Common Superstitions

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  • Friday the thirteenth is an unlucky day
  • A rabbit’s foot brings good luck
  • An apple a day keeps the doctor away
  • To find a four-leaf clover is to find good luck
  • If you walk under a ladder, you will have bad luck
  • If a black cat crosses your path you will have bad luck
  • To break a mirror will bring you seven years bad luck
  • To open an umbrella in the house is to bring bad luck
  • To find a horseshoe brings good luck
  • Step on a crack, break your mother’s back
  • You can break a bad luck spell by turning seven times in a clockwise circle
  • Garlic protects from evil spirits and vampires
  • Our fate is written in the stars
  • At the end of a rainbow is a pot of gold
  • Clothes worn inside out will bring good luck
  • Wearing your birthstone will bring you good luck
  • If you blow out all of the candles on your birthday cake with the first breath you will
    get whatever you wish for
  • To have a wish come true using a wishbone, two people make a wish, then take hold of
    each end of the bone and pull it until it separates. The person with the longer end gets
    his or her wish
  • An itchy palm means money will come your way
  • A beginner will always have good luck: beginner’s luck
  • A cat has nine lives
  • Eating fish makes you smart
  • Toads cause warts
  • A cricket in the house brings good luck
  • Crossing your fingers helps to avoid bad luck and helps a wish come true
  • It is bad luck to sing at the table
  • It is bad luck to sleep on a table
  • After receiving a container of food, the container should never be returned empty
  • A lock of hair from a baby’s first haircut should be kept for good luck
  • A bird that comes in your window brings bad luck
  • To refuse a kiss under mistletoe causes bad luck
  • Goldfish in the pond bring good luck
  • Goldfish in the house bring bad luck
  • For good luck, wear new clothes on Easter
  • An acorn at the window can keep lightning out of the house
  • If the bottom of your feet itch, you will make a trip
  • When a dog howls, death is near
  • It is bad luck to chase someone with a broom
  • A sailor wearing an earring cannot drown
  • To find a penny heads up, brings good luck
  • To cure a sty, rub it with a gold wedding band
  • Animals can talk at midnight on Christmas Eve
  • A drowned woman floats face up, a drowned man floats face down
  • A person cannot drown before going under three times
  • To drop a fork means a woman will visit
  • To drop a knife means a man will visit
  • To drop a spoon means a child will visit
  • To drop a dishcloth means bad luck is coming
  • If you shiver, someone is casting a shadow on your grave
  • To make a happy marriage, the bride must wear: something old, something new, something
    borrowed, something blue
  • The wedding veil protects the bride from the evil eye
  • Washing a car will bring rain
  • You must get out of bed on the same side you got in on or you will have bad luck
  • Evil spirits cannot harm you when you are standing in a circle
  • A cat will try to take the breath from a baby
  • Warm hands, cold heart
  • Cold hands, warm heart
  • It is unlucky to rock an empty rocking chair
  • To kill an albatross is to cause bad luck to the ship and all upon it
  • Wearing an opal when it is not your birthstone is bad luck
  • Smell dandelions, wet the bed
  • To give someone a purse or wallet without money in it will bring that person bad luck
  • A forked branch, held with a fork in each hand, will dip and point when it passes over
    water