Global Belief Explorer
Search documented folk beliefs by topic, country, region and recorded meaning, or place two or more countries side by side. Results link back to the relevant topic section and its cited source record. The entries describe folklore traditions rather than predictions or factual effects.
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Bat Superstitions
A bat crossing the threshold can mean almost opposite things depending on where the belief was...
Bee Superstitions
A bee entering a home does not carry one fixed meaning in recorded folklore. Irish collections...
Bird Entering the House Superstitions
A bird crossing the threshold of a house did not carry one fixed message in recorded...
Black Cat Superstitions
A black cat crossing a road can carry opposite meanings only a few hundred miles apart....
Breaking a Mirror Superstition
Breaking a mirror is most famously associated with seven years of bad luck, but surviving folklore...
Broom and Sweeping Superstitions
Sweeping after dark can mean driving away luck in one recorded tradition, while another prescribes sweeping...
Butterfly Superstitions
A butterfly entering a house can carry sharply different meanings in recorded folklore. A Japanese account...
Candle Superstitions
A candle flame can carry sharply different meanings in recorded folklore. A blue flame was catalogued...
Clock and Watch Superstitions
A clock stopping by itself could warn of death in nineteenth-century Shropshire folklore, while Irish and...
Crow and Raven Superstitions
A single raven seen at the start of a morning journey was recorded as an unfavorable...
Death Omens
Death omens do not take one fixed form. A Welsh folklore recording describes a moving gole...
Dog Howling Superstitions
A dog howling at night is one of the most widely recorded animal omens connected with...
Dragonfly Superstitions
A dragonfly could invite a wish in Cambridgeshire, warn of an unseen snake in South Wales,...
Eclipse Superstitions
A darkened Sun has been explained in strikingly different ways: a celestial dragon devouring it in...
Evil Eye Superstitions
The evil eye is not always imagined as a deliberate curse. Italian records describe malocchio as...
Eye Twitching Superstitions
A twitching eyelid can carry opposite meanings in different folklore records. One Chinese tradition reads the...
Frog and Toad Superstitions
Frogs and toads can signal rain, misfortune, safe travel, wealth, witchcraft, or good luck depending on...
Funeral Superstitions
Funeral superstitions often concentrate on the boundary between the dead and the living: mirrors are hidden,...
Hair Superstitions
Hair can be treated as something far more consequential than a part of the body in...
Hiccup Superstitions
A hiccup can mean very different things in recorded folklore. A Hungarian belief preserved by the...
Horseshoe Superstitions
A horseshoe can mean luck, household protection, protection from witches, or a charm carried through danger,...
Itchy Feet Superstitions
An itching foot most often points toward travel, movement, or walking on unfamiliar ground in recorded...
Itchy Nose Superstitions
An itchy nose has accumulated remarkably different meanings in recorded folklore. One nineteenth-century New York tradition...
Itchy Palm Superstitions
An itchy palm does not have one fixed meaning in recorded folklore. In some English traditions,...
Knocking on Wood Superstition
Knocking on wood is usually performed after words that seem capable of tempting fate: a boast,...
Ladybug Superstitions
A ladybug can be a luck-bringer in Genoese tradition, a matchmaker in eastern England and among...
Lizard and Gecko Superstitions
A gecko’s call can confirm a spoken statement in one tradition, warn against an undertaking in...
Moon Superstitions
A first glimpse of the new moon could be treated as lucky or unlucky depending on...
Moth Superstitions
The same large moth can carry sharply different meanings across cultures. A Black Witch moth entering...
Nail Cutting Superstitions
Cutting fingernails can carry very different meanings depending on when the nails are cut, whose nails...
New Year Superstitions
New Year luck is often attached to the first food eaten, the first person through the...
Number 13 Superstitions
The number 13 does not carry one fixed meaning across cultures. In much of Anglo-American and...
Opening an Umbrella Indoors Superstition
Opening an umbrella indoors does not carry one fixed meaning in the folklore record. Irish collections...
Owl Superstitions
An owl can be a death warning in one recorded tradition and a favorable omen in...
Pregnancy Superstitions
Pregnancy superstitions turn dreams, food cravings, body shape, fetal heart rate, ordinary movements, and eclipses into...
Rabbit and Hare Superstitions
A rabbit can promise a month of good luck in one recorded American formula, while a...
Rainbow Superstitions
A rainbow can mark hidden treasure in one folklore record, threaten a pointing finger in another,...
Ringing Ears Superstitions
A ringing or tingling ear has long been treated in folklore as a signal that something...
Scissors Superstitions
Scissors carry two almost opposite meanings in documented folklore. Their blades can symbolize the cutting of...
Shooting Star Superstitions
A shooting star can invite a wish in one tradition and announce a death in another....
Snake Superstitions
A snake does not carry one fixed omen across cultures. A snake living in or beneath...
Sneezing Superstitions
A sneeze can confirm a spoken prediction in an ancient Greek text, interrupt a journey in...
Spider Superstitions
Spider folklore does not give the animal one fixed meaning. In Irish records, a spider on...
Spilling Salt Superstition
Spilling salt has carried several different meanings in recorded folklore. An Irish collection from County Sligo...
Walking Under a Ladder Superstition
Walking under a ladder is usually remembered as a simple bad-luck taboo, but older folklore records...
Wedding Superstitions
Rain on a wedding day can carry opposite meanings in different traditions. Italian folklore records describe...
