Bad Luck Superstitions

[highlander]

Lighting more than two cigarettes with the same match: The belief in the second world war was that if you were under threat from a sniper, on the first cigarette he would know where you were, on the second he would aim at you-and whoever had his cigarette lit third would be shot.

Putting new shoes on the table:legend has it that a memeber of your family would die if you did this.The superstition comes from the time when a bereaved family would lay a corpse-complete with the new outfit on the table in a mourning ritual.

Walking Under Ladders:This was rooted in the christian belief that the holy trinity, including the shape of a triangle, should not be violated,also, a leaning ladder was thought to resemble the gallows.

[Colin Manson]

mmm, looks like we have read the same newspaper H.

[Kenn]

Seeing a white rabbit/hare before going to sea means the boat will be wrecked.this because wild white rabbits were a rarity and the colour white was considered an ill omen.This also applys to The Barn/Scritch Owl also white and who was thought to be an undead spirit.
Putting a hole in the bottom of the empty egg shell so that a witch cannot use it as a coracle to go to sea to drown the sailors.
I magpie is a sign of bad news, a pair means good news.A single magpie is looking for things to steal a pair means they have mated and the male no longer needs to impress his mate with shiney gifts.

Surprising too how superstitions change in Medieval times all cats were considered bad luck whatever their colour and some were even burnt at the stake today it is considered good luck if a black cat crosses your path but only if from left to right hence why newly marrieds are given a black cat which the bride holds in her left hand, the one that is reputed to be that hand that recieves.