Superstitious Minds Explained

Superstitions have been around for centuries and make us act in the most bizarre ways. They exist all around the globe and continue to affect our day-to-day lives.
Here are five of the World’s most weird and wonderful superstitions explained.

1. Black cats bring bad luck
   
   
   

   Patrick Feller

   Many people in the Western world believe that if a black cat crosses your path or sneezes in your house, you will endure a spell of bad luck. This superstition is thought to date back to medieval times when black felines became associated with witchcraft. Many lonely ladies kept kitties for company and when they were accused of witchery, the cats quickly became symbols of misfortune and evil.
   
   
2. Don’t walk under a ladder
   
   
   

   nakrnsm

   Walking under a ladder is often considered to be bad luck – but why? There are many explanations to try and decipher the origins of this superstition but here is one of the best. In Medieval times you would often find leaning against the gallows a ladder which was placed there so that the body could be brought down after a public hanging. If you happened to pass underneath it while this was happening you could have been hit by a corpse and so it was considered a bad place to walk.
   
   
3. Break a mirror and get seven years bad luck
   
   
   

   editor

   Break a mirror and get seven years bad luck – or so the superstition goes. But where does this strange belief come from? Years ago people used to see their reflections in pools of water. However, due to their lack of scientific knowledge they thought they could see their souls and believed disturbance to the water could cause their spiritual self harm. Hence, when mirrors were invented and broken it was thought the inner self was injured. Romans also believed the body re-healed itself every seven years which is why the bad luck is thought to hang around so long.
   
   
4. Throw salt over your left shoulder
   
   
   

   Alberto

   Many people believe that spilling salt will bring horrendous luck unless you throw a pinch of it over your left shoulder. In Biblical times salt was highly valued and used as currency, so wasting it was almost sacrilegious. By throwing salt over your left shoulder you were said to keep the devil away and keep yourself from harm. The belief behind this was that people believed that when salt was split near you it was a sign from your Guardian angel who sits on your right side that something bad was near.
   
   
5. Break a leg
   
   
   

   Kevingessner

   Before a theatre show, the actors and all backstage personnel consider it bad luck to wish them good luck and instead say “break a leg”. Some people believed this expression was started in Elizabethan times when, instead of applause, audience members would bang their chairs if they had enjoyed the production- causing the chair legs to break. What’s more, in Ancient Rome, people used to actually fight to their deaths for entertainment in the Colosseum. Some people would shout out "quasso cruris," (the Latin equivalent of “break a leg”) in the hope they would just cripple their opponent and keep both their lives. “Break a leg” is also archaic slang for bowing, which was also common within a theatrical environment and could have influenced this saying.

Whether you are superstitious or not, the origins of these beliefs are pretty fascinating and often date back centuries.

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