Skeptical Inquirer - Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

Touch Wood

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:14:00 EDT

"Touch wood" or "knock on wood" is a popular saying to reverse any bad luck that might come your way, due to a recent action you have taken or comment you have made. The superstition is that if someone remarks about something not wished for, or something that has not happened lately, they should immediately touch or knock on wood to avoid the fulfillment of bad luck, or the event not desired. Touching wood after boasting of one's good fortune, or exemption from bad luck, was thought necessary to keep the streak of good luck intact. Still, today, people are likely to touch wood immediately after answering a question in the negative, such as "no, I have not been sick lately."

Touching wood is also practiced after an activity or event that has gone excessively well. As an example, if you give a good presentation you should touch wood afterwards to continue the success you are experiencing. People will often go to great lengths to find a piece of wood to touch after one of the events described above have occurred. They believe that if they do not touch wood, the fates will wreak vengeance upon them.

Touching wood is also a superstition practiced to ensure safety and good fortune at the start of a day or activity. Athletes and actors are among two of the professions that practice this superstition to increase the good luck they will have in their upcoming game or show.

Touching iron used to be popular as well when iron was more prevalent and thought to hold magical properties. The origin of the use of wood is thought to be associated with the cross that Jesus was crucified upon. Smaller crucifix pendants were made and worn as good luck charms, often made from wood. Wood then began to be associated with safety, magic and good fortune.

Rabbit’s Foot

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:14:00 EDT

Rabbits and hares were considered very lucky animals as they were associated with spring and the return of flowers and other plants. Spring was also a time of fertility and so rabbits were considered good luck to be seen running through the fields. To see a rabbit running through your yard meant that it would be a good year to have children or that your garden would be especially fertile this year.

The manner in which rabbits run gave birth to the superstition about rabbit's feet. Apparently their unusual stride makes the back feet touch the ground ahead of their front feet and so the back feet were considered especially lucky.

For luck to had, however, the original owner must give their rabbit's foot away and it would be the receiver of the gift that would also be the recipient of the good fortune. If the owner kept the foot for himself, he would be visited by bad luck. If the recipient of the rabbit's foot lost his lucky charm he would also be visited with bad luck.

Animal rights activists are rightfully concerned about this particular superstition and are encouraging it to die out.

Other Superstitions for Rabbits:

It is good luck for a rabbit to cross your path
Seeing a white rabbit is a death omen
Seeing a black rabbit is unlucky
Seeing a rabbit on the way to work is unlucky
If you dream about a rabbit it means you will be visited by misfortune
Wearing rabbit-skin socks protects against pleurisy
A child who eats rabbit brains will improve his or her behavior!
Seeing a rabbit cross behind you means bad luck is on its way
A rabbit running down the street means there will be a fire in the neighborhood
Saying "white rabbits" on the first of each month or on the first day of a new moon will bring good luck
When sitting around a campfire, saying "white rabbit" will make the smoke go in another direction
To predict the coming winter, if you see a rabbit with a thick coat, expect a hard winter; a rabbit with a thin coat means the winter will be a mild one

Wishbones

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:14:00 EDT

Wishbones have become a common tradition at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners. The general rule is that the wishbone is saved from the turkey or chicken dinner and dried overnight. The next day, two people snap it while making a wish. Each person uses their pinky finger to pull on an end. After the bone has broken, the one with the larger bit is granted their wish.

The wishbone superstition became popular enough that charms in the shape of wishbones can be found in jewelry stores, made from silver, gold, and other metals.

This is not a superstition for vegetarians, though!

Umbrellas

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:14:00 EDT

An umbrella, according to popular superstition, should never be open indoors or you will bring bad luck on all the people residing in the building. It is thought that this superstition originates back when the purpose of the umbrella was to act as a sunshade. If opened indoors the action may be construed as a direct insult to the sun, which was revered in many societies.

Umbrellas also have other superstitions attached to them, most often those that bring bad luck.

It is bad luck to give an umbrella as a gift.
If you drop an umbrella, do not pick it up. Instead, have someone else do it for you, or you will be the recipient of bad luck.
If a single woman drops an umbrella, she will never marry.
If an umbrella is opened outside when it is not needed, rain, and other bad weather, will follow.

Spiders

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:14:00 EDT

Apparently the superstition surrounding spiders dates back to Egyptian times when spiders were associated with riches. Charms were made in the form of spiders, much like the more common scarab, and carried on a person throughout the day and night. It was the hope that by doing this, money and good fortune would arrive their way in the near future.

In the Middle Ages, spiders were also considered lucky. People would trap spiders inside walnut shells and then make a necklace with silk out of them. The purpose of this was to protect against illness. Another primitive medical cure associated with spiders was to capture one in a box or bag and wait until it died. When it finally died the spider was thought to also take your disease or illness along with it.

It is considered very bad luck to kill a spider. Considering the many, many people who have killed spiders it certainly doesn't make the future bright, according to folklore! No matter how scary and ugly they are, however, having one in your home was considered good luck as the spider would protect the house and family from any misfortune. To have a spider living in your home meant that happiness would be yours so long as the spider remained. A spider dangling from the ceiling meant that money was coming your way and the small, red spiders, no matter what they were doing or where you found them, also meant financial reward. Seeing a spider outside was also considered lucky.

A spider in the morning is a sign of sorrow;
A spider at noon brings worry for tomorrow;
A spider in the afternoon is a sign of a gift;
But a spider in the evening will all hopes life.

