Throwing coins in a fountain

            Does anyone remember the fountain that used to be located at the Windsor outlets? I remember every time my mom took me shopping I had to throw a coin in the fountain for good luck. I was young so it wasn’t just good luck but for fun as well. Since those days it was always my dream to throw a coin in the fountain which Lizzie McGuire threw her coin in at Rome. As lucky as I am I had the opportunity the throw coins into the Trevi fountain granting me the wish of a lifetime. So I am curious, as you all may be too, to know how this action came to be.

 

            If you have read any of my blogs already, you would have seen a pattern. Most superstitions come from religion or spirits. So which one does this enter into? Spirits. Back in the time when people thought spirits created their destinies they believed the immortals lived at the bottom of wells or fountains. It was said to me bad luck if you past the spirits without honouring them. The coin originated when it was said that paying the spirits was paying for your protection ( encyclopaedia of superstitions).

 

            If you have not heard of the Trevi fountain, it is the most famous fountain in Rome. Tourists go there to throw pennies to ensure they come back to Rome. Nathaniel Hawthorne (author of Scarlet letter) published The Marble Faun in 1860 where a large part of it was set in Rome. One of the stories in the book was of a woman drinking the water from the Trevi fountain to ensure the return to Rome ( wanderingeducators).

 

 “I shall sip as much of this water as the hollow of my hand will hold,” said Miriam. “I am leaving Rome in a few days; and the tradition goes, that a parting draught at the Fountain of Trevi ensures the traveller’s return, whatever obstacles and improbabilities may seem to beset him.”

 

By the end of the eighteen hundreds the tradition had turned into throwing a coin over the left shoulder. They say it is a mystery but if my knowledge on superstitions I bet it had something to do with the devil. We have seen so my stories like this, such as throwing of the salt, the devil always being over the shoulder. It wouldn’t surprise me if that was the superstiton.  I am glad to say now though, after being to the Trevi fountain I know the history behing the superstition. Next time I am at a well or fountain I will make sure to ask the spirits for protection, hopefully the penny doesn’t hit their heads on the way down. Do you believe in this superstition?

 

 

 Sources:

http://www.wanderingeducators.com/best/traveling/rome-s-trevi-fountain-understanding-rituals.html

 

 

            http://books.google.ca/books?id=m1-xCL47_7QC&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=superstition+on+throwing+a+coins+in+a+fountain&source=bl&ots=MdWZalC1pX&sig=BSa4dqKMAMcW7gbAhdLD7SldO_M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=htiLUqK3BKfY2gWGpYCYAQ&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=superstition%20on%20throwing%20a%20coins%20in%20a%20fountain&f=false

This video is great! it explains a bit about the wells and foutains but there is a recap of other superstitions I have already covered as well. There are examples such as, the black cat, walking under a ladder, throwing salt and more!

 

 

Walking under a ladder

 

 

On my way home from work, I saw several houses that already had their Christmas lights and decorations up. Insane right? So it got me thinking about superstitions and I immediately thought of ladders, which are used to put up the lights. I’m pretty sure we have all heard about the superstition of walking under a ladder being bad luck. I always wondered first of all why it is bad luck but also how this myth came to be. One of the most explored the theory of the ladder comes from the Christian religion. Christianity believed that walking under a ladder was considered a blaspheming. We all know they believe in the Holy Father, the Holy Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore the number three for this religion was very important to them and the triangle, which was underneath the ladder, was somewhat sacred. The triangle was associated to the triangle because it had three sides. A ladder leaning on a building made a form of a triangle and walking through a such form was seen as breaking the trinity. The bible always talks about the worst sin being going against the Holy Spirit, which meant; anyone who broke the trinity with the Holy Spirit would be seen working with the Devil. Being labelled as a Devil in the old days meant a witch trial (timelessmyths). Another superstition a little less complicated and religious was similarities between a ladder leaning against a wall and a gallows. Anything with similarities to a gallows was considered bad luck, therefore walking under a gallows or a ladder that looked like one was meant bad luck. They say if you just walked underneath a ladder, a way to get rid of bad luck, you have to spit. Either you must spit three times through the rungs of the ladder or you must pit on your shoe. Although, you can’t look at your shoe until the spit has dried on the shoe. If it was up to me I would spit three times. ( timelessmyths)

God bless you!

 

This is one of the most popular superstitions that we have. The reason why it is so popular is being most people do it, even without realizing it is a superstition. When someone sneezes another person is suppose to say “ God bless you!”. I never knew all the posibilities of what this superstition could be.

