3 S.R. Johannes: Friday the 13th and 13 other funny superstitions

Friday, June 13, 2014

Friday the 13th and 13 other funny superstitions

Friday the 13th is called  a day of bad luck. 
Friggatriskaidekaphobia is when someone is afraid of Friday the 13th. Evidently this affects almost 20 million Americans. Even though none of them can even say the word. 
Triskaidekaphobia, which is the fear of the number 13. 
I like to at least pronounce the fears I have very clearly.
There is always one Friday the 13th each year and at most, there can be three in one year.
So why worry - it's only 3 days of the year. 
That means you have 362 other good days to worry about  these 13 other funny superstitions we hang onto:
1. Make sure you cover your mouth when you yawn. Um this is just common sense. An open mouth doesn't attract demons, but it is rude AND likely spreads germs.
2. Don't open umbrella in house. Again I think this is just common sense. You'll poke your eye out - or that of someone close by.
3. Get in and out of bed on same side. This is easy when you sleep with someone. But what if your bed is against the wall. I say jump out of bed with a smile and it should offset the omen.
4. Bird poop on your car means you will be rich. Trust me this is not true!
5. Using mirrors makes you soul-less. Gosh we better hope this isn't true! - especially in Hollywood. Well...maybe there it is true :L)
6. Wish on a star. We all do it. Then again, most of us may be silently praying it isn't a huge meteor barreling toward Earth!
7. Don't use new brooms because you can sweep out good luck. I say why not vacuum? It's automated anyway. Then you save yourself the worry.
8 - Crossing fingers was supposed to be in symbol of the cross and bring good luck. Now we just use this to tell a white lie and thin it is OK. :)
9 - Rabbit's foot brings good luck. Yeah, let's ask a rabbit if he thinks this is true. Bet he says no and asks you to let him go.
10 - Knock on wood  because it is thought spirits lived in trees. Since we all knock on our processed wood in our homes, the spirits are either already angry we stole their tree or were killed off anyway. 
11. Break a mirror. Well, you shouldn't be looking in one anyway according to #5 so this may save you.
12. Itchy palms means you are greedy about money? I say if you have any itch for very long, you should go to a Dr.
13. Tossing salt. This just makes a mess and could injure the patrons behind you.
I declare Friday 13th my lucky day - starting today!

3 comments:

Vanessa said...

Bird poop means money? Holy Cow! I should be a millionaire a zillion times over! lol. Great list!

cleemckenzie said...

I'm afflicted by triskaidekaphobia. Where did that come from, I wonder? I'm usually pretty sane about superstitions, but not the dread 13.

Off to toss some salt.

Suus said...

Great post, I loved reading about all the superstitions! I'm having a good and lucky day today, so I'm totally going to join you in this!