age.

I've broken a couple mirrors in my life, two times on the right side of my daily driver, in fact, and no bad luck has come my way. I've had the car for seventeen years and 158,000 miles and it still runs great.

I've read a couple books about dreams, and everything the books said that dreams meant never proved true about any dream I've ever had.

I've always avoided fortune tellers, simply because I think they're a waste of time, at best, and a scam at worst. One evening, though, years ago, a lady I'd had dinner with offered to pay to have my palm read. The seer was wrong on everything she said about me - not even close. I didn't give her any "bad vibes" or anything, either. I just sat down, held out my hand and listened.

I avoid tossing anything anywhere, unless I have some control over where it's going to land, and throwing something - anything - behind me without looking can be a recipe for disaster. So I won't throw salt over my shoulder because I don't want it to land in the eyes of someone behind me; in the next booth, waiter approaching, etc. I don't consider that a superstition, but a courtesy.

When I buy lottery tickets, I always use quick picks: no special numbers - birth dates, family ages, addresses, phone numbers, winning horse numbers, etc. (I once read in a California Lottery newsletter that the ratio of Quick Pick wins to Chosen Number wins was 49% to 51%. Hardly a big enough difference to sway me one way or another.)

The left side of the body is considered evil by many standards of superstition. I should know, Im left handed. I had a man tell me once never trust a left handed woman, they are conniving. lol

LD

I knew a left-handed lady. She was a good friend and we'd joke a lot. She once told me that "only left-handed people are in their right mind." I shot back with, "Yes, but only artistically." Thanks, LD. If I ever see her again, now I have another barb to toss her way.


Lee

 

[imoldfashioned]

I'm not too superstitious, although I will go out of my way not to walk under ladders and I always toss a bit of any spilled salt over my shoulder. In college I had to pick a pine needle off a certain tree on my way into finals (I've no idea what started that one but I was quite adamant about doing it!).

 

[Diamondback]

Hey, I'm a southpaw too--but I have this weird "checkerboard" kinda thing going on neurologically, like I use pieces of each half extremely well, but not either as a whole. Be nice, everybody...

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I get up on the wrong side of bed every morning. :fing28:

 

[PrettySquareGal]

My ears are ringing right now...who is talking about me?!

Other than that and never making comments about how my car is running great or that wow I haven't caught a cold in a long time, I'm not too superstitious.

 

[Prairie Dog]

How Superstitious Are You?

Any of you have a mild to moderate case of "triskaidekaphobia"? Since today's Friday The 13th, care to share your superstitions. I have no qualms about Friday the 13th. As for superstitions, until recently I looked under my bed and in my closet for the boogeyman, before going to sleep!

So just how superstitious are you? Do you take great care with mirror glass? Would you never even dream of walking under a ladder or on the cracks of the sidewalk?

http://www.lifescript.com/quiz/quiz.asp?bid=55328&valid=1&page=2&ptype=PQ

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

I wish I were superstitious...I have an almost Vulcan attitude towards all things. It has to be logical.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Not at all.....
HD

 

[Smuterella]

a bit, its my pagan upbringing i think

OT: desi - great avatar!

 

[zaika]

i grew up w/ superstitious family members, so sometimes i do/think things out of habit.

but i like to think i'm not.

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

a bit, its my pagan upbringing i think

OT: desi - great avatar!

Thank you Smuterella!

 

[Rachael]

I'm not, but I do tend to repeat patterns that work well for me. (and strictly avoid those that didnt)

 

[Diamondback]

Does carrying a bullet with my name Sharpied onto it count? As in, "if you have a bullet with your name on it, no one else will."