            Although many believe saying bless you is a polite gesture, it is a very common saying and is practiced all around the world. It is dated back to Febuary 16 590 AD. Pope Gregory the Great explained there needed to be prayers for those obtained of the deadly plague in Italy. It seemed to be fatal for those who sneezed, which meant the sneeze represented certain illness. Saying God bless you would be a protection from the disease. Also, in Europe in the year 1665 the black plague was talking over the population. The last sympton before death was sneezing. Once they realized sneezing was the end sympton before death the pope made it a law that anyone who sneezed had to be blessed.(psychiclibary)

            Others believed that the soul was located inside the head, which meant when someone sneezed it was a sign that the soul was giving them an omen. People interpreted this as a lucky omen. The Greeks, Romans and Egyptian believed that a sneeze was a kind of “ internal oracle” which warned them of times of danger and foretold future of good or evil. They also believed sneezing to the right was considered lucky, to the left was unlucky. If I can remember I have always sneezed to the left, maybe if I started to force myself to sneeze to the right things around me would be different. I mean who knows, I sneeze to the right and I have prince charming there waiting for me.(unexplainedstuff.com)

 

            Another old Flemish belief is pretty interesting. If someone sneezed during a conversation porved the truth of a remark. In England during the seventeeth century, when people sneezed it was manditory for people to remove their hats, bow and shout, “ God bless you!” . Then is the nineteenth-century someone originated a rhyme:

Sneeze on Monday, sneeze for danger. Sneeze on Tuesday, kiss a stranger. Sneeze on Wednesday, sneeze for a letter. Sneeze on Thursday, something better. Sneeze on Friday, sneeze for woe. Sneeze on Saturday, a journey to go. Sneeze on Sunday, your safety seek—for Satan will have you for the rest of the week!

http://psychiclibrary.com/beyondBooks/superstition-room

http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/Superstitions-Strange-Customs-Taboos-and-Urban-Legends/Superstitions-Sneezing.html

Graveyards

Halloween is soon approaching and for all you superstitious people, Halloween is full of evil spirits. Through previous blogs that I have written we learn how most of these superstitions are in fear of evil spirits (otherwise known as the devil) or regaining good luck from the good spirits. But for this blog I will be discussing a topic of bad luck, or so we thought. I watch many scary movies, and in those scary movies I see a lot of scenes where people are running through graveyards. Of course right, they are going to make it seem like graveyards are haunted and full of the ghost and zombies. Although we should all know that that is not true.

            A graveyard is suppose to be a peaceful place, a place where people can go and visit their loved ones who have passed away, a place of love, not a place of terror. So why does everyone get the impression that they are scary and bad luck?

            It is believed to be bad luck to wreck or construct any territory of a grace yard or somewhere that had previously been a graveyard. This is probably because nobody wants the graves of others being wrecked.  Richard Webster wrote in the Encyclopaedia of Superstitions: "Everything inside a graveyard is sacred, and it is bad luck to interfere or meddle with anything found there. ... It is unlucky to pick any flowers growing on a grave. ... It is particularly bad luck to use pieces of broken tombstones for paths or roads. Frequent accidents will occur as a result."

            Because of this, people started to assume that being at a cemetery was bad luck and full of evil spirits. It was only because people were not supposed to go in cemeteries during the night because they could wreck something. (http://www.today.com/id/39675343/#.Um69pVJza00)

            When you were younger did any of you hold your breath when passing a graveyard? I remember doing that. I was told that if you didn’t hold your breath the spirits would enter your body. Although, the real reason is because it is said that to breath in front of those you cannot is disrespectful. (http://wiki.answers.com). It is weird all the rumours about graveyards. Now I am not saying none of it is true, I am a firm believer in ghost and spirits, I mean who knows you can go to the cemetery maybe see something you thought was a ghost. It all comes down to what you believe. So, what do you believe?

At 3 minutes and 30 secondes of this video the girls go to the grave. this clip shows all that we know about graveyards as a superstition.

Knock on wood

Do you ever find yourself knocking on wood not to jinx anything you said? I find myself doing it all the time! I will be working and I will say: “I hope it does not get busy! Oh man now because I said that it is going to get busy”. Then I start running around the store looking for wood. Am I the only one who is that obsessed with knocking on wood? The funny thing is I don’t even know why I do it.  I doubt knocking on wood is going to predict my future or my fate. I thought about this and decided I should research this.

            On the website, mentalfloss.com they say: “ Before Christianity and Islam came around to spoil the party with their rules about idolatry, many pagan groups and other cultures—from Ireland to India to elsewhere in the world—worshipped or mythologized trees. Some peoples used trees as oracles, some incorporated them into worship rituals and some, like the ancient Celts, regarded them as the homes of certain spirits and gods.”

