Black Friday, 13 February, day 13 #28daysofwriting

Well, here I am at 8.50pm on Friday, still alive and well despite having crossed the road many times.  

Why, you wonder?

Well, I grew up with a father who was very superstitious.  I would love to know if it was a Polish hand me down, or where indeed it came from.  I am going to share the superstitions I remember and see if I can find their origins.  In turn I am asking that you share any superstitions you grew up with please.

• Don't walk under ladders;
• Never open an umbrella inside;
• NEVER put new shoes on a table (I still remember seeing the shoes being swiped off the table by dad);
• Never pick up a knife if you drop it - someone else must pick it up or there will be a fight;
• BEWARE black Friday - which is Friday the 13th of any month.  (Fortunately they don't happen that often - as I spent some nerve wrecking sessions where I was too scared to cross roads etc)
• Seven years bad luck if you ever break a mirror; (I still remember the moment when the mirror broke........ )
• Toss salt over your shoulder if you spill some; (weird)
• Avoid black cats;
• Any bird inside can signal imminent death;

Well, would you believe it, googling superstitions comes up with most of these as the most common across cultures.  

Superstition Room

So, the superstitions live on as they are passed from generation to generation orally.  

Just checking with my children to see if I have inadvertently passed on any:

Confirming from my son:

• never walk under a ladder
• black cat - death calling

And my daughter:

• no superstitions....
• favourite number 13!

And she promptly sent me back this link to help me with my wonderings....

A Bad-Luck Guide to Friday the 13th (From LIFE Magazine)

So what does that prove or disprove?  You can change the oral tradition.  You can choose to keep traditions and you can choose to protect those you love from scary superstitions that you wish you didn't have.

This gets me thinking about things that are uber important in our family history to ensure they are told and passed down from generation to generation... and that my friends is another blog post in the making......