Superstition or prejudice

[August]

Originally Posted by mapuc

The Number 13 as an unlucky number is mentioned in many religion, such as Nordic mythology and the bible.

Thirteen is a hugely significant number in many different and sometimes odd ways. For example:

A noose has thirteen loops.
A gallows has 13 steps.
A Cockroach heart has 13 chambers.
A poker deck has four suits of 13 cards.
A Jewish boy becomes a man at age 13.
A sailors "crackerjack" uniform trousers has 13 buttons.
There were 13 dwarves in the Hobbit.
There were 13 people at the last supper
There were 13 original states when the US was formed.
I've been in buildings that don't have a 13th floor (elevator buttons go straight from 12 to 14).

[Jimbuna]

A horseshoe over the door brings good luck. But the horseshoe needs to be the right way up. The luck runs out of the horseshoe if it is upside down.

Horseshoes are generally a sign of good luck and feature on many good luck cards.

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

A horseshoe over the door brings good luck. But the horseshoe needs to be the right way up. The luck runs out of the horseshoe if it is upside down.

Horseshoes are generally a sign of good luck and feature on many good luck cards.

Wrote following in post #11

"In Denmark and Sweden hanging a horseshoe above the entrance door means Luck

In one of the country-the opening has to hang down-wards so the luck can come out of the shoe-while in the other the opening has to be upwards so the luck can be contained and not escape"

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Pretty similar to that of the UK then

[Bilge_Rat]

Apparently, the tradition of Friday the 13th being an unlucky day goes back to Friday, October 13th, 1307 when the King of France ordered the arrest of the leadership of the Knights Templar. The King owed large amounts of money to the order and layed false charges of heresy to get out of repaying. Many were burned at the stake and the order was dissolved:

At dawn on Friday, 13 October 1307 (a date sometimes linked with the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition)[37][38] King Philip IV ordered de Molay and scores of other French Templars to be simultaneously arrested. The arrest warrant started with the phrase: "Dieu n'est pas content, nous avons des ennemis de la foi dans le Royaume" ["God is not pleased. We have enemies of the faith in the kingdom"].[39] Claims were made that during Templar admissions ceremonies, recruits were forced to spit on the Cross, deny Christ, and engage in indecent kissing; brethren were also accused of worshipping idols, and the order was said to have encouraged homosexual practices.[40] These allegations, though, were highly politicised without any real evidence.[41] Still, the Templars were charged with numerous other offences such as financial corruption, fraud, and secrecy.[42] Many of the accused confessed to these charges under torture (even though the Templars denied being tortured in their written confessions), and their confessions, even though obtained under duress, caused a scandal in Paris. The prisoners were coerced to confess that they had spat on the Cross: "Moi, Raymond de La Fère, 21 ans, reconnais que [j'ai] craché trois fois sur la Croix, mais de bouche et pas de cœur" ["I, Raymond de La Fère, 21 years old, admit that I have spat three times on the Cross, but only from my mouth and not from my heart"]. The Templars were accused of idolatry and were suspected of worshiping either a figure known as Baphomet or a mummified severed head they recovered, amongst other artifacts, at their original headquarters on the Temple Mount that many scholars theorize might have been that of John the Baptist, among other things.[43]

Relenting to Phillip's demands, Pope Clement then issued the papal bull Pastoralis praeeminentiae on 22 November 1307, which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets.[44] Pope Clement called for papal hearings to determine the Templars' guilt or innocence, and once freed of the Inquisitors' torture, many Templars recanted their confessions. Some had sufficient legal experience to defend themselves in the trials, but in 1310, having appointed the archbishop of Sens, Philippe de Marigny, to lead the investigation, Philip blocked this attempt, using the previously forced confessions to have dozens of Templars burned at the stake in Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight...nd_dissolution

[mapuc]

^
The tradition that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day

is almost an international superstition

So far so good-but the story behind it change from country or area to country or area.

As mentioned here in Scandinavia 13 as unlucky number is based on the Bible
Jesus last supper.

I find it very interesting- We have same superstition-but reason why is different.

Markus

[Jeff-Groves]

Spilling Salt has different means in many places.
Some say it opens the door to let Satan into your life.
Others just say it's bad luck depending on who the spill points at.

It's claimed tossing salt over your left shoulder keeps Satan at bay.
Satan is said to lurk over your left shoulder looking for a way to influence you.

[Jimbuna]

Unlucky to open an umbrella indoors.

[Jeff-Groves]

If one side of a penny brings good luck, the other side brings bad.
This is where the heads up for luck and tails for bad luck comes from.
If you find a penny with the “good” side up, pick it up.
If the “bad” side is up, leave it be.

If you find a dime in your house?
It's probably a spider paying you rent.

[Jeff-Groves]

It is bad luck to loan your broom to anyone, even a good friend.

[Jimbuna]

Unlucky to pass someone on the stairs.

[mapuc]

Thank you for your interesting comment.

I think most of these superstition is concentrating on death and unluck.

I remember one from my mom.

One day I used a candlelight to lighten my cigaret and my mom said.

Every time you do this a sailor will lose his or her life.

Markus

[Jimbuna]

When finished eating a boiled egg, push the spoon through the bottom of the empty shell to let the devil out.

[Jimbuna]

In Yorkshire, housewives used to believe that bread would not rise if there was a corpse (dead body) in the vicinity, and to cut off both ends of the loaf would make the Devil fly over the house!

[August]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

In Yorkshire, housewives used to believe that bread would not rise if there was a corpse (dead body) in the vicinity, and to cut off both ends of the loaf would make the Devil fly over the house!

So there is no chance for my cousin Nigel's Yorkshire Bakery and Funeral Parlor? He'll sure get a rise out of that news!