From what I understand, many religions believed that some trees were oracles and spirits or gods lived in the trees. Knowing this people knock on the tree to receive good luck from the magical tree. Another origin much like the first says, tree worshippers would put their hands on a tree and ask a favor from the spirits and gods in the trees. Therefore after many of years it morphed into knocking to keep good luck (mentalfloss).

            Knocking on wood is also to ward off any evil or any bad luck. The knock on wood is then to give good fortune. There is also the saying “ touch wood” which is essentially the same as knock on wood although touch on wood is the older version and has evolved into knocking.

            Maybe after reading this you will see yourself knocking on wood more often. I was surprised with this supersitition with the lack of history. Basically they say it evolved after the so believed, magic tree. Although maybe some believe there really is no history. So my question as alsways is, what do you believe?

 

 
I found this video that i really loved. It explains the history of many superstitions including knowcking on wood!

Sites

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-tou1.htm

http://mentalfloss.com/article/50079/why-do-we-knock-wood#ixzz2iaveW2Yx
http://mentalfloss.com/article/50079/why-do-we-knock-wood#ixzz2iauSre4D

Throwing salt over the shoulder

It was that kind of weekend, the weekend where all the family comes down to visit and everyone sits down to have a great home cooked meal( Unless that is just my want to be Italian family). So as the salt and pepper shakers come out for the food and as you to salt the vegetables you miss the bowl. So what do you do? Do you throw it in the ground, clean it off or like me, throw the salt over your shoulder. I always put the salt in my hands and throw it over my left shoulder to keep the bad luck away. Everyone must be wondering by now, why do we do it? I never knew why I watched my grandma do it since I was young and continued to do so.

            There is a rumour that the salt in related to the last supper. In the painting by Leonardo da Vinvi Judas knocked over the salt with his elbow. They say because of Judas Iscariot spilt the salt it is associated with treachery and lies. You throw the salt over your shoulder to blind the devil who is already waiting behind you ( dailymail).

            Another reason which might be a little bit more realistic

is still the same idea. Legends believe the devil is always standing behind you, throwing salt in his eyes would distract him from any harm or trouble. People do this after spilling salt because salt was an expensive thing to have and it was unlucky to spill, which meant it would be wasteful(glo.msn.com).

            The problem is we will never know the true meaning because we cannot go back in the past and figure it out. We are left behind with few traces of evidence and story telling to create habits such as throwing the salt over the shoulder. What I have gained to learn is that the devil is always over my shoulder. Although I believe God will always be more powerful. I leave the same question to you guys again, what do you believe? Will you start tossing the salt to save yourself from the devil?

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1385380/Why-throw-salt-shoulder-superstitions-answered.html#ixzz2hkfbIHBg

 

http://glo.msn.com/living/the-meaning-behind-common-superstitions-7020.gallery?photoId=42447 

Black cats

I find it a coincidence that I am doing superstitions for this blog, because something really weird happen a few days ago! I was in the kitchen with my mom when I saw a random black cat rip through the screen door and started running all around my house. It was actually pretty funny; the cat was so cute, loved my dog and was a lot nicer then ,y own cat. I realized though it probably was not a good idea to have another person’s cat in my house. I know there is some kind of tale about black cats, but I hope there is nothing about black cats running into your house like the tale about the black crows. I looked it up and they say if a cat crosses your path it is considered bad luck. I can’t imagine the luck it gives you if it enters in your home. On the site “todayifoundout.com” I learnt why black cats are considered bad luck. It dates back to the Egyptian times when cats were considered the animal of the world; they were the rulers of the Egyptians. From then on, black cats were associated with witches. Witches were a huge controversy in the Puritan time and many people were blamed of being a witch. The black cats were frightening then because it was said, the witches transformed themselves into cats. A father and son in the fifteen hundreds were walking during the night when they saw a black cat crossing their path. They threw rocks at it to injure the creature but the cat ran off into a woman’s house who was suspected of being a witch. The next day the woman was limping and was all bruised. They believed it was more then a coincidence and that she was the cat (todayifoundout).

 

            Although on the same site they say, to some cultures black cats are good luck. For example, “the Scottish believe that a strange black cat’s arrival to the home signifies prosperity”(ijustfoundout). How weird is that, that just happen to me! I think I am going to side with the Scottish, considering I would rather have prosperity either then bad luck. Now what do you guys think? Are they good luck or bad luck?

           

           

 

 Sites

 

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/09/why-black-cats-are-considered-bad-luck/#HXxwWjUomwO4QHZh.99

 

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/09/why-black-cats-are-considered-bad-luck/#HXxwWjUomwO4QHZh.99

 

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/09/why-black-cats-are-considered-bad-luck/superstition on black cats