Spilt Salt

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:14:00 EDT

Salt was once considered a very precious commodity; as important as money has grown to be. Because it was so valued within ancient societies and was very expensive to buy and also very difficult to extract, it has had quite a lot of symbolism and superstition attached to it over the course of human history. Salt was used as a preservative and, in this sense, began to symbolize life and the avoidance of decay. It became a sign of hospitality, trust and friendship because of its high price. Soldiers in Rome were often paid in salt and, in this way, it was also a form of currency. This latter use of salt is the source of the expression that a person was "not worth his salt."

To spill salt then was an extraordinary waste and the superstition that claimed bad luck would visit anyone who spilt salt was invented specifically to deter this behavior.

If salt was spilt in a particular person's direction, bad luck was coming to that person.
Spilt salt should not be cleaned up but should instead by tossed over the left shoulder, into the face of the Devil.
Enough tears must be cried to dissolve the spilt salt in order to reverse the bad luck that was coming your way.

Other superstitions for salt:

Wearing a small bag of salt around your neck protected you from the Evil Eye.
A pinch of salt was left in a baby's crib until it was christened.
Salt was an unlucky word for sailors and should never be mentioned at sea.
Salt was thrown on the threshold of a new house for good luck.

Sailors

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:14:00 EDT

Sailors have attributed superstitions to almost all aspects of their work and life on the sea. One of the common traits of superstitious belief is that the subject matter of the superstition usually involves some uncertainty and because of our desire to feel secure, we create superstitions to account for all the possible outcomes, thereby minimizing our lack of control (or making us feel as though we have reduced the risk.) This concept can be seen most clearly in the sailing profession and is largely due to the uncontrollable weather that the sailors life and work is powerless before. The job, more so in the past than in the present and in the days of pirates, was a very dangerous one and the slightest mistake could spell disaster for all on board. To deter any type of dangerous action and behavior, superstitions could serve as a warning and therefore minimize future calamities. It also brought comfort to passengers and crew.

One of the most repeated verses that originates from a sailor superstition is below:

Red sky at night, sailor's delight
Red sky in the morning, sailor's warning

For sailors, it was lucky:

to smash a bottle against the boat just before sailing
for sailors to have tattoos
to throw an old pair of shoes overboard just after launch
to have a black cat on board
for a child to be born on the ship
for sailors to wear gold hoop earrings
to touch the collar of a sailor
to step aboard using the right foot first

For sailors, it was unlucky:

to name the boat with a word ending in "a"
to have the bottle not break when used in the launch ceremony
to change the name of a boat
to sail on a green boat
to sail on a Friday
to see rats leaving a ship
to have someone die on the ship
to whistle on board a ship
to cross an area where another ship once sunk
to lose a bucket at sea

Other sailing superstitions:

Women and clergymen as passengers bring bad luck
If you meet someone with red hair, a clergyman, or someone with cross-eyes on the way to the harbor, you are encouraged not to set sail
A bell ringing by itself on the ship is a death omen for one of the crew
The word "drown" can never be spoken at sea or it may summon up the actual event
A ship without its figurehead will not sink
Horseshoes on a ship's mast help turn away storms
A ship will sail faster when fleeing an enemy
A ship carrying a dead body will sail slower
Seabirds are thought to carry the souls of dead sailors
Whistling, cutting nails and trimming beards at sea will cause storms

Spilt Milk

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:14:00 EDT

Many food and beverages that were valued had superstitions associated with them to deter the waste of such commodities. Like other superstitions, this shows a somewhat practical purpose for the superstition associated with the object. It would work to minimize any undesirable behavior, especially with children.

Spilt milk is also an example of a superstition that has contradictions. In many parts of Europe the spilling of milk was actually thought to be good luck as it provided food for the good fairies that scurried about on the ground. To pay homage to the fairies in this way would buy their protection against evil spirits or bad luck.

In most areas, however, the spilling of milk was considered bad luck as it wasted precious nourishment for the family. This superstition gained popularity with the rise of agriculture throughout the world and was accompanied by many other superstitions associated with cows and farming.

Milk and cow superstitions include:

The first milk a new cow produced was put in a bronze bowl to make sure the cow continued to provide lots of milk.
Hairs were pulled from the tail of a cow after it was sold, to make sure the cow remained a good milker.
Stepping in a milk bucket or spilling milk would dry up your cows.
Milk was sold with a pinch of salt added to it so that the cow that produced it would not be bewitched.

Hats

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:14:00 EDT

Many superstitions are associated with hats, several now being modified into rules for manners and etiquette.

A hat left on a bed is bad luck. You should expect a quarrel in the household before the day is over.
Leaving a hat on a table is bad luck.
Wearing a hat indoors will give you a headache.
Putting a hat on backwards will bring bad luck, unless you go out right away and buy a new hat to reverse the luck.
A bridegroom who forgets his hat for the wedding will turn into an unreliable husband.
A lady putting on a gentleman's hat is waiting to be kissed.
Women wearing hats in a church will be visited by ill-fortune.
Wearing a hat this is too tight will cause hair loss.

Definitions of Superstition

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:14:00 EDT

From The Science Teacher's Book of Lists:

Superstitions are beliefs in ideas or practices based on the supernatural as opposed to laws of science. People look for answers to their questions, reasons that explain why things happen. Those who understand science, apply known scientific concepts to help explain the natural world. Those who believe in the supernatural use superstitions to explain events.