Whistling Superstitions
A whistle can carry opposite meanings depending on where and when it is heard. Russian folk...
47 articles in Superstitions by Topic
Bat Superstitions
A bat crossing the threshold can mean almost opposite things depending on where the belief was...
Bee Superstitions
A bee entering a home does not carry one fixed meaning in recorded folklore. Irish collections...
Bird Entering the House Superstitions
A bird crossing the threshold of a house did not carry one fixed message in recorded...
Black Cat Superstitions
A black cat crossing a road can carry opposite meanings only a few hundred miles apart....
Breaking a Mirror Superstition
Breaking a mirror is most famously associated with seven years of bad luck, but surviving folklore...
Broom and Sweeping Superstitions
Sweeping after dark can mean driving away luck in one recorded tradition, while another prescribes sweeping...
Butterfly Superstitions
A butterfly entering a house can carry sharply different meanings in recorded folklore. A Japanese account...
Candle Superstitions
A candle flame can carry sharply different meanings in recorded folklore. A blue flame was catalogued...
Clock and Watch Superstitions
A clock stopping by itself could warn of death in nineteenth-century Shropshire folklore, while Irish and...
Crow and Raven Superstitions
A single raven seen at the start of a morning journey was recorded as an unfavorable...
Death Omens
Death omens do not take one fixed form. A Welsh folklore recording describes a moving gole...
Dog Howling Superstitions
A dog howling at night is one of the most widely recorded animal omens connected with...
Dragonfly Superstitions
A dragonfly could invite a wish in Cambridgeshire, warn of an unseen snake in South Wales,...
Eclipse Superstitions
A darkened Sun has been explained in strikingly different ways: a celestial dragon devouring it in...
Evil Eye Superstitions
The evil eye is not always imagined as a deliberate curse. Italian records describe malocchio as...
Eye Twitching Superstitions
A twitching eyelid can carry opposite meanings in different folklore records. One Chinese tradition reads the...
Frog and Toad Superstitions
Frogs and toads can signal rain, misfortune, safe travel, wealth, witchcraft, or good luck depending on...
Funeral Superstitions
Funeral superstitions often concentrate on the boundary between the dead and the living: mirrors are hidden,...
Hair Superstitions
Hair can be treated as something far more consequential than a part of the body in...
Hiccup Superstitions
A hiccup can mean very different things in recorded folklore. A Hungarian belief preserved by the...
Horseshoe Superstitions
A horseshoe can mean luck, household protection, protection from witches, or a charm carried through danger,...
Itchy Feet Superstitions
An itching foot most often points toward travel, movement, or walking on unfamiliar ground in recorded...
Itchy Nose Superstitions
An itchy nose has accumulated remarkably different meanings in recorded folklore. One nineteenth-century New York tradition...
Itchy Palm Superstitions
An itchy palm does not have one fixed meaning in recorded folklore. In some English traditions,...
Knocking on Wood Superstition
Knocking on wood is usually performed after words that seem capable of tempting fate: a boast,...
Ladybug Superstitions
A ladybug can be a luck-bringer in Genoese tradition, a matchmaker in eastern England and among...
Lizard and Gecko Superstitions
A gecko’s call can confirm a spoken statement in one tradition, warn against an undertaking in...
Moon Superstitions
A first glimpse of the new moon could be treated as lucky or unlucky depending on...
Moth Superstitions
The same large moth can carry sharply different meanings across cultures. A Black Witch moth entering...
Nail Cutting Superstitions
Cutting fingernails can carry very different meanings depending on when the nails are cut, whose nails...
New Year Superstitions
New Year luck is often attached to the first food eaten, the first person through the...
Number 13 Superstitions
The number 13 does not carry one fixed meaning across cultures. In much of Anglo-American and...
Opening an Umbrella Indoors Superstition
Opening an umbrella indoors does not carry one fixed meaning in the folklore record. Irish collections...
Owl Superstitions
An owl can be a death warning in one recorded tradition and a favorable omen in...
Pregnancy Superstitions
Pregnancy superstitions turn dreams, food cravings, body shape, fetal heart rate, ordinary movements, and eclipses into...
Rabbit and Hare Superstitions
A rabbit can promise a month of good luck in one recorded American formula, while a...
Rainbow Superstitions
A rainbow can mark hidden treasure in one folklore record, threaten a pointing finger in another,...
Ringing Ears Superstitions
A ringing or tingling ear has long been treated in folklore as a signal that something...
Scissors Superstitions
Scissors carry two almost opposite meanings in documented folklore. Their blades can symbolize the cutting of...
Shooting Star Superstitions
A shooting star can invite a wish in one tradition and announce a death in another....
Snake Superstitions
A snake does not carry one fixed omen across cultures. A snake living in or beneath...
Sneezing Superstitions
A sneeze can confirm a spoken prediction in an ancient Greek text, interrupt a journey in...
Spider Superstitions
Spider folklore does not give the animal one fixed meaning. In Irish records, a spider on...
Spilling Salt Superstition
Spilling salt has carried several different meanings in recorded folklore. An Irish collection from County Sligo...
Walking Under a Ladder Superstition
Walking under a ladder is usually remembered as a simple bad-luck taboo, but older folklore records...
Wedding Superstitions
Rain on a wedding day can carry opposite meanings in different traditions. Italian folklore records describe...
Whistling Superstitions
A whistle can carry opposite meanings depending on where and when it is heard. Russian folk...
47 articles in Superstitions by Topic