Ah yes! I love the sound of this topic! Well, being of Filipino heritage, siblings must never have their weddings within the same year. Bad luck will come to both couples or something like that. I'm not sure where this is from but I never celebrate my birthday before my actual birthday. We always have the party the day of or later.

Not a personal superstition, but in some Jewish traditions, it is bad luck to name a child after a living relative.  The rationale is that when the angel of death comes for the elder relative, it may get confused...  Reminds me of those surgery horror stories where they operate on the wrong limb

Mm~ But there's only so many names to choose from...
Another superstition I always live by. When my eyelids start jumping, if it's the top left, it's good omen, and bad omen for top right. Reverse for the bottom ones

My superstitions only go so far as supernatural and good-luck charms, and karma, I think... oh, and when you hear a train go by, you have to keep your feet off the ground. And, uh... I actually own a dharma doll... he only has one eye filled in right now, but sometimes, I get the feeling it really is working... I was shocked, my wish may just come true, no matter how ridiculous or impossible it may sound. And I'd never do those Candy-man or Bloody Mary thingies either.. I don't know if it's true or not, but it sounds too scary to find out. I'm just basically superstitious about mirrors at night. So scary.

Tamago wrote:

I'm a believer in the power of Negative Thinking.  I know it sounds weird but in my case, if I get too positive and think that nothing could go wrong, then it invites the Universe to cause bad shit to happen just to prove me wrong.  It's like in those shows when someone said "What could possibly go wrong?" or "At least noning else could go wrong" cos it DOES!

On the other hand, if I think of what could go wrong enough, it seems to prevent it from actually happening.

Oh my! That happens to me, too sometimes. When I think "It's going to be a wonderful day", things start to suck

morosemocha wrote:

Personally, whenever I get a new sketchbook, I never start a sketch on the first page.

I never do that as well, but for a different reason . . . Cover page, but that never happens so it is left blank.

I always tend to have bad luck of Friday the 13th and not relise it is Friday the 13th. IE: Recently, got a speeding ticket and parking violation all on the same day . . . only to relise the next day it was Saturday the 14th!

Tamago wrote:

I'm a believer in the power of Negative Thinking.  I know it sounds weird but in my case, if I get too positive and think that nothing could go wrong, then it invites the Universe to cause bad shit to happen just to prove me wrong.  It's like in those shows when someone said "What could possibly go wrong?" or "At least noning else could go wrong" cos it DOES!

On the other hand, if I think of what could go wrong enough, it seems to prevent it from actually happening.

mmm...Is this superstition or paranoia?

And I thought of a few thigs I still do.  I still make wishes on shed eyelashes.  I still get the urge to knock on wood to prevent a jinx when I describe something good that has happened.  And I still keep a photo of my grandfather on my desk and sometimes address him in my thoughts.

When I spill salt, I always throw some over my shoulder.  Pour into right hand, toss over left shoulder.  I also knock on wood.

I've taken on a couple Japanese superstitions (which may have roots in Shinto or Buddhism), such as the fact that I don't orient my bed with the head pointing north, and a few involving numbers considered unlucky by the Japanese (four and nine, for those of you keeping score).

As for Negative Thinking, I've found that whenever I think I have everything I need, I'm almost always forgetting something.  It keeps me on my toes.

But nothing involving black cats.  I own a black cat, my second-ever black cat, and my boyfriend also has a black cat.  Cats are cats, and I take them on an individual basis.

OMFG, I have an end of the year presentation to do in exactly forty-six minutes, but I always found it to be a source of good luck to spend time posting something on this forum, even if it ends up making me horrifically late.

I interviewed a Korean (married into my family) straight from Seoul, and here were a few things we noticed...

Both S. Korea and U.S. have the superstition:  "Breaking a mirror equals 7 years bad luck."

In Korean culture, when you are out drinking, at say, a karaoke room... it is bad luck for you to pour your own drink. Meaning, if you pour your own drink, the person SITTING ACROSS FROM YOU gets bad luck for three years. (we think this is a tradition made up to keep people on their politest toes) So, if you are watching someone in front of you pouring a drink, but you do not feel like actually getting up and pouring it yourself, you must at least reach over the table and touch the glass and say, "Toom" (or that's what it SOUNDED like, I am not sure if it was an actual word, or just the sound effect of a finger touching glass) which removes the bad luck.

Also, superstitious Koreans believe that you should not clip your toenails at night. Old ones, like grandpapas, will become very upset if you do. The legend says that a little rat will come and eat your nails, and at that very moment an evil twin of your own is born.

Another different, not superstition, but Rule in Korea, is that females cannot smoke outside! (I said I would be in trouble, but was assured that it was okay for foreigners to do so) It's considered very impolite and horrible mannered, they look at it like we would look at a prostitute standing on the street corner snorting a line of cocaine. For real! My Korean relative & I were both smokers, when we were in Asian shopping districts or at her work, sometimes she would not smoke at all, other times, she would duck down and hide. She said, if she spoke "English only" and walked with a foreigner, she may get a way with smoking in public in Korea, but if you get bad luck, and old man will come over and begin yelling at you for your insolence!

Again, a difference in S. Korea, Seoul especially, is the way they will shout at the small disproportionate number of female drivers, housewives, who are driving SLOW. Yes, roll the windows down and cuss, "Motherfucking bitch, GO COOK! Your place is in the kitchen!" Yeah! Wow!

My personal superstitions, I don't really have any...but my "lucky number" is 13. And I adore black cats. Walking underneath ladders when I see them. Stepping on the cracks of the sidewalk. I used to (when I was a teenager) go out of my way to do unlucky things, to prove that there wasn't any such thing as luck, but that you make your own. Now, I do not go out of my way to prove, but I still believe it's true. I do, however, love to listen to the occasional fortune cookie!

The number 9... I think that's associated with the idea of "completion". I felt that way, too. I think it might have been the influence by X-Files (They had an episode about the numbers. It was an episode where there're 4 instead of 2 FBI agents)

I'm just like you, Emiemipoemi. I follow all theatre superstitions very closely. I remember once in theatre, we were going around and saying our favorite plays or ones we know of if we don't have a favorite [Just FYI, my favorites are A Streetcar Named Desire and The Laramie Project]. One of the new girls said Romeo and Juliet, and so that gave all the new kids the idea to say Shakespeare. A girl said Macbeth, and the very second after she did, the fire alarm went off. Creepy much?

Other than that, I don't believe in superstitions. Being born on the thirteenth, I guess I was destined to be unlucky or something. I guess it was true, look at me now. But anyway, I never knock on wood or throw salt or anything, just because I like to bother people who are superstitious.

Okay, once I get my scanner up and working I will.  I don't know how well it will turn out, but I can try