Are you superstitious?
I don’t consider myself superstitious, however, I still do some superstitious stuff besides the usual black cat crossings, throwing salt over my shoulder, not breaking mirrors, and opening umbrellas inside a building:
π Burning My Hair: As a kid, my Mom would do my hair and then pile it into an ashtray and burn it. I never thought to ask her why, I just accepted it as a normal thing and thought nothing more of it. Then, in my 20s, I had a Jamaican friend who was at my house and we were doing our hair. As I went to throw my hair in the trash, she screamed, “NO!” and dug my hair out the trash. She promptly pulled out a lighter, tossed the ball of hair in the sink, set the hairball ablaze and told me to never do that. I asked her why, and she said because someone could put a curse on me if they got a lock of my hair. Then I realized why my Mom did it.
It’s also a bad omen if a bird happens to find your hair and build it’s nest with it. Word on the street is the bird constantly pecking at it, is what causes migraines.
π Splitting poles: While walking with a group, be it friends or family, and you come across a pole in the way, whether it be a light pole or utility pole or whatever, always walk on the same side as everyone else. It’s bad luck to walk on opposite sides of it from your group. Never split the pole.
I don’t know the reason for it, but I also don’t want to find out.
π Walking past rituals: Living in New York, especially living in Flatbush, Brooklyn, it’s not unusual to see people practicing voodoo since its a common religion of Haitians. In the warmer months, they will leave their places of worship doors open since some don’t have air conditioning. As a result, you can look right inside and see people dressed in white chanting and dancing. Even though their doors are open, don’t walk past them, just cross the street.
Why? Because you don’t know what rituals they chanting or what spirits they’re conjuring and you don’t want that spirit latching on to you.
π My grandmother would get furious if I accidentally brushed her feet with the broom. I think her reason was it means you won’t get married. Well, she was already married for 30+ years, so I don’t see what she was worried about.
π I don’t walk under ladders, not because it’s superstitious, but because it’s just dangerous. Can’t be too cautious.
That’s just a few of the things I do, just to be cautious. I really don’t consider myself superstitious because I don’t believe anything will truly happen to you for any of them, but at the same time, I don’t want to test the theory.
