Superstitions by Topic

Bird Entering the House Superstitions

A bird crossing the threshold of a house did not carry one fixed message in recorded...

A black cat crossing a road can carry opposite meanings only a few hundred miles apart....

Breaking a mirror is most famously associated with seven years of bad luck, but surviving folklore...

A single raven seen at the start of a morning journey was recorded as an unfavorable...

A dog howling at night is one of the most widely recorded animal omens connected with...

The evil eye is not always imagined as a deliberate curse. Italian records describe malocchio as...

A twitching eyelid can carry opposite meanings in different folklore records. One Chinese tradition reads the...

A horseshoe can mean luck, household protection, protection from witches, or a charm carried through danger,...

An itchy palm does not have one fixed meaning in recorded folklore. In some English traditions,...

Knocking on wood is usually performed after words that seem capable of tempting fate: a boast,...

New Year luck is often attached to the first food eaten, the first person through the...

The number 13 does not carry one fixed meaning across cultures. In much of Anglo-American and...

Opening an umbrella indoors does not carry one fixed meaning in the folklore record. Irish collections...

An owl can be a death warning in one recorded tradition and a favorable omen in...

Pregnancy superstitions turn dreams, food cravings, body shape, ordinary movements, and even eclipses into signs about...

A snake does not carry one fixed omen across cultures. A snake entering a house may...

Spider folklore does not give the animal one fixed meaning. In Irish records, a spider on...

Spilling salt has carried several different meanings in recorded folklore. An Irish collection from County Sligo...

Rain on a wedding day can carry opposite meanings in different traditions. Italian folklore records describe...

19 articles in Superstitions by Topic